CI/CD for a Flutter integration_test App with GitHub Actions

Run analyzer and widget tests fast, then integration_test on an emulator.

Flutter integration_test drives the full app on a device or emulator, complementing fast widget tests. This recipe runs analyzer and widget tests on Linux, then integration tests on an Android emulator.

What the pipeline does

set up Flutter with caching
run flutter analyze
run widget tests with flutter test
boot an Android emulator
run integration_test on the emulator

The workflow

Fast checks run on ubuntu-latest. The integration job uses reactivecircus/android-emulator-runner, which needs nested virtualization, to boot an emulator and run the integration suite.

.github/workflows/ci.yml

name: CI
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
  pull_request:
jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: subosito/flutter-action@v2
        with:
          channel: stable
          cache: true
      - run: flutter pub get
      - run: flutter analyze
      - run: flutter test
  integration:
    needs: test
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: subosito/flutter-action@v2
        with:
          channel: stable
          cache: true
      - run: flutter pub get
      - uses: reactivecircus/android-emulator-runner@v2
        with:
          api-level: 34
          arch: x86_64
          script: flutter test integration_test

Caching and speed

flutter-action cache: true restores the Flutter SDK and pub cache; the emulator action caches AVD snapshots so boots are faster. Emulator boots are slow and heavy, so cheaper managed runners such as Latchkey (around 69% cheaper than GitHub-hosted) keep the integration job affordable, and auto-retry covers a flaky emulator boot.

Deploying

After tests pass, build the artifact: flutter build appbundle for Android (sign and upload to Play) or flutter build ipa on a macOS runner for iOS. Hand off distribution to fastlane or the store consoles.

Key takeaways

Split fast widget tests from slow emulator-backed integration tests.
Use android-emulator-runner with AVD caching for integration_test.
flutter-action caches the SDK and pub cache.