Advanced: Wikipedia on Android

Explore a complete example using Maestro and Wikipedia App. Use subflows, interactive scrolling, and JavaScript for robust, data-driven mobile automation.

This guide demonstrates how to use Maestro to automate complex user journeys in the Wikipedia Android app. You will learn how to manage multi-step onboarding, interact with dynamic feeds using scrolling, and integrate JavaScript for data-driven testing.

Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have the project files and the app ready:

Install Maestro CLI: Follow the installation guide.
Download Samples: Run maestro download-samples to fetch the source code and the wikipedia.apk.
Navigate to Project: Open your terminal and enter the directory after download the samples (cd wikipedia-android-advanced).

Project Structure

The project is organized into subflows to ensure maintainability and reusability across different test suites:

├── run-test.yml           # Root test suite orchestrator
├── onboarding/            # App initialization flows
├── dashboard/             # Feed and navigation flows
├── auth/                  # Login and signup flows
└── scripts/               # JavaScript for dynamic data generation

1. Onboarding Flow

The onboarding subflow handles the initial setup of the application. By using clearState: true, the test ensures a fresh installation state, which is critical for verifying that new users can navigate the language settings and introductory screens without interference from previous sessions.

This Flow serves as the entry point for the onboarding sequence. It orchestrates the addition and removal of languages before progressing through the introductory informational screens like "New ways to explore" and "Reading lists".

# onboarding/main.yml
appId: org.wikipedia
---
- runFlow: "add-language.yml"
- runFlow: "remove-language.yml"
- tapOn: "Continue"
- assertVisible: "New ways to explore"
- tapOn: "Continue"
- assertVisible: "Reading lists with sync"
- tapOn: "Continue"
- assertVisible: "Send anonymous data"
- tapOn: "Get started"

This Flow navigates the language settings menu to search for and add "Greek" to the app's configuration. It concludes by tapping "Navigate up" to return to the previous screen.

# onboarding/add-language.yml
appId: org.wikipedia
---
- tapOn: "ADD OR EDIT.*"
- tapOn: "ADD LANGUAGE"
- tapOn:
    id: ".*menu_search_language"
- inputText: "Greek"
- assertVisible: "Ελληνικά"
- tapOn: "Ελληνικά"
- tapOn: "Navigate up"

This Flow verifies the deletion process by selecting the newly added language and removing it. It uses index-based selection and assertions to ensure the UI updates correctly after the deletion.

# onboarding/remove-language.yml
appId: org.wikipedia
---
- tapOn: "ADD OR EDIT.*"
- tapOn: "More options"
- tapOn: "Remove language"
- tapOn:
    id: ".*wiki_language_checkbox"
    index: 1
- tapOn:
    id: ".*menu_delete_selected"
- tapOn: "OK"
- assertNotVisible: "Ελληνικά"
- tapOn: "Navigate up"

The dashboard contains dynamic content that varies daily. These tests illustrate how to interact with elements that are not immediately visible on the screen and how to share data between different views using the system clipboard.

This orchestrator Flow for the dashboard sequentially executes tests for searching, checking saved articles, interacting with the feed, and performing copy-paste operations.

# dashboard/main.yml
appId: org.wikipedia
---
- runFlow: "search.yml"
- runFlow: "saved.yml"
- runFlow: "feed.yml"
- runFlow: "copy-paste.yml"

This test validates the core search functionality. It enters a query, selects a result based on its resource ID, and saves the article to the user's reading list to be verified in a later flow.

# dashboard/search.yml
appId: org.wikipedia
---
- tapOn: "Search Wikipedia"
- inputText: "Sun"
- assertVisible: Star at the centre of the Solar System
- tapOn:
    id: ".*page_list_item_title"
- tapOn:
    id: ".*page_save"
- back
- back
- back
- back

This flow visits the "Saved" section of the app to ensure that the "Sun" article saved in the search flow is present and displays the correct description.

# dashboard/saved.yml
appId: org.wikipedia
---
- tapOn: "Saved"
- tapOn: "Default list for your saved articles"
- assertVisible: "Sun"
- assertVisible: "Star at the centre of the Solar System"
- back

This Flow shows how to execute vertical scrolling on the Explore tab. It uses scrollUntilVisible to locate the "Today on Wikipedia" section before interacting with it.

# dashboard/feed.yml
appId: org.wikipedia
---
- tapOn: "Explore"
- scrollUntilVisible:
    element: "Today on Wikipedia.*"
- tapOn: "Today on Wikipedia.*"
- back

This Flow captures a title from the feed using copyTextFrom. It then navigates to the search bar and uses the ${maestro.copiedText} variable to paste the captured text as input.

# dashboard/copy-paste.yml
appId: org.wikipedia
---
- tapOn: "Explore"
- scrollUntilVisible:
    element: "Top read"
- copyTextFrom:
    id: ".*view_list_card_item_title"
    index: 0
- tapOn: "Explore"
- tapOn: "Search Wikipedia"
- inputText: "${maestro.copiedText}"
- back
- back
- back

3. Authentication and scripting

Maestro supports JavaScript execution to handle logic that is difficult to achieve with YAML alone. These examples show how to generate unique registration data and fetch valid test credentials from an external API.

This test automates the account creation form by running generateCredentials.js to populate the username, password, and email fields with unique data.

# auth/signup.yml
appId: org.wikipedia
---
- tapOn: "More"
- tapOn: "LOG IN.*"
- runScript: "../scripts/generateCredentials.js"
- tapOn: "Username"
- inputText: "${output.credentials.username}"
- tapOn: "Password"
- inputText: "${output.credentials.password}"
- tapOn: "Repeat password"
- inputText: "${output.credentials.password}"
- tapOn: "Email.*"
- inputText: "${output.credentials.email}"
- back
- back

This Flow fetches a real user from an API using fetchTestUser.js. It then populates the login form with the retrieved username.

# auth/login.yml
appId: org.wikipedia
---
- tapOn: "More"
- tapOn: "LOG IN.*"
- tapOn:
    id: ".*create_account_login_button"
- runScript: "../scripts/fetchTestUser.js"
- tapOn: "Username"
- inputText: "${output.test_user.username}"
- tapOn: "Password"
- inputText: "No provided"
- tapOn: "LOG IN"
- back
- back

This script creates unique credentials by appending a timestamp to placeholders using .replace(). The data is exported via the output object.

function username() {
  const date = new Date().getTime().toString();
  return `test_user_${date}`;
}

function email() {
  const date = new Date().getTime().toString();
  return `test-user-${date}@test.com`;
}

function password() {
  const date = new Date().getTime().toString();
  return `test-user-password-${date}`;
}

output.credentials = {
  email: email(),
  password: password(),
  username: username(),
};

This script uses http.get to fetch user data from a placeholder API. It then parses the JSON response to provide a username and email to the Maestro Flow.

// Fetches test user from API
function getTestUserFromApi() {
  const url = `https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/users/1`;
  var response = http.get(url);
  var data = json(response.body);

  return {
    username: data.username,
    email: data.email,
  };
}

output.test_user = getTestUserFromApi();

Running the test

To run the entire end-to-end journey, use the run-test.yml file.

## run-test.yaml
appId: org.wikipedia
tags:
  - android
  - passing
---
- launchApp:
    clearState: true
- runFlow: "onboarding/main.yml"
- runFlow: "dashboard/main.yml"
- runFlow: "auth/signup.yml"
- runFlow: "auth/login.yml"

This Flow ensures that the app is launched in a clean state before executing the onboarding, dashboard navigation, and authentication flows in sequence.

maestro test run-test.yml

Nested Flows: Build modular, reusable tests by embedding existing Flows into complex user journeys.
inputText: Learn how to simulate realistic keyboard entries.
Make HTTP requests: Make HTTP API calls from your flows to set up test data or verify backend state.
JavaScript overview: Unlock advanced logic and conditional testing power by integrating scripts into your YAML.

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Good evening

Advanced: Wikipedia on Android

Prerequisites

Project Structure

1. Onboarding Flow

2. Dashboard Navigation

3. Authentication and scripting

Running the test

Good evening

hashtagPrerequisites

hashtagProject Structure

hashtag1. Onboarding Flow

hashtag2. Dashboard Navigation

hashtag3. Authentication and scripting

hashtagRunning the test

hashtagRelated content

Prerequisites

Project Structure

1. Onboarding Flow

2. Dashboard Navigation

3. Authentication and scripting

Running the test

Related content