APIRef.DetoxObjectAPI.md

id	title
APIRef.DetoxObjectAPI	The `detox` Object

detox is globally available in every test file, though currently it is only used in the setup/init file.

NOTE: detox is test runner independent, and we encourge you to choose your own test runner, but for the sake of demonstration we will use mocha's syntax.

Methods

• detox.init()
• detox.cleanup()

detox.init()

The setup phase happens inside detox.init(). This is the phase where detox reads its configuration, starts a server, loads its expection library and starts a simulator.

(if you're using mocha) In your init.js add:

const config = require('../package.json').detox;

before(async () => {
  await detox.init(config);
});

Explicit imports during initialization

Detox exports device , expect, element, by and waitFor as globals by default, if you want to control their initialization manually, set init detox with initGlobals set to false. This is useful when during E2E tests you also need to run regular expectations in node. jest Expect for instance, will not be overriden by Detox when this option is used.

before(async () => {
  await detox.init(config, {initGlobals: false});
});

Then import them manually:

const {device, expect, element, by, waitFor} = require('detox');

Use this example for initial setup

Controlling first app intialization

By default await detox.init(config); will launch the installed app. If you wish to control when your app is launched, add {launchApp: false} param to your init.

const config = require('../package.json').detox;

before(async () => {
  await detox.init(config, {launchApp: false});
});

NOTE: Detox 6.X.X introduced a breaking change , setting launchApp to false by default. In order to prevent any breaking changes to your tests when you upgrade (and if you still would like init to launch the app for you) do the following:

before(async () => {
  await detox.init(config, {launchApp: true});
});

detox.cleanup()

The cleanup phase should happen after all the tests have finished. This is the phase where detox-server shuts down. The simulator will also shut itself down if --cleanup flag is added to detox test

(if you're using mocha) In your init.js add:

after(async () => {
  await detox.cleanup();
});