Orchestrating our UI test suite with Maestro
Article Summary
Doist's Android team faced a brutal reality: their UI test suite was so flaky that only 50% of runs passed on the first try. PRs sat idle for hours waiting for reruns.
The Todoist Android team migrated their entire end-to-end test suite from Espresso to Maestro, moving 63 tests away from a maintenance-heavy synchronization model. This deep dive covers the technical decisions, infrastructure setup, and real-world tradeoffs of adopting a black-box testing approach.
Key Takeaways
- Achieved 99%+ test reliability, up from 50% with Espresso
- Cut test runtime by 4x to under 20 minutes
- Reduced testing costs by 50% (from $2000/month peak)
- Eliminated all IdlingResources and production code test hooks
- Built custom Firebase webhook integration for Twist notifications
Critical Insight
Maestro delivered 99%+ reliability, 4x faster runs, and 50% cost savings by eliminating the synchronization maintenance burden that plagued their Espresso suite.
