How to stub Android intents with Espresso-Intents

External Android intents move a UI flow from the app under test to another Activity, such as a contact picker, camera app, browser, or share target. Stubbing that handoff with Espresso-Intents lets an instrumentation test check the outgoing request and return a controlled Activity result without depending on whichever external app is installed on the device.

Espresso-Intents hooks into the instrumentation process after IntentsRule initializes and records intents launched by the app under test. A matcher passed to intending() supplies a stubbed Instrumentation.ActivityResult, while intended() verifies that the expected outgoing intent was sent.

A contact-pick flow keeps the stub concrete because the app requests an external contact Activity and expects a phone number in the result. Replace package names, IDs, extras, and assertions with the app's own contract so the test proves the handoff behavior rather than only proving that a matcher was registered.

1. Add Espresso-Intents to the app module's instrumented test dependencies.

   build.gradle.kts

   android {
       defaultConfig {
           testInstrumentationRunner =
               "androidx.test.runner." +
                   "AndroidJUnitRunner"
       }
   }
    
   val espressoVersion = "3.7.0"
   val junitVersion = "1.3.0"
   val runnerVersion = "1.7.0"
    
   dependencies {
       androidTestImplementation(
           "androidx.test.espresso:" +
               "espresso-core:$espressoVersion"
       )
       androidTestImplementation(
           "androidx.test.espresso:" +
               "espresso-intents:$espressoVersion"
       )
       androidTestImplementation(
           "androidx.test.ext:" +
               "junit:$junitVersion"
       )
       androidTestImplementation(
           "androidx.test:" +
               "runner:$runnerVersion"
       )
   }

   The versions shown match the current AndroidX Test releases in Google Maven. Keep espresso-core and espresso-intents on the same Espresso release.

2. Create the Espresso-Intents test class under the app module's src/androidTest tree.

   ContactIntentTest.kt

   package com.example.app
    
   import android.app.Activity
   import android.app.Instrumentation.ActivityResult
   import android.content.Intent
   import androidx.test.espresso.Espresso.onView
   import androidx.test.espresso.action.ViewActions.click
   import androidx.test.espresso.assertion.ViewAssertions.matches
   import androidx.test.espresso.intent.Intents.intended
   import androidx.test.espresso.intent.Intents.intending
   import androidx.test.espresso.intent.matcher.IntentMatchers.hasAction
   import androidx.test.espresso.intent.matcher.IntentMatchers.toPackage
   import androidx.test.espresso.intent.rule.IntentsRule
   import androidx.test.espresso.matcher.ViewMatchers.withId
   import androidx.test.espresso.matcher.ViewMatchers.withText
   import androidx.test.ext.junit.rules.ActivityScenarioRule
   import androidx.test.ext.junit.runners.AndroidJUnit4
   import androidx.test.filters.LargeTest
   import org.hamcrest.Matchers.allOf
   import org.junit.Rule
   import org.junit.Test
   import org.junit.rules.RuleChain
   import org.junit.rules.TestRule
   import org.junit.runner.RunWith
    
   @RunWith(AndroidJUnit4::class)
   @LargeTest
   class ContactIntentTest {
    
       @get:Rule
       val rules: TestRule =
           RuleChain
               .outerRule(IntentsRule())
               .around(
                   ActivityScenarioRule(
                       ContactActivity::class.java
                   )
               )
    
       @Test
       fun stubsContactResult() {
           val resultData =
               Intent().putExtra(
                   "phone",
                   "555-0100"
               )
           val result =
               ActivityResult(
                   Activity.RESULT_OK,
                   resultData
               )
    
           intending(
               allOf(
                   hasAction(Intent.ACTION_PICK),
                   toPackage("com.android.contacts")
               )
           ).respondWith(result)
    
           onView(withId(R.id.pick_contact))
               .perform(click())
    
           intended(
               allOf(
                   hasAction(Intent.ACTION_PICK),
                   toPackage("com.android.contacts")
               )
           )
    
           onView(withId(R.id.phone_number))
               .check(
                   matches(withText("555-0100"))
               )
       }
   }

   IntentsRule is the current rule for automatic Espresso-Intents setup and cleanup. IntentsTestRule is deprecated in the current API reference.

3. Replace the sample matcher with the external intent contract used by the app.

   intending(
       allOf(
           hasAction(Intent.ACTION_PICK),
           toPackage("com.android.contacts")
       )
   ).respondWith(result)
    
   intended(
       allOf(
           hasAction(Intent.ACTION_PICK),
           toPackage("com.android.contacts")
       )
   )

   Use a package, component, action, data URI, type, or extra matcher that identifies the real outgoing intent. A broad matcher can hide a wrong target app or an unexpected request shape.

4. Run the connected instrumented test task on an emulator or device.

   $ ./gradlew connectedDebugAndroidTest
   Task :app:connectedDebugAndroidTest
   Starting 1 tests on Pixel_8_API_35
   com.example.app.ContactIntentTest > stubsContactResult PASSED
   
   BUILD SUCCESSFUL in 34s

   If Gradle reports no connected devices, start an emulator or attach a device before rerunning the task.
   Related: How to run Espresso tests locally

5. Open the app module's connected Android test report and confirm ContactIntentTest marks stubsContactResult as passed.