Streamline Your Mobile CI/CD: LambdaTest and Appcircle Integration

Integration among CI/CD pipelines and testing has proved to be the secret to success in this balancing act, but most teams are hampered by siloed workflows that slow down development and compromise quality.

To overcome this challenge, we have now integrated with Appcircle to address these issues by bringing enterprise-grade mobile test capability into your CI/CD pipeline so you can automate Espresso testing on real Android devices without worrying about infrastructure.

To get started, refer to this guide on LambdaTest and Appcircle Integration.

What Is Appcircle?

Appcircle is an enterprise-grade mobile CI/CD platform built to automate the entire development lifecycle for iOS and Android apps. Designed with scalability and security in mind, it works seamlessly across public cloud, private cloud (GCP, AWS, Azure), hybrid, and on-premises infrastructures, making it a fit for organizations with varied hosting needs.

Key highlights include:

• Faster releases: Cut app release time from days to minutes with streamlined workflows
• Flexible integration: Integrate with hundreds of steps and popular tools like Fastlane and SonarQube
• Unified code signing: Simplify signing management across apps and environments
• Enterprise-ready: Built-in security, SSO, and compliance to meet the demands of regulated industries

Why Does Mobile CI/CD Need Comprehensive Testing Integration?

Speed alone isn’t enough in mobile app delivery. Without comprehensive mobile app testing integrated into your CI/CD pipelines, fast releases risk going live with bugs, performance issues, or security flaws.

• Device Fragmentation Complexity: The Android platform is especially difficult with its huge variety of device configurations, screen sizes, and OS versions. Real device testing on your CI/CD pipeline ensures your app functions well in this fragmented world, catching device-specific issues before release.
• Faster Feedback Loops: Integrating testing into your CI/CD pipeline introduces real-time feedback loops, allowing teams to identify and correct errors in the same build cycle. This minimizes the time gap between when you introduce a bug and when you actually notice it, lowering the effort and cost of repair.
• Infrastructure Efficiency: Maintaining physical device labs or replicating complex test hardware takes away development resource efforts. Cloud-based testing integration removes this expense while offering the ability to utilize a wider variety of devices and configurations than most teams would be able to maintain in-house.
• Scalable Testing Operations: As your application and team grow, integrated Android automation testing on the cloud scales seamlessly with your CI/CD pipeline, leaving space for complex and recurring tests without requiring proportionate human management or testing infrastructure increases.

Note

Automate your mobile CI/CD with end-to-end testing integration. Sign up for LambdaTest with Appcircle today!

How Does LambdaTest Integration with Appcircle Work?

The LambdaTest and Appcircle integration leverages the LambdaTest App Automation feature, which allows you to run automated Espresso tests on Android apps on the LambdaTest real device cloud.

This seamless integration enables your CI/CD pipeline to automatically execute comprehensive mobile testing without manual intervention or complex setup procedures.

Setting Up LambdaTest Integration in Appcircle

Step 1: Prerequisites

Before implementing the LambdaTest App Automation Espresso step, ensure your Appcircle workflow includes the necessary prerequisite steps for Android app building, as the integration requires both your application APK and test APK files to be available.

Step 2: Configure Environment Variables

Set up the required environment variables in your Appcircle project to securely store your LambdaTest credentials:

• LambdaTest Username ($AC_LT_USERNAME): Your LambdaTest account username for API authentication
• LambdaTest Access Key ($AC_LT_ACCESS_KEY): Your LambdaTest account access key for secure API requests

Security Note: Use Appcircle’s Environment Variables groups to store sensitive information like usernames and access keys securely, rather than hardcoding them directly in your workflow.

Step 3: Configure Input Variables

The integration requires several input variables for proper execution:

• APK Path ($AC_LT_APK_PATH): Automatically populated by your Android build step, pointing to your application APK
• Test APK Path ($AC_LT_TEST_APK_PATH): Automatically populated by your Android build step, pointing to your Espresso test APK
• Test Configuration ($AC_LT_PAYLOAD): Optional JSON string defining your test configuration parameters
• Timeout Setting ($AC_LT_TIMEOUT): Execution timeout in seconds (default: 600 seconds)

Step 4: Execute and Monitor

Once configured, the integration automatically uploads your APK files to LambdaTest, executes your Espresso tests on real Android devices, and provides comprehensive results through the output variable ($AC_LT_TEST_RESULT_PATH), making test results accessible for further processing or reporting within your CI/CD pipeline.

To access the source code of this component, please use the following link: Appcircle LambdaTest Espresso App Automate Component.

All in All

The integration between Appcircle and LambdaTest allows development teams to test their high-quality Android apps at enterprise scale. With the integration of Appcircle’s robust CI/CD capabilities and LambdaTest’s comprehensive mobile testing environment, teams are able to achieve the perfect balance between quality and speed in their development pipeline.

Now, both platform users can upgrade their workflows, and it’s available for free and paid users. Try our new Appcircle integration and share your comments on the LambdaTest Community. Or contact us on our chat platform or at support@lambdatest.com.

Happy Testing! 😀



Yash Bansal

Yash Bansal works as a Product Marketing Manager at LambdaTest. Previously worked as Content Marketing Manager with over 5+ years of experience in the e-learning industry; loves to share his thoughts about the latest trends and technologies in the industry

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