Test Your Apps Locally With BrowserStack

Local Testing is a BrowserStack feature that helps you test mobile apps that access resources hosted in development or testing environments during automated test execution.

In this guide, you will learn:

• How to configure BrowserStack local
• Run your first Local test

Prerequisites

You need to have BrowserStack Username and Access key, which you can find in your account settings. If you have not created an account yet, you can sign up for a Free Trial or purchase a plan.

Configure BrowserStack Local

You can setup localhost testing using the following two ways:

• Via adding dependency (language bindings): The BrowserStackLocal binary is installed by adding it as a dependency in the pom.xml file. It internally establishes a secure tunnel with BrowserStack when you run your test case. The package provides hooks that let you control the lifecycle of the tunnel. Using language bindings is the recommended way to integrate localhost testing on BrowserStack.
• Via CLI Interface (binary): You can also download the BrowserStack Local binary and setup the tunnel via your terminal. This method is useful when you don’t want to make any code changes in your test suite and want to manage the tunnel lifecycle independently.

<!-- Install using maven -->
<dependency>
    <groupId>com.browserstack</groupId>
    <artifactId>browserstack-local-java</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.6</version>
</dependency>

// Start BrowserStack local binary
if(browserstackOptions.get("local") != null && browserstackOptions.get("local").toString() == "true"){
    local = new Local();
    Map<String, String> LocalOptions = new HashMap<String, String>();
    LocalOptions.put("key", accessKey);
    local.start(LocalOptions);
}
// Test case for the BrowserStack sample app.
// Invoke driver.quit() after the test is done to indicate that the test is completed.
driver.quit()
// Stop BrowserStack local binary
if(local != null) local.stop();

"bstack:options": {
    // Set the local capability as true
    "local" : true
}

"capabilities": {
    // Set the local capability as true
    "browserstack.local": true,
},

# for Android
cd android
mvn test -P local
# for iOS
cd ios
mvn test -P local

# Step 3 - Run this command in your terminal to start the BrowserStack Local binary. Your working directory should be where you have the downloaded binary.
./BrowserStackLocal --key YOUR_ACCESS_KEY

# Step 3 - Run this command in your command prompt. Your working directory should be where you have unzipped BrowserStackLocal.exe
BrowserStackLocal.exe --key YOUR_ACCESS_KEY

"bstack:options": {
    // Set the local capability as true
    "local" : true
}

{
    // Set the local capability as true
    "browserstack.local": true,
}

mvn test -P local

Run your first local test

Run a sample test to check if BrowserStack Local is working as expected and can connect to BrowserStack servers.

git clone https://github.com/browserstack/testng-appium-app-browserstack.git
cd testng-appium-app-browserstack/android/testng-examples

git clone https://github.com/browserstack/testng-appium-app-browserstack.git
cd testng-appium-app-browserstack/ios/testng-examples

"capabilities": {
     "bstack:options": {
       "userName": "YOUR_USERNAME",
       "accessKey": "YOUR_ACCESS_KEY",
    }
  }

"capabilities": {
     "bstack:options": {
       "local": true
    }
},

# Run using maven
mvn compile
mvn test -P local

Next Steps

After you have successfully run your first test using BrowserStack Local, you can explore the following sections:

• Testing your local site that might be behind a proxy
• Local flags to customize your local testing setup