minitest-cli

name

minitest-cli

description

Use the minitest CLI to manage user stories, upload builds, execute test runs on virtual devices (simulators/emulators), and analyse results. Use when the user asks to test their mobile app, create test scenarios, run tests, check test results, or manage builds via the command line. Also use after any code change that affects UI, navigation, or user journeys to check if existing tests need to be updated.

Minitest CLI

minitest is a command-line tool for automated mobile app testing on virtual devices (simulators & emulators). An AI agent analyses the app screen and verifies acceptance criteria you define. You manage everything through the CLI: user stories, builds, runs, batches, and results.

Prerequisites

• Install: curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/minitap-ai/minitest-cli/main/install.sh | bash
• Authenticate: minitest auth login (opens browser for OAuth)
• Set target app: export MINITEST_APP_ID=<uuid> or pass --app <uuid> before any subcommand

Global Flags

Flag	Effect
--json	camelCase JSON to stdout, diagnostics to stderr — ideal for piping
--app <id>	Target app (overrides MINITEST_APP_ID). Must appear before the subcommand

Exit Codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success
1	General error
2	Authentication required
3	Network / API error
4	Resource not found

Core Workflow

1. Identify the app

minitest apps list                # find your app ID
minitest --json apps list         # JSON array of {id, name, tenantId}

Creating apps

If the user does not yet have an app for the project, create one. The app lives under a tenant; when the authenticated user belongs to a single tenant the CLI auto-resolves it, otherwise pass --tenant <id> explicitly (apps list exposes existing tenant IDs in JSON mode).

# Auto-resolve tenant (single-tenant users)
minitest apps create --name "My App"

# Explicit tenant; print just the new app id on stdout
minitest apps create --tenant <tenant_id> --name "My App"

# Full record as JSON, suitable for piping
minitest --json apps create --tenant <tenant_id> --name "My App" \
  --description "Mobile companion" --slug "my-app" --icon ./icon.png

In a multi-tenant non-interactive context (CI, piped invocation), --tenant is required: the command exits 1 with a clear error otherwise.

2. Create user stories

A user story describes a user journey to test. It has a name, a type, an optional description, and a list of acceptance criteria — plain-text assertions the AI agent will verify visually on the device screen.

minitest --app <app_id> user-story create \
  --name "User Login" \
  --type login \
  --description "Email/password login from welcome screen" \
  --criteria "The login screen shows email and password fields" \
  --criteria "After submitting valid credentials, a loading indicator appears" \
  --criteria "The home screen is displayed after successful login"

User story types: login, registration, onboarding, search, settings, navigation, form, profile, other, custom.

Restricted: Do not create checkout, billing, or payment user stories — these involve real transactions and are not yet supported. Skip them during codebase analysis and inform the user.

Test account requirement: Before creating user stories that require login or account-specific state, ensure the user provides test credentials via the Minitest web app's test configuration. User stories should only cover journeys the test account can actually perform.

Acceptance criteria rules:

• Must be visually verifiable (the agent only sees the screen)
• Must be specific and unambiguous
• One assertion per criterion
• Order them chronologically as they appear in the journey

Other user story commands:

minitest --app <app_id> user-story list
minitest --app <app_id> user-story get <user_story_id>
minitest --app <app_id> user-story update <user_story_id> --name "New Name"
minitest --app <app_id> user-story update <user_story_id> --add-criteria "New check"
minitest --app <app_id> user-story update <user_story_id> \
  --criteria "First check" --criteria "Second check"   # full replace
minitest --app <app_id> user-story delete <user_story_id> --force

Acceptance criteria are versioned. --criteria fully replaces the set: unchanged content preserves identity (stable criterionId), modified content creates a new version on the same criterion, and removed items are soft-deleted. --add-criteria only appends.

3. Reading flow types and app knowledge

When generating user stories programmatically (e.g. from an exploration subagent), validate every --type value against the live list of flow types before calling user-story create — invalid values exit non-zero.

# List valid flow (user-story) type values, one per line
minitest flow-types list

# Same data as a JSON array, easy to pipe into jq
minitest --json flow-types list

flow-types list wraps GET /api/v1/user-story-types on testing-service. There is no public write endpoint at the time of writing — adding new types requires a backend change.

For app-level prompt context (the markdown blob that conditions the AI agent during runs), use app-knowledge:

# Read the current AppKnowledge content (markdown to stdout)
minitest app-knowledge get --app <app_id>

# Same plus version metadata as JSON
minitest --json app-knowledge get --app <app_id>

# Push a new version inline
minitest app-knowledge update --app <app_id> --content "# App Knowledge\n..."

# Or load it from a file (preferred for non-trivial markdown)
minitest app-knowledge update --app <app_id> --content-file ./app-knowledge.md

app-knowledge update calls PUT /api/v1/apps/{app_id}/app-knowledge and prints the new versionNumber to stdout (full record with --json). Each update creates a new prompt version — there is no rollback shortcut.

4. Upload builds

Upload your .apk (Android) or .ipa (iOS) build artifacts. The platform is auto-detected from the file extension. Only .apk and .ipa files are supported.

Important — virtual-device builds required:

Tests run on simulators/emulators, not physical devices. You must upload builds that are compatible with virtual devices:

• iOS: a Simulator build (.ipa built for the iOS Simulator destination, not a physical device). In Xcode: build for "Any iOS Simulator Device" or a specific Simulator target.
• Android: an x86_64-compatible .apk. Ensure your Gradle build includes the x86_64 ABI.

Uploading a device-only build (e.g. an arm64 iOS archive or an arm-only Android APK) will cause test runs to fail.

minitest --app <app_id> build upload ./app-release.apk
minitest --app <app_id> build upload ./MyApp.ipa
minitest --app <app_id> build list

5. Run tests

Execute a user story on virtual devices. Provide at least one of --ios-build or --android-build; single-platform apps may omit the other.

# Run a single user story (by name or UUID) and wait for results
minitest --app <app_id> run start "User Login" \
  --ios-build <ios_build_id> \
  --android-build <android_build_id>

# Android-only app
minitest --app <app_id> run start "User Login" \
  --android-build <android_build_id>

# Fire-and-forget (returns runId immediately — useful in CI)
minitest --app <app_id> --json run start "User Login" \
  --ios-build <ios_build_id> \
  --android-build <android_build_id> \
  --no-watch

# Run ALL user stories at once (creates one batch, fire-and-forget)
minitest --app <app_id> run all \
  --ios-build <ios_build_id> \
  --android-build <android_build_id>

# Cancel a running or pending run
minitest --app <app_id> run cancel <run_id>

Under the hood, run start and run all create a batch. A single run is just a batch with one user story.

6. Check results

# Check a specific run
minitest --app <app_id> run status <run_id>

# Poll until completion
minitest --app <app_id> run status <run_id> --watch

# List all runs for a user story
minitest --app <app_id> run list "User Login"
minitest --app <app_id> run list "User Login" --status failed
minitest --app <app_id> run list "User Login" --all

Run statuses: pending → running → completed | failed | cancelled

A completed run includes per-platform results: pass/fail for each acceptance criterion, fail reasons, and recording URLs.

7. Work with batches

A batch groups runs triggered together (by run all, CI, or a single run start). Use the batch group to inspect or cancel them.

minitest --app <app_id> batch list                      # recent batches
minitest --app <app_id> batch list --status running
minitest --app <app_id> batch list --commit-sha abc1234
minitest --app <app_id> batch list --user-story <id>
minitest --app <app_id> batch get <batch_id>            # batch + its runs
minitest --app <app_id> batch cancel <batch_id>         # cancels all pending/running runs

Batch statuses: pending | awaiting_build | running | completed | failed | cancelled

8. Verify and acknowledge test maintenance

After making code changes, always check whether the changes affect existing user stories before opening or updating a pull request. Follow this process:

1. Review the impact — look at the code changes and determine if they affect any screens, navigation, or user journeys covered by existing user stories. Use minitest --app <app_id> user-story list to see current user stories and their acceptance criteria.

2. Propose changes to the user and wait for confirmation — if your code changes modify UI, navigation, or behavior covered by existing user stories, do NOT silently update them. Present a clear summary of every proposed change and wait for the user to explicitly approve before running any user-story create, user-story update, or user-story delete commands:

   • New acceptance criteria for new functionality
   • Updated criteria for changed behavior
   • New user stories for entirely new user journeys
   • User stories to delete for removed features

   Never proceed without explicit user approval — the user must have the final say on what gets tested.

3. Acknowledge — once user stories are aligned with the code changes (or the user confirms no update is needed), stamp the HEAD commit:

minitest --app <app_id> maintenance-check "$(git rev-parse HEAD)"

If the app has maintenance checks enabled, a GitHub Check Run "Minitest Maintenance" will appear on the PR. It fails until the HEAD commit is acknowledged. Running maintenance-check flips it to success.

Possible error outcomes:

• "Maintenance check is not enabled" — suggest the user enable automatic test maintenance checks at https://app.minitap.ai/apps/<app_id>/test/settings.
• "App ... has no GitHub repository connected" — the CLI returns a link to https://app.minitap.ai/settings/integrations where the user can connect their GitHub repo.

When to run: after every commit that changes application code, before opening or pushing to a PR. Do not acknowledge without first verifying that user stories are still aligned with the code.

CI / Automation Pattern

# Upload builds, run all user stories, collect results
export MINITEST_APP_ID="<app_id>"

minitest --json build upload ./app.apk
minitest --json build upload ./MyApp.ipa

IOS_BUILD=$(minitest --json build list --platform ios --page-size 1 | jq -r '.[0].id')
ANDROID_BUILD=$(minitest --json build list --platform android --page-size 1 | jq -r '.[0].id')

minitest --json run all \
  --ios-build "$IOS_BUILD" \
  --android-build "$ANDROID_BUILD"

JSON Output

Every command supports --json. JSON goes to stdout (camelCase keys, matching the backend API), diagnostics go to stderr. Safe to pipe:

minitest --json user-story list | jq '.items[].name'
minitest --json run status <run_id> | jq '.status'
minitest --json batch list | jq '.items[] | {id, status, storyRuns: (.storyRuns | length)}'

Quick Reference

Task	Command
List apps	minitest apps list
Create app	minitest apps create --name "My App" [--tenant ID] [--description ...] [--slug ...] [--icon ./icon.png]
Create user story	minitest --app ID user-story create --name "..." --type login --criteria "..."
List user stories	minitest --app ID user-story list
Update user story	minitest --app ID user-story update <id> --add-criteria "..."
List flow types	minitest flow-types list
Read app knowledge	minitest app-knowledge get --app ID
Update app knowledge	minitest app-knowledge update --app ID --content-file ./knowledge.md
Upload build	minitest --app ID build upload ./app.apk
List builds	minitest --app ID build list
Run one user story	minitest --app ID run start "Story Name" --ios-build X --android-build Y
Run all user stories	minitest --app ID run all --ios-build X --android-build Y
Cancel a run	minitest --app ID run cancel <run_id>
Check run	minitest --app ID run status <run_id>
List runs for story	minitest --app ID run list "Story Name"
List batches	minitest --app ID batch list
Get batch + runs	minitest --app ID batch get <batch_id>
Cancel batch	minitest --app ID batch cancel <batch_id>
Ack tests	minitest --app ID maintenance-check $(git rev-parse HEAD)
Auth	minitest auth login