Mention Patrol in the Integration Testing section

[pdenert]

What information needs to be added?

Currently, the Flutter documentation for both app integration testing and plugin testing mentions the integration_test package and native tests like Espresso or XCUITest. The documentation also points out that:

Dart integration tests (...) These are often the most important tests for a plugin. However, Dart integration tests can't interact with native UI, such as native dialogs or the contents of platform views.

The Problem
The current documentation leaves a gap for developers who need to test:

• Permission dialogs (e.g. Location/Camera).
• Interacting with WebViews or PlatformViews.
• System-level interactions (e.g., toggling Wi-Fi, opening the notification tray).

By only mentioning integration_test and native Espress/XCUITest, the docs suggest a high-friction "split" testing strategy. This might give the impression that there is no way to perform true end-to-end testing in Flutter that handles both Flutter code and native interactions. However, such a solution does exist, and it is Patrol.

I propose adding documentation for Patrol, an open-source testing framework that solves this specific problem by allowing Dart tests to interact with native OS features (permission dialogs, notifications, etc.).

Justification
Patrol has become a standard tool in the Flutter ecosystem for advanced E2E testing. Including it in the official docs would:

• Provide developers with a clearer path for "real" E2E testing.
• Clarify that the "native UI" limitation is solvable within the Dart ecosystem.
• Align the docs with modern Flutter testing best practices.

Where should this new content appear?

1. I would like to extend the "Integration testing concepts" page to describe both options: integration_test and Patrol.

2. Add a new page: "Write and run a Patrol test", similar to the one that demonstrates how to use integration_test.

3. Describe the option to use Patrol to test plugins on the https://docs.flutter.dev/testing/testing-plugins page.

I would like to fix this problem.

• I will try and fix this problem on docs.flutter.dev.

[mateuszwojtczak]

cc @craiglabenz @matanlurey

I'm curious about what you think since I once spoke with you about this idea.