DevTools integration tests failing with exception:`Could not find package app_that_uses_foo or file app_that_uses_foo`

[elliette]

Parent issue: #9357

The DevTools integration tests have periodically begun failing with the exception: "Could not find package app_that_uses_foo or file app_that_uses_foo"

This is happening both for the devtools_extension_test (which does specify app_that_uses_foo) and the network_screen_test (which does not).

devtools_extension_test example:

https://github.com/flutter/devtools/actions/runs/16841001530/job/47712014217

stack trace

2025-08-08 21:44:02.774895: Attempting to run: integration_test/test/live_connection/devtools_extensions_test.dart
2025-08-08 21:44:02.858338: creating a TestDartCliApp with path ../devtools_extensions/example/app_that_uses_foo
2025-08-08 21:44:02.858385: starting the test app
2025-08-08 21:44:02.858398: _TestApp - starting the test app process for ../devtools_extensions/example/app_that_uses_foo
2025-08-08 21:44:02.862827: _TestApp - process started (pid 20856)
2025-08-08 21:44:02.863018: _TestApp - waiting for app start...
2025-08-08 21:44:02.906503: _TestApp - Could not find package `app_that_uses_foo` or file `app_that_uses_foo`
2025-08-08 21:44:02.907637: _TestApp - Process exited (255)
2025-08-08 21:48:03.013814: killing the chromedriver process
2025-08-08 21:48:03.014531: Cancelling all stream subscriptions for process 13535 before killing.
2025-08-08 21:48:03.014688: Sending SIGTERM to 13535.
Unhandled exception:
Exception: Error starting test app: Did not receive expected message: The Dart VM service is listening on .
Received:
[+    43] Could not find package `app_that_uses_foo` or file `app_that_uses_foo`
[+    44] Process exited (255)
[+ 240136] <timed out>

#0      runFlutterIntegrationTest (file:///Users/runner/work/devtools/devtools/packages/devtools_app/integration_test/test_infra/run/run_test.dart:107:9)
<asynchronous suspension>
#1      _runTest (file:///Users/runner/work/devtools/devtools/packages/devtools_app/integration_test/run_tests.dart:84:3)
<asynchronous suspension>
#2      runOneOrManyTests (package:devtools_shared/src/test/integration_test_runner.dart:350:9)
<asynchronous suspension>
#3      main (file:///Users/runner/work/devtools/devtools/packages/devtools_app/integration_test/run_tests.dart:53:3)
<asynchronous suspension>

network_test example:

https://github.com/flutter/devtools/actions/runs/16840828383/job/47711440185

stack trace

+ dart run integration_test/run_tests.dart --test-app-device=cli --headless --shard=1/1
ChromeDriver - Starting ChromeDriver 138.0.7204.168 (3e8d82e86e9f508e88ed406c2a24657a6c691d30-refs/branch-heads/7204@{#2081}) on port 4444
ChromeDriver - Only local connections are allowed.
ChromeDriver - Please see https://chromedriver.chromium.org/security-considerations for suggestions on keeping ChromeDriver safe.
ChromeDriver - ChromeDriver was started successfully on port 4444.
FlutterDriveProcess - Downloading Web SDK...                                           2,063ms
FlutterDriveProcess - Resolving dependencies in `/Users/runner/work/devtools/devtools`...
FlutterDriveProcess - Downloading packages...
FlutterDriveProcess -   _fe_analyzer_shared 85.0.0 (87.0.0 available)
FlutterDriveProcess -   analyzer 7.7.1 (8.1.0 available)
FlutterDriveProcess -   build 2.5.4 (3.0.1 available)
FlutterDriveProcess -   build_resolvers 2.5.4 (3.0.1 available)
FlutterDriveProcess -   build_runner 2.5.4 (2.6.1 available)
FlutterDriveProcess -   build_runner_core 9.1.2 (9.2.1 available)
FlutterDriveProcess -   characters 1.4.0 (1.4.1 available)
FlutterDriveProcess -   dart_style 3.1.1 (3.1.2 available)
FlutterDriveProcess -   flutter_lints 5.0.0 (6.0.0 available)
FlutterDriveProcess -   intl 0.19.0 (0.20.2 available)
FlutterDriveProcess -   json_rpc_2 3.0.3 (4.0.0 available)
FlutterDriveProcess -   lints 5.1.1 (6.0.0 available)
FlutterDriveProcess -   material_color_utilities 0.11.1 (0.13.0 available)
FlutterDriveProcess -   mockito 5.4.6 (5.5.0 available)
FlutterDriveProcess -   protobuf 3.1.0 (4.1.1 available)
FlutterDriveProcess - ! source_gen 2.0.0 (overridden) (3.0.0 available)
FlutterDriveProcess -   unified_analytics 7.0.2 (8.0.5 available)
FlutterDriveProcess -   vm_service_protos 1.0.0 (2.0.0 available)
FlutterDriveProcess - Got dependencies in `/Users/runner/work/devtools/devtools`!
FlutterDriveProcess - 18 packages have newer versions incompatible with dependency constraints.
FlutterDriveProcess - Try `flutter pub outdated` for more information.
FlutterDriveProcess - Launching integration_test/test/live_connection/network_screen_test.dart on Web Server in debug mode...
FlutterDriveProcess - Waiting for connection from debug service on Web Server...         38.2s
FlutterDriveProcess - integration_test/test/live_connection/network_screen_test.dart is being served at http://localhost:49472
FlutterDriveProcess - The web-server device requires the Dart Debug Chrome extension for debugging. Consider using the Chrome or Edge devices for an improved development workflow.
FlutterDriveProcess - result {"result":"true","failureDetails":[]}
FlutterDriveProcess - All tests passed.
FlutterDriveProcess - Application finished.
Unhandled exception:
Exception: Error starting test app: Did not receive expected message: The Dart VM service is listening on .
Received:
[+    50] Could not find package `app_that_uses_foo` or file `app_that_uses_foo`
[+    51] Process exited (255)
[+ 240129] <timed out>

#0      runFlutterIntegrationTest (file:///Users/runner/work/devtools/devtools/packages/devtools_app/integration_test/test_infra/run/run_test.dart:107:9)
<asynchronous suspension>
#1      _runTest (file:///Users/runner/work/devtools/devtools/packages/devtools_app/integration_test/run_tests.dart:84:3)
<asynchronous suspension>
#2      runOneOrManyTests (package:devtools_shared/src/test/integration_test_runner.dart:350:9)
<asynchronous suspension>
#3      main (file:///Users/runner/work/devtools/devtools/packages/devtools_app/integration_test/run_tests.dart:53:3)
<asynchronous suspension>

[elliette]

cc @srawlins

I noticed that app_that_uses_foo is in the devtools_extensions package: packages/devtools_extensions/example/app_that_uses_foo

Whereas all the other test apps we are using in our integration tests are in the devtools_app package (same directory our integration tests are running in). e.g. packages/devtools_app/test/test_infra/fixtures/memory_app

I wonder if this could explain why the directory is not being found.

[srawlins]

Ah interesting, as per the parent issue, is this only seen in the flutter tests repo, "occasionally"? Or has it also been happening on PRs in this repo?

[elliette]

It's happening in PRs in this repo (and in fact because our tests in the Flutter customer repo have been disabled for > 1 month, this was only caught when I tried to update to the latest Flutter candidate in this repo.)