Skip to main content
The patrol doctor command checks your development environment and reports the status of all required tools for running Patrol tests.

​
Synopsis

patrol doctor

​
Description

This command validates your development environment by checking:
  • Patrol CLI version
  • Flutter installation and version
  • Android development tools (adb, ANDROID_HOME)
  • iOS/macOS development tools (xcodebuild, ideviceinstaller)
  • Web development tools (Node.js, npm)
Use this command when:
  • Setting up Patrol for the first time
  • Troubleshooting test execution issues
  • Verifying environment configuration on CI/CD
  • Checking if all required tools are installed

​
Basic Usage

patrol doctor

​
Output

The command produces a comprehensive report of your development environment: 
Patrol doctor:
Patrol CLI version: 3.0.0
✓ Flutter command: flutter
  Flutter 3.22.0 • channel stable
Android:
✓ • Program adb found in /Users/user/Library/Android/sdk/platform-tools/adb
✓ • Env var $ANDROID_HOME set to /Users/user/Library/Android/sdk
iOS / macOS:
✓ • Program xcodebuild found in /usr/bin/xcodebuild
✓ • Program ideviceinstaller found in /opt/homebrew/bin/ideviceinstaller
Web:
✓ • Program node found in /usr/local/bin/node
✓ • Program npm found in /usr/local/bin/npm

​
What Gets Checked

​
Patrol CLI

Version Information Displays the currently installed Patrol CLI version. 
Patrol CLI version: 3.0.0

​
Flutter

Flutter Command Verifies that the Flutter command is accessible and working. 
✓ Flutter command: flutter
  Flutter 3.22.0 • channel stable
If Flutter is not found: 
✗ Invalid Flutter command: flutter
You can customize the Flutter command using the --flutter-command flag or PATROL_FLUTTER_COMMAND environment variable.

​
Android Tools

adb (Android Debug Bridge) Required for communicating with Android devices and emulators. 
✓ • Program adb found in /Users/user/Library/Android/sdk/platform-tools/adb
If not found: 
✗ • Program adb not found (install with `export PATH="$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools:$PATH"`)
ANDROID_HOME Environment Variable Required for Android development. 
✓ • Env var $ANDROID_HOME set to /Users/user/Library/Android/sdk
If not set: 
✗ • Env var $ANDROID_HOME is not set. (See the link: https://developer.android.com/tools/variables#set)

​
iOS / macOS Tools

iOS/macOS tools are only checked on macOS systems.
xcodebuild Required for building and running iOS/macOS apps. 
✓ • Program xcodebuild found in /usr/bin/xcodebuild
If not found: 
✗ • Program xcodebuild not found (Install Xcode on your Mac)
ideviceinstaller Required for installing apps on physical iOS devices. 
✓ • Program ideviceinstaller found in /opt/homebrew/bin/ideviceinstaller
If not found: 
✗ • Program ideviceinstaller not found (install with `brew install ideviceinstaller`)

​
Web Tools

Node.js Required for running Patrol tests on the web platform. 
✓ • Program node found in /usr/local/bin/node
If not found: 
✗ • Program node not found (Install Node.js)
npm Required for managing web dependencies. 
✓ • Program npm found in /usr/local/bin/npm
If not found: 
✗ • Program npm not found (Install npm)

​
Fixing Common Issues

​
Android Setup

Missing adb
  1. Install Android SDK
  2. Add platform-tools to your PATH:
export PATH="$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools:$PATH"
Add this to your ~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, or equivalent. Missing ANDROID_HOME Set the environment variable to your Android SDK location: macOS/Linux: 
export ANDROID_HOME="$HOME/Library/Android/sdk"
Windows: 
setx ANDROID_HOME "C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk"
See Android documentation for detailed instructions.

​
iOS Setup (macOS only)

Missing xcodebuild Install Xcode from the Mac App Store or Apple Developer. Missing ideviceinstaller Install using Homebrew: 
brew install ideviceinstaller
ideviceinstaller is required only if you plan to test on physical iOS devices. It’s not needed for simulators.

​
Web Setup

Missing Node.js or npm Download and install Node.js from nodejs.org, which includes npm. Or use a version manager like nvm: 
# Install nvm
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.0/install.sh | bash

# Install Node.js
nvm install node

​
Exit Codes

  • 0: Always returns success (even if checks fail)
The command is informational and does not fail based on missing tools. It’s up to you to review the output and install missing dependencies.

​
Examples

​
Basic health check

patrol doctor

​
Check with custom Flutter command

patrol doctor --flutter-command "fvm flutter"
Or using environment variable: 
export PATROL_FLUTTER_COMMAND="fvm flutter"
patrol doctor

​
On CI/CD

Use in your CI pipeline to verify the environment: 
# GitHub Actions example
- name: Check Patrol environment
  run: patrol doctor

​
When to Use

Initial Setup Run after installing Patrol CLI to ensure all dependencies are present: 
dart pub global activate patrol_cli
patrol doctor
Troubleshooting If patrol test or other commands fail, run doctor to diagnose: 
patrol doctor
# Review output and fix any issues
patrol test
CI/CD Validation Add to your CI pipeline to catch environment issues early: 
patrol doctor
patrol test

​
Understanding the Output

  • ✓ (green checkmark): Tool found and working
  • ✗ (red X): Tool not found or issue detected
  • Hints in parentheses show how to fix issues
All checks are performed, even if some fail. This gives you a complete picture of your environment.

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get started for freeTalk to us