Updated (ConstraintLayout 1.1.+)

Use app:layout_constrainedWidth="true" with android:layout_width="wrap_content"

Previously (deprecated):

app:layout_constraintWidth_default="wrap" with android:layout_width="0dp"

Outdated: See better answer

No, you cannot do what you want with ConstraintLayout as it is today (1.0 beta 4):

• wrap_content only asks the widget to measure itself, but won't limit its expansion against eventual constraints
• match_constraints (0dp) will limit the size of the widget against the constraints... but will match them even if wrap_content would have been smaller (your first example), which isn't what you want either.

So right now, you are out of luck for that particular case :-/

Now... we are thinking about adding extra capabilities to match_constraints to deal with this exact scenario (behaving as wrap_content unless the size ends being more than the constraints).

I cannot promise that this new feature will make it before the 1.0 release though.

Edit: we did add this capability in 1.0 with the attribute app:layout_constraintWidth_default="wrap" (with width set to 0dp). If set, the widget will have the same size as if using wrap_content, but will be limited by constraints (i.e. it won't expand beyond them)

UpdateNow those tags are deprecated, instead use layout_width="WRAP_CONTENT" and layout_constrainedWidth="true".

Yep, as mentioned in answer given by Nikolas Roard you should add app:layout_constraintWidth_default="wrap" and set width to 0dp. And to align your bubble right you should set 1.0 for layout_constraintHorizontal_bias.

Here's the final source code:

<android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"    android:layout_width="match_parent"    android:layout_height="match_parent" >    <TextView        android:id="@+id/chat_message"        android:layout_width="0dp"        android:layout_height="wrap_content"        android:padding="16dp"        android:layout_marginTop="8dp"        android:layout_marginStart="64dp"        android:layout_marginEnd="8dp"        android:layout_marginBottom="8dp"        app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="1.0"        app:layout_constraintWidth_default="wrap"        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"        app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"        android:background="@drawable/chat_message_bubble"        android:text="Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Mauris sodales accumsan tortor at bibendum." /></android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>

As a result it looks like: