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kuri-android

Apps & Automation
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Use kuri-android to drive Android devices and emulators from the CLI via a native Zig adb wire-protocol client. Tap, swipe (scroll), double-tap, long-press, type text, press hardware/navigation keys, take PNG screenshots, dump the UI tree as a flat element list, launch/terminate apps by package, list installed packages, and list attached devices. Talks adb directly over TCP 127.0.0.1:5037 — never shells out to the `adb` binary at runtime. Trigger phrases include "tap on android phone", "screenshot the emulator", "list connected android devices", "dump the android ui tree", "launch chrome on android".

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How to use this skill

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  3. Review the proposed files and risks before you approve installation.
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I want to install this Agent Skill for this project in Codex.

Source SKILL.md: https://github.com/justrach/kuri/blob/HEAD/.claude/skills/kuri-android/SKILL.md

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Copying this prompt does not install or run the skill. Review third-party files before use. Codex skill guide

kuri-android

Drive Android devices and emulators through the kuri android subcommand. Implementation lives in kuri-mobile/src/android/ and the main kuri binary forwards kuri android … to the kuri-mobile binary.

When to use this skill

  • Enumerate attached Android devices / running emulators.
  • Send taps, swipes, long-presses, key events, or text to a phone.
  • Capture a PNG screenshot with screencap -p.
  • Dump the UI tree (via uiautomator dump) and act on element refs.
  • Launch / terminate Android apps by package name.
  • List installed packages.

Do not use this skill for:

  • iOS — use the kuri-ios skill instead.
  • Running arbitrary JavaScript on-device (no on-device driver in v1).

Prerequisites

  • adb on $PATH and an adb server reachable on 127.0.0.1:5037. Install on macOS with brew install android-platform-tools then run adb start-server once.
  • A connected device with USB debugging enabled, or a running emulator.
  • kuri-mobile built and either on $PATH or next to the kuri binary (zig-out/bin/kuri-mobile).

Build

cd kuri-mobile
zig build
cp zig-out/bin/kuri-mobile ../zig-out/bin/
zig build test    # unit tests: adb framing, uitree parser, usbmuxd plist

Typical flow

# 1. Confirm adb is reachable and a device is listed
adb start-server
kuri android list-devices
# emulator-5554	device

# 2. Launch an app, wait, screenshot
kuri android launch com.android.chrome
sleep 3
kuri android screenshot chrome.png

# 3. Read the UI as a flat element list
kuri android uitree
# @e0 Button "Sign in" @100,200-980,300 *clickable
# @e1 TextView "Welcome" @40,120-700,180
# ...

# 4. Interact
kuri android tap 540 1200
kuri android swipe 100 1500 100 500 250       # scroll up
kuri android type "hello world"
kuri android press back

Full command surface

CommandPurpose
kuri android list-devicesEnumerate via host:devices
kuri android tap <x> <y>Single tap at coords
kuri android double-tap <x> <y>Double tap
kuri android long-press <x> <y> [ms]Long press, default 800 ms
kuri android swipe <x1> <y1> <x2> <y2> [ms]Swipe / scroll (alias: scroll)
kuri android type <text...>Type text via input text
kuri android press <button>`home
kuri android screenshot [path.png]PNG from exec:screencap -p
kuri android uitreeFlat element list from uiautomator dump
kuri android launch <package>monkey -p <pkg> -c LAUNCHER 1
kuri android terminate <package>am force-stop
kuri android list-appspm list packages

Global flag: --serial <id> — target a specific device. Omit when exactly one device is attached.

Native Zig surfaces (honesty)

  • adb wire protocol is re-implemented in Zig. We open a libc TCP socket to 127.0.0.1:5037, speak the 4-hex-digit length framing, issue host:devices, host:transport:<serial>, shell: and exec: services, and read framed or stream responses. We never shell out to the adb binary at runtime.
  • UI tree parser is a Zig XML scanner that flattens uiautomator dump XML into a stable @e<n> element list with bounds, text, content-desc, resource-id, clickable, enabled.
  • Device-side commands (screencap, uiautomator dump, input, monkey, am, pm) are Android OS binaries that the device's shell runs — we just frame the requests over adb from Zig.

Intentional limits

  • ASCII-only text typing. Non-ASCII needs an IME workaround, not bundled.
  • No on-device driver, so no run_code JavaScript sandbox.
  • No bundled emulator image — you provide the device or the emulator.

Common errors and what they mean

MessageFix
could not reach adb server on 127.0.0.1:5037. Is 'adb start-server' running?Run adb start-server.
no device attached. Plug in a phone with USB debugging enabled, or boot an emulator.Connect a device or boot an emulator; confirm with adb devices.
adb returned FAIL — see the warning log above for details.Check the preceding warn-level log line; usually device state (unauthorized, offline).
unknown button name; see 'kuri-mobile android' for the supported list.Use one of the documented button names.