| name | android-emulator |
| description | Create, launch, and diagnose Android emulators (AVD) on Apple Silicon via the
make-avd CLI: optimal RAM/CPU/GPU settings for M1 Max, host-GPU rendering,
cold boot, ANR/CPU-starvation troubleshooting.
Use when: "создай эмулятор", "сделай AVD", "настрой AVD", "create an emulator", "make an AVD"
|
Android Emulator on Apple Silicon
Companion skill for the make-avd CLI (~/.local/bin/make-avd). It creates
AVDs with settings proven and launches them with the right flags.
Quick start
command -v make-avd
make-avd doctor
make-avd 35
make-avd 36 --name pixel36
make-avd launch api35
make-avd list
make-avd <api> is idempotent: if the AVD exists it re-enforces the tuned
config instead of failing; --recreate rebuilds from scratch. It waits for
sys.boot_completed, then prints guest loadavg and a network check.
Why these defaults (keep them as-is)
| Setting | Value | Reason |
|---|
| hw.gpu.mode | host | auto silently resolves to lavapipe/swiftshader (CPU rasterizer) on this host → guest loadavg 20–40, SystemUI/Launcher ANR. host = gfxstream/ANGLE on Metal GPU. Guest ANGLE is unstable for API > 35 (emulator's own boot warning). |
| hw.ramSize | 4096 | Play Store image eats ~1.7 GB right after boot; 2048 keeps the guest in permanent memory pressure (kswapd + LMK kill SystemUI). |
| hw.cpu.ncore | 6 | 6 of 8 P-cores for vCPUs; leaves headroom for the host and QEMU's own render/IO threads. 4 was too few for boot storms; 8+ starves QEMU itself. |
| vm.heapSize | 512 | Default 228 MB caps per-app Dalvik heap; WebView-heavy apps GC-storm and ANR. |
| disk.dataPartition.size | 16G | 6G fills with GMS/Play updates; qcow2 grows lazily so 16G costs only what's written. |
cold boot (-no-snapshot) | on | Quickboot snapshot restore skews the guest clock: ping rtt in quadrillions of ms, false ANR watchdogs, dead TCP feeds (live quote streams hang on "connecting"). Cold boot with these settings takes ~18–40 s. |
-no-audio | on | Host CoreAudio runs through eqMac; emulator audio adds stutter and load. |
| on-screen keyboard | forced on | We almost always want the full on-screen keyboard, like a real phone. But hw.keyboard=yes (host-keyboard passthrough, convenient for typing) also registers a virtual ALPHAKEY device, so Android hides the soft IME — text fields focus with a cursor but no visible keyboard (very visible inside WebViews / when driving via adb input). make-avd fixes this by setting show_ime_with_hard_keyboard=1 right after boot. Persists across reboots. Must be applied at boot (before any input connection): setting it mid-session does NOT take effect and needs a device reboot. |
launch via launchctl submit | built-in | A shell with darwin background QoS (scripts, agents, cron) pins all vCPUs to the 2 E-cores: host shows qemu at PRI 4 / ~45% CPU while the guest reports loadavg 30+ and ANR-storms. launchd spawns the emulator at normal QoS (PRI ≥ 20) regardless of caller. |
| emulator ≥ 36.6 | required | 36.5.10 on macOS 26 stalls the host-GPU display pipeline (SystemUI "failed to complete startup" ANRs with an idle CPU, hung screencap). |
API level choice
Both are verified healthy on this machine (2026-07): API 35 cold-boots in
~18 s, API 36 in ~39 s, both with 0 ANRs, guest loadavg < 1 at idle, working
TCP/DNS, ~400 ms app cold starts. API 35 (Android 15) already has the
edge-to-edge + IME insets behavior, so it is a safe default; API 36 needs
emulator ≥ 36.6.11 and image rev ≥ 7 (google_apis_playstore;
android-36.1 has no Play Store variant installed). If an API level
misbehaves, run make-avd doctor first, then check
troubleshooting.md.
Emulator slow / ANR again?
Work through the checklist in
troubleshooting.md — HVF check, host
background load, stuck qemu processes, GPU mode verification inside
hardware-qemu.ini, guest loadavg/clock checks, SDK updates.
