| name | com.android.vending.install-app |
| clawperator-skill-type | replay |
| description | Search for an Android app in Google Play and install it from the matching app details page. |
Searches Google Play for a named app, opens the matching app details page, and
installs it if needed. The skill does not rely on Play suggestions; it submits
the query, inspects the results surface, opens the matched result, and then
verifies the install outcome from the details page.
Validation commonly targets com.actionlauncher.playstore as the sample app to install.
Install state signals
| State | UI signal | Node attribute |
|---|
| Ready to install | "Install" button | content-desc="Install" or text="Install" |
| Installation in progress | Progress indicator, "Cancel" button | content-desc="Cancel" present, no "Open" yet |
| Just installed (transition) | "Open" and "Cancel" both present, progress at 100% | text="Open" present |
| Installed (settled state) | "Open" and "Uninstall" both present | text="Open" and text="Uninstall" |
| Already installed | Same as settled: "Open" and "Uninstall" | No "Install" present |
| Update available | "Update" button present | text="Update" |
| Paid app / paywall | Price shown instead of "Install" | Text like "$4.99" in place of "Install" |
| Login required | Account picker or sign-in prompt | text="Sign in" or similar |
| Incompatible device | "Not available for your device" | Informational text, no Install button |
Usage
./skills/com.android.vending.install-app/scripts/install_play_app.sh <device_id> <app_name> [operator_package]
Example:
./skills/com.android.vending.install-app/scripts/install_play_app.sh <device_serial> "Spotify"
Output
On success, prints:
- Final install state (installed, already-installed, update-available)
- Any blocking state encountered
- A terminal
✅ summary line
Notes
- The Install button has no resource-id. Matched via
contentDescEquals: "Install".
- The Install button node is
clickable=false but its parent container is clickable=true.
Clawperator clicks the center of the matched node's bounding box, which lands on the
clickable parent. This works correctly.
- Search result matching prefers exact title match, then title prefix match, then
title substring match.
- The runtime now waits on visible search and details-page nodes where possible, and
uses bounded snapshot polling for search submission and install completion instead of
fixed sleeps.
- For apps that take time to download, the runtime verifies progress by repeatedly
running
clawperator snapshot and evaluating the result with parseInstallSignals
until install-state signals such as Open appear, which is more robust than a
fixed sleep. The default timeout in this skill is 120 seconds.
- Free apps with no in-app purchases install without prompts.
- Apps with in-app purchases show a small "In-app purchases" label on the details page
but this does not block the install.
- If the preflight snapshot step returns
success: false with
data.error: "SNAPSHOT_EXTRACTION_FAILED", or the skill exits with "Preflight snapshot
returned empty" despite the device showing the app details page, the clawperator binary
may be out of date with the Android Operator APK. Set CLAWPERATOR_BIN to the
local build:
export CLAWPERATOR_BIN=/path/to/clawperator/apps/node/dist/cli/index.js
Then verify with: clawperator snapshot --device <id>
