android

name	android
description	Android platform development for Pulp — NDK cross-compilation, Oboe audio, Dawn/Skia GPU rendering, JNI bridge, touch interaction, emulator workflows, and end-to-end smoke validation. Covers build, deploy, debug, and the gotchas discovered during bringup.
requires	{"scripts":["tools/cmake/PulpAndroid.cmake","tools/scripts/android_smoke.sh"],"tools":["adb","emulator"]}

Android Skill

Build, deploy, and debug Pulp on Android. This skill captures the architecture decisions and hard-won gotchas from the Android platform bringup.

Pre-flight: plugin ↔ CLI skew check

Before running pulp doctor android / pulp build / pulp ship for Android work, source the shared skew-check helper so a user on an outdated CLI sees a one-line hint (stderr, once per session) before wrestling with a confusing flag-missing error:

source "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)/tools/scripts/cli_version_check.sh"
pulp_cli_version_check

Advisory only. Full release-discovery contract in the upgrade skill.

Architecture Overview

Kotlin (Android UI)          C++ (Pulp core)
├── PulpApplication          ├── libpulp.so (arm64)
│   └── System.loadLibrary   │   ├── core/* subsystems
├── PulpSurfaceView          │   ├── Dawn (Vulkan backend)
│   ├── SurfaceHolder.Cb     │   ├── Skia Graphite
│   └── onTouchEvent ──JNI──→│   └── Oboe audio
├── PulpActivity             │
├── PulpAudioService         └── gpu_surface_android.cpp
└── PulpMidiService              ├── Surface lifecycle
                                 ├── Touch → View routing
                                 └── Widget hierarchy

Key Files

File	Purpose
tools/cmake/PulpAndroid.cmake	NDK toolchain integration, Oboe, platform wiring
core/render/platform/android/gpu_surface_android.cpp	Vulkan surface, touch routing, widget hierarchy
android/app/src/main/kotlin/com/pulp/render/PulpSurfaceView.kt	SurfaceView + touch dispatch
android/app/src/main/kotlin/com/pulp/PulpApplication.kt	JNI load, lifecycle
core/platform/src/android/jni_bridge.cpp	JNI_OnLoad, class caching, exception guards
tools/build-skia-android.sh	Skia Graphite + Dawn arm64 build script

Branch & Worktree

Android work lives on feature/android-targeting, typically in a worktree at ../pulp-android:

# Create worktree (if not already present)
git worktree add ../pulp-android feature/android-targeting

# Always work in the worktree, not the main repo
cd ../pulp-android

Verify dev environment first

Before any Android work — pulp doctor android is the single-stop verifier. It checks:

• Android SDK location (ANDROID_HOME, ANDROID_SDK_ROOT, or per-host default at ~/Library/Android/sdk / ~/Android/Sdk / %LOCALAPPDATA%\Android\Sdk).
• NDK install + version listing.
• adb (platform-tools) on PATH or under the SDK.
• emulator + at least one configured AVD.
• Optional accelerator — Google's Android CLI for faster agent-driven iteration. See § "Android CLI accelerator" below for when to reach for it and which platforms ship a binary.

Each missing piece comes with a per-host install hint (brew / apt / winget / sdkmanager).

Android CLI — what it actually is, when to reach for it

Google's "Android CLI" (the android binary at ~/.android-cli/bin/android after install) is not a Gradle replacement — there is no android build subcommand. It's an agent-side toolkit that bundles:

Command	What you'd otherwise do
android create [template]	Scaffold a new project from a template (vs. Android Studio's New Project wizard). android create list shows the templates.
android describe	Emit project metadata as JSON — apk paths, build targets, etc. The agent reads this instead of poking around app/build/outputs.
android run --apks=…	adb install + am start rolled into one. Does not build — you give it pre-built APKs.
android emulator create/list/start/stop	AVD lifecycle without avdmanager. ⚠️ emulator subcommands disabled on Windows; use $ANDROID_HOME/emulator/emulator.exe directly there.
android layout [-d]	Dump the running app's view hierarchy as JSON; -d returns just what changed since the last call.
android screen capture / screen resolve	Screenshot + label-to-coordinates so the agent can input tap #5 style scripting.
android docs search/fetch	Query the Android Knowledge Base from the CLI (kb:// URLs).
android sdk install/list/remove/update	Replaces sdkmanager for package management.
android skills add/remove/list/find	Install Google's published Android Skills (see § Catalog below).
android init	One-shot install of the android-cli skill into the host agent's skill directory.
android info	Print the active SDK path.
android update / -V	Self-update / version check.

So: Pulp's actual build still runs through Gradle + CMake/NDK — the CLI doesn't accelerate that leg. What the CLI accelerates is agent productivity (less hand-rolled adb scripting, less manual screenshot capture, structured project metadata).

Platform support matrix (Google-published)

Host	CLI binary	Use it?
macOS arm64	✅	Yes — fast-iteration mode. Install via pulp doctor android hint.
Linux x86_64	✅	Yes — same as above.
Windows x86_64	✅	Yes — but note: per Google's Known Issues, the android emulator subcommand is currently disabled on Windows. Run the emulator directly from %ANDROID_HOME%\emulator\emulator.exe (which pulp doctor android already discovers). The build subcommand is unaffected.
Linux arm64	❌	No binary. Stay on Gradle. Pulp's CI Linux ARM64 host (ssh ubuntu) is in this bucket.
Windows arm64	❌	No binary. Stay on Gradle. Pulp's ssh win2 ARM64 Windows host is in this bucket.
macOS Intel	❌	Not in Google's matrix. Stay on Gradle.

pulp doctor android reports your host's status under "Google Android CLI (optional accelerator)" — green when the binary is installed on a supported host, green-with-explanation on unsupported hosts (no install hint to follow), yellow with an install command on supported hosts where the binary is absent.

When to reach for it

• Iterating on the Kotlin shell: you've changed C++, rebuilt via Gradle (or pulp build --android once that wraps it), and now need to push the APK + relaunch: android run --apks=android/app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apk is faster than adb install + am start with the right activity.
• UI scripting from the agent: android layout -d followed by android screen capture --annotate + screen resolve lets you drive the running app without computing tap coordinates by hand.
• Project scaffolding: android create empty-activity-agp-9 is a defensible starting point if Pulp's example Android shell ever needs regenerating from a current AGP template.
• Knowledge-base lookups: android docs search 'foreground service lifecycle' is the agent-facing replacement for hand-rolling developer.android.com queries.

When NOT to use it

• Builds — there is no android build. Gradle (+ Pulp's CMake NDK invocation) stays the authoritative path. Don't claim the CLI is a build accelerator; it isn't.
• Release / signing — Gradle through pulp ship is the only store-grade path. The CLI's run is debug-install only.
• Audio probe defaults — generated Android app templates pass -DPULP_ENABLE_AUDIO_PROBES=OFF; the standalone audio probes are a dev/examples diagnostic surface, not something generated app builds should ship accidentally.
• CI — Pulp's CI runs on mixed-arch hosts (Linux ARM64 via ssh ubuntu, Windows ARM64 via ssh win2) where the CLI binary doesn't exist. CI scripts use adb / gradle directly.
• NDK / C++ rebuilds — out of scope for the CLI.

Agent compatibility

The Android CLI is agent-agnostic. Per Google's own docs (developer.android.com/tools/agents): "Use any agent of your choice while still being able to easily leverage Android development best practices." Claude Code, Codex, plain bash — all use it the same way. It is not Gemini-locked.

Empirical note

The Android CLI binary itself installs cleanly and android info / android emulator list / android skills list work. But android run --apks=... needs a successfully-built APK first, and Pulp's ./gradlew assembleDebug can fail for reasons outside the CLI's reach (stale local checkout missing tools/cmake/PulpInstrumentation.cmake, NDK version mismatch with AGP, etc.). Treat the CLI as a post-build amplifier; it doesn't fix build-stage breakage.

A future pulp doctor android extension should add a "build-configures-cleanly" check (run ./gradlew :app:configureCMakeDebug --dry-run and grep for CMake Error) so the agent catches stale-checkout / missing-NDK issues before attempting a full build cycle.

Fallback contract

There is no pulp flag that wraps the CLI today, and given the CLI's actual command surface (no build subcommand) there's no clean wrap to add. The CLI is invoked directly:

android run --apks=android/app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apk
android layout -p
android screen capture --output=ui.png

When the CLI is absent, fall back to the underlying tools the CLI itself wraps:

CLI absent → use this instead
android run --apks=X → adb install -r X && adb shell am start -n com.pulp/.MainActivity
android layout → adb shell uiautomator dump
android screen capture → adb exec-out screencap -p > ui.png
android emulator start → $ANDROID_HOME/emulator/emulator -avd <name>
android sdk install/list → $ANDROID_HOME/cmdline-tools/.../bin/sdkmanager (if installed) or via Android Studio
android docs search → just google it

pulp doctor android reports CLI status; if it's missing the agent should fall back to these commands without asking.

Google's Android Skills catalog (github.com/android/skills)

Google publishes a set of agent skills under the agentskills.io open standard at github.com/android/skills. These follow the same SKILL.md + frontmatter convention Pulp uses, so any agent that loads .agents/skills/ can also consume them by cloning the Android repo into its skill search path.

Pulp-relevant skills (curated subset)

Not all 6 published skills apply to Pulp's Android target. Pulp's Android UI is C++/Skia rendered to a SurfaceView, not Jetpack Compose, so the Compose-flavoured skills are inert here.

Google skill	Path	Pulp relevance
AGP 9 upgrade	build/agp/agp-9-upgrade	✅ Use when bumping android/app/build.gradle.kts past AGP 8.x. Skill walks the migration steps; pair with pulp doctor android to confirm Gradle/SDK versions.
R8 analyzer	performance/r8-analyzer	🟡 Use only if/when Pulp's Android shell ever enables R8 shrink/optimize. Pulp ships JNI bridges (com.pulp.*) that need explicit -keep rules; R8 audit is the right tool when that day comes.
Make app edge-to-edge	system/edge-to-edge	✅ Pulp's full-screen Vulkan Surface should declare edge-to-edge support so the system bars don't crop the canvas. Useful when wiring WindowCompat.setDecorFitsSystemWindows.
Migrate to Compose	jetpack-compose/...	❌ N/A — Pulp UI is C++/Skia, not Compose.
Set up Navigation 3	navigation/...	❌ N/A — Pulp's shell is single-Activity SurfaceView; no Compose Navigation.
Upgrade Play Billing	play/...	❌ N/A — Pulp doesn't ship in-app purchases.

How to install

Three options, in order of preference for an agent context:

1. android skills add (requires the Android CLI):

   android skills add --all                # install everything for detected agents
   android skills add --skill=edge-to-edge # install just one
   android skills add --agent=claude-code --skill=agp-9-upgrade
   

   android skills add defaults to ~/.gemini/antigravity/skills if no agents are detected, so pass --agent explicitly when installing for Claude Code or Codex. List installed skills with android skills list --long. android init is a one-shot helper that installs only the android-cli skill into the host agent.

2. Clone the repo if you want to read or version-pin offline:

   git clone https://github.com/android/skills \
       ~/.agents/external/android-skills
   

   Then add the relevant subdirectory to the agent's skill search path manually.

3. WebFetch ad-hoc when the applicability is one-off — the Android skills are short Markdown files and the raw URL is stable.

When in doubt, ask pulp doctor android first — it'll confirm the CLI is present so android skills add is even an option.

Build

Cross-compile for Android

# NDK must be installed (Android Studio SDK Manager or standalone)
# Set NDK path — typically:
export ANDROID_NDK=$HOME/Library/Android/sdk/ndk/30.0.8

# Configure for Android arm64
cmake -S . -B build-android \
  -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=$ANDROID_NDK/build/cmake/android.toolchain.cmake \
  -DANDROID_ABI=arm64-v8a \
  -DANDROID_NATIVE_API_LEVEL=26 \
  -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release

# Build
tools/ci/governed-build.sh cmake --build build-android

Android Skia must be built from source — there is NO prebuilt slice. The danielraffel/skia-builder release fork ships ios / linux / mac slices but no android asset (verified at chrome/m151 + m150). So unlike the other platforms (which fetch_skia_for_release.py downloads), Android Skia comes from:

export ANDROID_HOME=$HOME/Library/Android/sdk
export ANDROID_NDK_HOME=$ANDROID_HOME/ndk/<version>
SKIA_BRANCH=chrome/m151 bash tools/build-skia-android.sh   # needs `ninja` on PATH
# -> external/skia-build/android-gpu/lib/Release/*.a (gitignored; headers under
#    external/skia-build/include/android/** ARE tracked). For the x86_64 emulator
#    set ANDROID_ABI=x86_64 and FindSkia.cmake picks android-gpu-x86_64/.

ninja: command not found is the usual first failure (brew install ninja); gn is fetched by the script. libdawn_combined.a may come out as a tiny stub (WebGPU/Dawn for Android is a separate concern from the Skia raster libs).

Build the APK

cd android
./gradlew assembleDebug
# Output: android/app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apk

Host build (for tests)

# Regular host build still works in the android worktree
cmake -S . -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug
tools/ci/governed-build.sh cmake --build build
ctest --test-dir build --output-on-failure

Keep Gradle redistribution and outputs clean

The committed wrapper files (android/gradlew, gradlew.bat, and gradle/wrapper/**) are redistributed tooling, not generated build output. Keep the pinned Gradle version, wrapper JAR SHA-256, and Apache-2.0 attribution in sync across tools/deps/manifest.json, DEPENDENCIES.md, NOTICE.md, and docs/reference/licensing.md. tools/deps/audit.py --strict detects a wrapper JAR that is missing from the inventory.

Gradle output directories (android/.gradle/ and every android/**/build/) must remain ignored. In particular, never commit android/build/reports/problems/problems-report.html: it is generated, machine-specific, and embeds third-party report assets.

Deploy & Test on Emulator

Start emulator

# List available AVDs
emulator -list-avds

# CRITICAL: use -gpu host, NOT swiftshader_indirect
# swiftshader is a CPU software rasterizer that starves the audio HAL,
# causing pcm_writei I/O errors and permanent audio dropout.
# -gpu host uses Metal/MoltenVK on Apple Silicon — fast, stable audio.
QEMU_AUDIO_DRV=coreaudio emulator -avd Medium_Phone_API_36 -gpu host -no-snapshot &

# Wait for boot
adb wait-for-device
adb shell getprop sys.boot_completed  # returns "1" when ready

Install and launch

adb install -r android/app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apk
adb shell am start -n com.pulp/.PulpActivity

# If killed for slow start (Dawn init takes 3+ seconds), just retry:
adb shell am start -n com.pulp/.PulpActivity

Screenshot verification

adb exec-out screencap -p > /tmp/pulp-android.png
# View with: open /tmp/pulp-android.png

Touch testing via adb

# Tap at coordinates (dp)
adb shell input tap 200 400

# Drag (swipe) from point A to point B over 300ms
adb shell input swipe 200 400 200 300 300

# Take screenshot after to verify state changed
sleep 0.5 && adb exec-out screencap -p > /tmp/after-tap.png

Native drag-and-drop (inbound)

PulpSurfaceView accepts dropped files and routes them into the C++ view tree's shared dispatch_drop core (the same core the mac/win/linux/iOS hosts use). The wiring mirrors touch:

• Kotlin (PulpSurfaceView.kt): setOnDragListener → ACTION_DRAG_STARTED accepts any drag with items; ACTION_DROP calls requestDragAndDropPermissions(event) (needed to read another app's content:// URIs), copies each ClipData URI into cacheDir/dropped/ via ContentResolver.openInputStream (the C++ side needs filesystem paths — content:// URIs are not openable by path), then nativeOnDrop(paths, x, y).
• JNI (gpu_surface_android_jni.cpp): nativeOnDrop marshals the jobjectArray of paths → std::vector<std::string> → android_on_drop.
• C++ (gpu_surface_android.cpp): android_on_drop converts px→dp (÷ g_display_density, like touch) and calls dispatch_drop(*g_root_view, …).

Architecture note: Android has NO WindowHost/PluginViewHost — the tree is the global g_root_view in gpu_surface_android.cpp, so View::start_file_drag has no host pointer to dispatch through. Outbound is therefore wired via a process-global drag backend: drag_drop.hpp's set_file_drag_backend() / invoke_file_drag_backend() — View::start_file_drag calls the registered backend as a last resort when no host handles the drag. The Android JNI bridge caches the PulpSurfaceView (GlobalRef) at surfaceCreated and registers a backend that up-calls Kotlin startFileDrag(String[]): Boolean (via get_env() + CallBooleanMethod), which builds a ClipData of FileProvider content:// URIs (${applicationId}.fileprovider, declared in the manifest + res/xml/file_paths.xml) and runs View.startDragAndDrop with DRAG_FLAG_GLOBAL | DRAG_FLAG_GLOBAL_URI_READ. Call start_file_drag from a touch handler (UI thread); off-thread it posts and reports optimistic success. JNI namespace is pulp::android (NOT pulp::platform::android).

Emulator gesture test: drag a file from the Files app onto the Pulp window; watch adb logcat -s Pulp for the drop. The headless test suites can't exercise the OS drag gesture (same as touch).

Logcat

# Filter to Pulp logs
adb logcat -s PulpAudio PulpRender Pulp

# Clear and watch
adb logcat -c && adb logcat -s Pulp

End-to-end smoke

tools/scripts/android_smoke.sh is the single-invocation validator for the full generator → build → install → launch → render → audio → permission → lifecycle → shutdown path. It runs against whatever device or emulator adb devices reports; it does not start its own emulator.

# Full cycle (builds APK + runs smoke) — about 3 min cold on M-series
tools/scripts/android_smoke.sh

# Fast loop — reuse existing APK (~5s)
tools/scripts/android_smoke.sh --skip-build

# Skia-Android prebuilts missing — continue without Dawn/Skia
tools/scripts/android_smoke.sh --skip-build --allow-no-gpu

# ctest integration (gated behind opt-in env var)
PULP_ANDROID_SMOKE_ENABLED=1 ctest --test-dir build -R android-smoke

Stage ordering gotchas

Three ordering rules the script enforces — violating any of them breaks validation:

1. Lifecycle before permissions. pm revoke RECORD_AUDIO kills the app process (standard Android behavior for a granted-and-in-use permission). The smoke runs exercise_lifecycle before exercise_permissions so the background/foreground transition is observed in a live process.
2. Cursor-advance only in lifecycle. nativeOnForeground fires multiple times at app startup (onCreate, onResume). For the -- foreground bring-back check to see the POST-HOME foreground and not an initial one, the lifecycle stage passes advance to wait_for_logcat to skip past prior matches. Non-lifecycle stages leave the cursor at 0 because stage order on Android is non-deterministic — DemoSynth's playing marker can log BEFORE Dawn's failure marker despite being fired from a later code path.
3. Permission verification via dumpsys, not via callback. pm grant / pm revoke flip the runtime-permission state but do not fire Kotlin's ActivityResultContracts callback — so permissions.cpp's "Permission result" log line never shows up on the pm-driven path. The smoke confirms the grant flipped via dumpsys package com.pulp.app | grep -A1 RECORD_AUDIO rather than a logcat marker.

Log marker inventory

Per-stage, the script greps for these markers (tag in parens):

Stage	Marker	Tag
JNI load	JNI_OnLoad: Pulp native bridge initialized	Pulp
Surface	Android GPU surface: ANativeWindow received	Pulp
Dawn OK	Dawn initialized	Pulp
Dawn bad	Dawn initialization failed / failed to create Dawn GpuSurface	Pulp
Skia	Skia Graphite context created / Dawn-only mode	Pulp
Audio	DemoSynth: playing	PulpAudio
Background	nativeOnBackground	Pulp
Foreground	nativeOnForeground	Pulp

Note: demo_synth.cpp uses PULP_LOG_TAG="PulpAudio", everything else uses Pulp. Pass both tags (space-separated) when grepping audio.

CI gate

.github/workflows/android.yml has an android-emulator-test job gated on vars.PULP_ANDROID_EMULATOR_ENABLED. On macos-latest (Apple Silicon) the arm64-v8a emulator hits HV_UNSUPPORTED — keep the gate OFF until a runner lane can provide hardware virtualization for the emulator or the workflow grows an x86_64 APK/emulator path. Run the smoke locally in the meantime.

The same workflow now also has an android-kotlin-coverage job on macos-latest. It runs ./gradlew :app:testDebugUnitTest :app:jacocoDebugUnitTestReport, uploads the JaCoCo HTML/XML artifacts, and sends android/app/build/reports/jacoco/jacocoDebugUnitTestReport/jacocoDebugUnitTestReport.xml to Codecov. This is a JVM-only lane for android/app/src/main/kotlin/** and does not replace emulator/device coverage.

Critical Gotchas

These are hard-won lessons from the bringup. Violating any of these will cause crashes or subtle bugs.

Platform Detection Order

// WRONG — __linux__ matches Android too!
#if defined(__linux__)
    // Linux code...
#elif defined(__ANDROID__)
    // Never reached!

// RIGHT — check Android first
#if defined(__ANDROID__)
    // Android code...
#elif defined(__linux__)
    // Linux code...

In CMake, ANDROID must be checked before UNIX for the same reason.

No posix_spawn on Android

Android Bionic doesn't have posix_spawn. Use fork/exec instead. The ChildProcess subsystem already handles this with #ifdef __ANDROID__ guards.

Vulkan Swapchain Format

Android Vulkan uses RGBA8, not BGRA8 (which macOS/desktop Vulkan uses). The Dawn backend texture info must match exactly, or Skia canvas operations (especially text rendering) will crash or produce garbage.

SkiaSurface Scaling — Don't Double-Scale

SkiaSurface applies scale_factor internally via canvas->scale(). If you also call canvas->scale(density, density) in your render function, everything renders 2x too large.

// WRONG
canvas->scale(density, density);  // SkiaSurface already did this!
root->paint(*canvas);

// RIGHT — just paint, SkiaSurface handles the scale
root->paint(*canvas);

Touch Coordinate Conversion

Android touch events arrive in physical pixels. Convert to dp before hit-testing:

float dp_x = pixel_x / display_density;
float dp_y = pixel_y / display_density;
auto* hit = root->hit_test({dp_x, dp_y});

Then convert dp to view-local coordinates by walking up the parent chain:

static view::Point to_local(view::View* target, float dp_x, float dp_y) {
    float abs_x = 0, abs_y = 0;
    for (auto* v = target; v != nullptr; v = v->parent()) {
        abs_x += v->bounds().x;
        abs_y += v->bounds().y;
    }
    return {dp_x - abs_x, dp_y - abs_y};
}

MouseEvent Dispatch — Both Rich and Legacy

Android touch dispatch gives the root gesture arbiter first refusal. Build a root-space MouseEvent in dp units, with the stable pointer id, PointerType::touch, explicit MousePhase (press / drag / release), and tap click_count, then call View::dispatch_gesture_pointer_event(...). If it returns true, stop there: the recognizer has claimed the stream, and also dispatching legacy widget events will double-handle the same touch.

For ACTION_CANCEL, loop over every active pointer and send a release-phase root-space MouseEvent with is_cancelled = true through dispatch_gesture_pointer_event(...) before clearing legacy capture state. Just clearing the Android-side captured view leaves recognizers active forever.

When the arbiter does not consume the stream, fall back to widget dispatch. Some widgets (like Fader) use on_mouse_event(MouseEvent) to track drag state. Others use the simple on_mouse_down(Point). Always dispatch both:

view::MouseEvent ev;
ev.position = local;
ev.window_position = dp;
ev.button = view::MouseButton::left;
ev.pointer_type = view::PointerType::touch;
ev.pressure = pressure;
ev.is_down = true;
ev.click_count = click_count;

hit->on_mouse_event(ev);   // Rich event (Fader needs this)
hit->on_mouse_down(local);  // Legacy event (Toggle, Knob need this)

Fader Orientation Default

Fader::orientation_ defaults to Orientation::vertical. If you want horizontal faders, set explicitly:

fader->set_orientation(Fader::Orientation::horizontal);

View Hierarchy Depth and Flex Layout

Deeply nested Panel containers (Panel > Panel > Widget) break flex layout propagation — child bounds remain {0,0,0,0} and hit_test returns the parent Panel instead of the widget. Keep hierarchies flat:

// WRONG — nested wrappers break layout
auto wrapper = std::make_shared<Panel>();
auto inner = std::make_shared<Panel>();
inner->add_child(knob);
wrapper->add_child(inner);
root->add_child(wrapper);

// RIGHT — add directly or one level deep
auto row = std::make_shared<Panel>();
row->add_child(knob1);
row->add_child(knob2);
root->add_child(row);

Don't Call layout_children() on Sub-Panels Early

Calling layout_children() on a sub-panel before it has been assigned bounds by its parent's layout pass will hang or produce zero-size children. Only call layout_children() on the root after setting root bounds.

JNI Symbol Export

Use --whole-archive when linking libpulp.so to ensure JNI symbols are exported:

target_link_options(pulp-jni PRIVATE
    -Wl,--whole-archive $<TARGET_FILE:pulp-platform> -Wl,--no-whole-archive
)

Skia Build Dependencies

Skia headers reference src/ and modules/ from the source tree. Dawn headers need both source and generated includes. The build script build-skia-android.sh handles this, but if you're debugging include paths:

target_include_directories(pulp-render PRIVATE
    ${SKIA_SOURCE_DIR}          # for src/ headers
    ${SKIA_SOURCE_DIR}/modules  # for skparagraph etc.
    ${DAWN_SOURCE_DIR}/include
    ${DAWN_BUILD_DIR}/gen/include
)

Oboe Compiler Warnings

NDK 30 Clang is stricter than desktop Clang. Suppress warnings in Oboe with -w:

if(TARGET oboe)
    target_compile_options(oboe PRIVATE -w)
endif()

Emulator StorageManager Corruption

If you see NullPointerException on StorageManager.getVolumes(), the emulator's data partition is corrupted. Fix:

# Kill emulator
adb emu kill
# Restart with data wipe
emulator -avd <avd_name> -wipe-data -no-snapshot

Guard PulpAndroid.cmake with if(ANDROID)

The include(PulpAndroid.cmake) in root CMakeLists.txt must be wrapped in if(ANDROID) to prevent any side effects on non-Android builds:

if(ANDROID)
    include(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/tools/cmake/PulpAndroid.cmake)
endif()

Permissions — one JNI sink, one C++ backend

core/platform/src/android/permissions.cpp owns the JNI callback (Java_com_pulp_PulpActivity_nativeOnPermissionResult) and a single pulp::android::g_permission_callback function pointer. permissions_backend.cpp subscribes to that hook via set_permission_callback() and fans results out to pending pulp::platform::RequestCallback entries keyed by pulp::android::Permission.

Two rules:

1. Don't add a second callback subscriber — the slot is a single function pointer, the second set_permission_callback() call wins and the first is silently orphaned. If you need more than one listener, extend the registry in permissions_backend.cpp rather than adding another hook to permissions.cpp.
2. The cross-platform TU defines PULP_PERMISSIONS_HAS_BACKEND=1 as a PUBLIC compile definition on pulp-platform (see core/platform/CMakeLists.txt). Tests read that define, so keeping it PUBLIC is what lets test_permissions.cpp branch on has_platform_backend() correctly on Android.

The enum surface stays at three values (RecordAudio, BluetoothMidi, PostNotifications) — anything else (LocalNetwork, BackgroundAudio, ForegroundService) is handled on the C++ side by to_android() returning std::nullopt and the request callback firing synchronously with the desktop default.

Widget Painting Convention

When mapping a 0..1 value to a pixel position with a circular/rect indicator, always inset by the indicator's radius so it stays fully within widget bounds:

// Convention for slider-like widgets:
float usable = length - 2.0f * radius;
float pos = radius + value * usable;

This applies to: Fader thumb, XYPad dot, CorrelationMeter bar, ColorPicker cursors. Knob and Toggle already self-inset by design.

Widget Animations Without a Render Loop

Many widgets use ValueAnimation for visual state changes (Toggle thumb position, Knob hover scale, Fader hover). Without a continuous render loop (AChoreographer), advance_animations(dt) is never called, so animations are started but never progress — the widget's visual state appears stuck even though the logical state changed.

Fix: Before each paint, advance animations with a large dt to snap to completion:

// Recursively advance all widget animations
static void advance_view_animations(view::View* v, float dt) {
    if (auto* k = dynamic_cast<view::Knob*>(v))   k->advance_animations(dt);
    if (auto* f = dynamic_cast<view::Fader*>(v))   f->advance_animations(dt);
    if (auto* t = dynamic_cast<view::Toggle*>(v))  t->advance_animations(dt);
    for (size_t i = 0; i < v->child_count(); ++i)
        advance_view_animations(v->child_at(i), dt);
}

// In render function, before paint:
advance_view_animations(g_root_view.get(), 1.0f);  // 1s snaps to target

This is a workaround until AChoreographer provides a proper frame loop with real dt values.

SkFontMgr Requires a FreeType Scanner (Skia m132+)

Since Skia m132, SkFontMgr_New_Android and SkFontMgr_New_FontConfig require a non-null SkFontScanner. Passing nullptr causes SIGSEGV when rasterizing glyphs (not during font manager creation — the crash is deferred to drawSimpleText).

// WRONG — crashes in drawSimpleText
mgr = SkFontMgr_New_Android(nullptr, nullptr);

// RIGHT — pass a FreeType scanner
#include "include/ports/SkFontScanner_FreeType.h"
mgr = SkFontMgr_New_Android(nullptr, SkFontScanner_Make_FreeType());

Do NOT use SkFontMgr_New_AndroidNDK for API < 30 — it has locale API bugs on Android 10.

Safe Area Insets — Status Bar, Nav Bar, Notch

Android surfaces render edge-to-edge. Content must account for system UI (status bar, navigation bar, display cutouts). Pass insets from Kotlin to C++ via JNI:

// Kotlin: read insets and pass to C++ as dp values
ViewCompat.setOnApplyWindowInsetsListener(this) { _, insets ->
    val bars = insets.getInsets(WindowInsetsCompat.Type.systemBars())
    nativeSetSafeAreaInsets(
        bars.top / density, bars.bottom / density,
        bars.left / density, bars.right / density
    )
    insets
}

// C++: apply to root panel padding
g_root_view->flex().padding_top = std::max(12.0f, safe_top + 4.0f);
g_root_view->flex().padding_bottom = std::max(12.0f, safe_bottom + 4.0f);

Without this, content renders under the status bar. The +4.0f adds breathing room beyond the bare minimum.

Label Widget Text Not Rendering Under Nested Skia Graphite Clips

Label::paint() calls canvas.fill_text() which works in isolation, but text doesn't appear when painted through the View hierarchy's nested save/translate/clip_rect stack on Skia Graphite + Vulkan. This is likely a Graphite-specific issue.

Workaround: Draw section labels directly on the canvas after paint_all():

// After paint_all, draw labels at absolute dp coordinates
canvas.set_fill_color(Color::rgba(205, 214, 244));
canvas.set_font("sans-serif", 22);
canvas.fill_text("PULP SYNTH", label_x, pad_top + 22);

Use spacer Panels in the flex layout to reserve vertical space for each label.

Desktop-Only Targets Must Be Guarded on Android

CLI, MCP server, inspector, tests, and examples are desktop-only. Guard them in the root CMakeLists.txt:

if(NOT ANDROID)
    add_subdirectory(tools/cli)
    add_subdirectory(tools/mcp)
endif()

if(PULP_BUILD_TESTS AND NOT ANDROID)
    # ...tests...
endif()

if(PULP_BUILD_EXAMPLES AND NOT ANDROID)
    add_subdirectory(examples)
endif()

For libraries that conditionally link desktop-only targets (like pulp-format → pulp::inspect), use if(NOT ANDROID) guards rather than if(TARGET ...) since the target may not exist yet at configure time due to CMake ordering.

Dawn API Renames After Rebase

Dawn regularly renames WebGPU types. After rebasing on main, watch for:

• ShaderModuleWGSLDescriptor → ShaderSourceWGSL
• choc::value::ValueView temporaries may not bind to non-const references — use auto (not auto&)

No posix_spawn — Also Affects View Code

posix_spawn isn't just missing from platform code — view utilities like ContentSharer on the Linux #else fallback path also hit it. Guard with #elif defined(__ANDROID__) stubs:

#elif defined(__ANDROID__)
// Android: file sharing done via JNI/Intent — stub for now
void ContentSharer::share_file(const std::filesystem::path&, void*) {}

Oboe Audio Integration

The demo synth uses Oboe with shared atomic parameters for lock-free UI → audio communication:

// Shared params — written by UI thread, read by audio callback
struct SynthParams {
    std::atomic<float> osc_pitch{0.5f};
    std::atomic<float> filter_cutoff{0.65f};
    // ...
};

// UI sync (called each frame from render loop)
static void sync_ui_to_synth() {
    auto& p = synth_params();
    p.osc_pitch.store(knob->value(), std::memory_order_relaxed);
}

// Audio callback (Oboe, lock-free)
oboe::DataCallbackResult onAudioReady(...) {
    float pitch = p.osc_pitch.load(std::memory_order_relaxed);
    // ... generate audio ...
}

Start audio after the render loop starts, stop in nativeOnShutdown (NOT in android_surface_destroyed).

Oboe Stream Mode — Shared, Not Exclusive

Never use SharingMode::Exclusive or PerformanceMode::LowLatency on the emulator. The Ranchu virtual audio HAL can't handle exclusive access — it produces pcm_writei I/O error storms that permanently break the audio pipe until emulator restart. Use:

builder.setPerformanceMode(oboe::PerformanceMode::None)
    ->setSharingMode(oboe::SharingMode::Shared)

On a real device, Exclusive + LowLatency is fine and preferred. Detect emulator vs hardware at runtime if you need both paths.

Audio Lifecycle — Don't Kill on Surface Transitions

The Activity lifecycle causes surface destroy/recreate during normal transitions (configuration change, initial layout). Three rules:

1. Don't stop the synth in android_surface_destroyed() — the surface gets destroyed and recreated during Activity transitions. The synth should survive this.
2. Don't abandon audio focus in onPause() — the Activity gets briefly paused during surface transitions. Move abandonFocus() to onDestroy().
3. Stop the synth only in nativeOnShutdown() — called from onDestroy() when the Activity is actually going away.

Violating any of these causes audio to play for 0.4–1.7 seconds then go silent, making it look like an emulator bug when it's actually a lifecycle bug.

Audio Focus Is Required

Without AudioFocusRequest, Android may silently mute the Oboe stream. Request focus in onResume():

audioFocus = PulpAudioFocus(this)
// in onResume:
audioFocus.requestFocus()
// in onDestroy:
audioFocus.abandonFocus()

CLI Audio Debugging

Monitor audio output without speakers using logcat peak levels:

adb logcat -s Pulp | grep "Audio peak"
# Output: Audio peak: 0.130 (-17.7 dB)

This logs every ~3 seconds. If peaks are >0 but you hear nothing, the issue is the emulator audio pipe, not the synth.

Render Thread with Looper (ANR Prevention)

Dawn shader compilation takes 10-15 seconds on the emulator. Running it on the main thread causes ANR. The fix: a dedicated render thread with its own Looper for AChoreographer:

// Kotlin: launch render thread in surfaceCreated
renderThread = Thread({
    Looper.prepare()              // AChoreographer needs a Looper
    renderLooper = Looper.myLooper()
    nativeOnSurfaceCreated(holder.surface)  // Dawn init happens here (slow)
    initComplete = true
    Looper.loop()                 // Blocks — processes AChoreographer callbacks
}, "PulpRenderThread").also { it.start() }

Key rules:

• AChoreographer requires a thread with a Looper — plain std::thread won't work
• Dawn/Skia context must be used from the thread that created them — render-thread affinity
• Touch events must NOT call android_render_frame() — the choreographer loop handles all rendering
• surfaceDestroyed must be non-blocking during init — if Dawn is still compiling, don't join/block
• Quit the Looper on surface destroy: renderLooper?.quitSafely() + thread.join(5000)

Emulator GPU Mode — NEVER Use swiftshader_indirect

swiftshader_indirect is a CPU software rasterizer. Dawn shader compilation under swiftshader pegs virtual CPU at 100%, starving the VirtIO audio pipe and System UI threads. Symptoms:

• pcm_writei failed with I/O error from Ranchu HAL (permanent audio dropout)
• "System UI isn't responding" ANR dialog
• App killed during startup

Always use -gpu host on macOS Apple Silicon. This maps Vulkan to Metal via MoltenVK, offloading rendering to the GPU.

JS-Scripted UI (QuickJS)

The synth UI can be created entirely via JavaScript using QuickJS (via CHOC). The JS script is embedded as a C++ string literal — no APK asset loading needed:

#include "synth_ui.js.h"  // contains kSynthUiScript

// In create_demo_view_hierarchy:
auto engine = std::make_unique<ScriptEngine>();
auto bridge = std::make_unique<WidgetBridge>(*engine, root, store);
bridge->load_script(kSynthUiScript);  // JS creates all widgets
root.layout_children();

The JS API: createKnob(), createFader(id, "horizontal", parent), createToggle(), createXYPad(), createMeter(), createLabel(), createRow(), createCol(), setFlex(), setValue(), setFontSize(), setTextColor(), setBackground(), on().

Widget refs for synth param sync are captured by ID:

auto* knob = dynamic_cast<Knob*>(bridge->widget("osc-0"));

Falls back to C++ widget hierarchy if JS fails (any exception → catch → C++ fallback).

Bridge idle pump must run each vsync

android_render_frame() (in core/render/platform/android/gpu_surface_android.cpp) MUST call both g_widget_bridge->poll_async_results() and g_widget_bridge->service_frame_callbacks() once per vsync at the top, before begin_frame(). Without this, JS requestAnimationFrame / setTimeout / async-result queues never fire on Android: callbacks get queued, but the AChoreographer loop has to drain async results and pump the engine message loop explicitly.

Symptoms when missing:

• requestAnimationFrame(loop) chain queues forever, never animates
• setTimeout(cb, 100) never fires
• Animations only advance during touch events (because touch handlers happen to call request_repaint, but that doesn't drain pending_frame_ids_)

The fix is the bridge pump at the top of android_render_frame:

if (g_widget_bridge) {
    g_widget_bridge->poll_async_results();
    g_widget_bridge->service_frame_callbacks();
}

Hard to unit-test on Android while emulator integration is gated. The contract being asserted is already covered by widget-bridge rAF/repaint tests; the Android requirement is the structural connection from the frame loop to that shared bridge pump.

Motion observability bridge (com.pulp.motion)

The Kotlin / Compose / View bridge for pulp::view::motion lives in android/app/src/main/kotlin/com/pulp/motion/. JNI shims live in core/platform/src/android/jni_motion.cpp. Full design and DSL docs are in the motion skill (Path H) — this section captures the Android-specific wiring gotchas only.

CMake wiring — jni_motion.cpp belongs in pulp-jni

jni_motion.cpp is intentionally excluded from the pulp-platform glob in tools/cmake/PulpAndroid.cmake (alongside jni_bridge.cpp) and added explicitly to the pulp-jni SHARED target in the root CMakeLists.txt.

Why: pulp-platform does not link against pulp::view, so compiling jni_motion.cpp there leaves pulp::view::motion::Coordinator::* unresolved at link time. The pulp-jni target links the full pulp::{platform,runtime,view,...} closure so the JNI shims resolve cleanly.

If you add another JNI file that depends on a higher-layer subsystem, add it to both excludes (PulpAndroid glob filter) AND to the add_library(pulp-jni SHARED ...) source list.

View probe uses OnPreDrawListener, not OnGlobalLayoutListener

View.pulpMotionTrace installs ViewTreeObserver.OnPreDrawListener on purpose. OnGlobalLayoutListener fires only on layout-pass changes; PreDraw fires on every frame the view is about to draw, which catches intra-frame setTranslationX/Y and scroll deltas that the layout listener would miss. The non-trivial cost is one getLocationInWindow + one pulp_motion_update_geometry per draw — and the whole thing short-circuits when PulpMotion.isTracingEnabled is false.

withProvenance { } is single-threaded by design

The process-wide ambient provenance slot in motion::Coordinator is not coroutine-safe. Do not call PulpMotion.withProvenance from a suspending function that may switch dispatchers inside the block — the clearAmbientProvenance may run on a different thread than the setAmbientProvenance and bleed envelope state across unrelated work. The Kotlin facade documents this; the Swift bridge carries the same constraint. If you genuinely need per-coroutine provenance, build it on top of publishComponents(... opts.provenance) yourself.

installNativeBackend() belongs in PulpApplication.onCreate

After System.loadLibrary("pulp") succeeds, call com.pulp.motion.PulpMotion.installNativeBackend() exactly once. Without this, every facade entry point routes through the default PulpMotionBackend.noOp() and silently drops every event — the bridge looks "working" from Kotlin but never reaches C++. Mirrors the host-app wiring pattern documented in the motion skill's Path G / Path H sections.

Accessibility (TalkBack) — the surface is INERT today

Nothing Pulp renders is announced per-widget on Android. PulpAccessibilityDelegate (android/app/src/main/kotlin/com/pulp/ accessibility/PulpAccessibility.kt) is a View.AccessibilityDelegate, which describes exactly ONE view: the host SurfaceView. It has no getAccessibilityNodeProvider override, so Pulp's widgets are not virtual accessibility nodes. onInitializeAccessibilityNodeInfo(host, info) receives a single AccessibilityNodeInfo and loops over every C++ accessibility node overwriting that same object's className / contentDescription / text — so TalkBack sees one node carrying the LAST widget's role, and every other widget is invisible. performAccessibilityAction likewise dispatches with node index -1.

The C++ → Kotlin role mapping below is correct and matches the wire format, but it is unreachable until someone implements AccessibilityNodeProvider (or ExploreByTouchHelper): one virtual view id per accessible node, createAccessibilityNodeInfo(id) filling role/name/value/bounds, getVirtualViewAt for hit-testing, and performAction(id, …) routing the index into nativePerformAction. No CI lane compiles this file — Kotlin changes here are unexecuted until an emulator/device TalkBack run says otherwise. Do not describe Android accessibility as working.

Accessibility (TalkBack) — the role ordinal is a wire format

core/view/platform/android/accessibility_android.cpp marshals a view's role to Kotlin as static_cast<int>(View::AccessRole), and android/app/src/main/kotlin/com/pulp/accessibility/PulpAccessibility.kt matches on those integers (ROLE_SLIDER = 1, …). There is no name in the protocol — only the ordinal. Consequences:

• View::AccessRole is append-only. Reordering or removing a value silently re-labels every widget on TalkBack (a knob starts announcing as a checkbox); nothing in the C++ build catches it, because the Kotlin side is not compiled by the C++ CI lanes.
• Adding a role means adding BOTH the C++ enumerator and a matching ROLE_* constant + when branch in PulpAccessibility.kt, in the same change.
• The ordinals are locked by the "Android role ordinals are wire format" case in test/test_accessibility_tree.cpp (static_asserts). If that test fails, fix the enum — do not update the test to match.

Not wired yet: CollectionInfo / CollectionItemInfo for list / table roles. Rows and cells announce as plain TextViews because the C++ side does not yet publish per-row index metadata.

Known Blockers

1. x86_64 Skia build — Only arm64 Skia is built. Emulator runs arm64 via translation but an x86_64 build would be faster.

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Android CLI integration note: CLI 0.7.15232955 has no logcat/pm/am/input/build wrappers, so android_smoke.sh and pulp build stay on raw adb/Gradle. Useful adopt-opportunistically surfaces: layout -p (JSON UI hierarchy), screen capture --annotate + screen resolve (label-based tap coords), describe (JSON project metadata). New CLI commands, install-URL changes, and known-issue resolutions should be checked against Google's docs before relying on this note for long-running Android work. Until that monitoring is automated, refresh by hand if the CLI version or command surface may have drifted.