| name | deploy-voltius-to-phone |
| description | Use when the user wants a working Voltius Android build installed on their own physical phone to test/poke at by hand (not MCP-driven automation) — builds the aarch64 debug APK and installs + launches it on the connected phone, then hands off for manual testing. |
Deploy Voltius to my phone (manual testing)
Overview
Goal: get the current code running on the user's real phone so they can use it themselves.
This is the hand-off flow, not the automation flow — no MCP, no CDP. Just: build the APK, make
sure adb can see the phone, install + launch, tell the user it's ready.
For driving the app yourself via screenshots/clicks, use iterating-on-voltius-android instead.
For no-phone iteration, use iterating-on-voltius-android-emulator.
1. Build the APK (aarch64 — real phones are arm64)
scripts/android-build.sh aarch64
Output: src-tauri/gen/android/app/build/outputs/apk/universal/debug/app-universal-debug.apk
(~310 MB, debug-signed with the committed keystore/voltius-debug.keystore, so adb install -r
upgrades in place without uninstalling). Build on the x86_64 WSL2 laptop — the NDK runs native
there; on an aarch64 host it runs under QEMU (~1h). Do NOT regenerate the keystore (breaks -r upgrades).
2. Make sure adb sees the phone (do this BEFORE installing)
Phone plugs into Windows; WSL reaches it through a Windows-hosted adb server. Set the socket
inline on every Bash call (each call is a fresh shell). Full setup + the three blockers
(Hyper-V firewall, adb version match, RSA auth prompt) are in the android-adb-wsl-setup memory.
export ADB_SERVER_SOCKET=tcp:192.168.240.1:5037
timeout 3 bash -c 'echo > /dev/tcp/192.168.240.1/5037' && echo OPEN || echo "DROPPED — firewall"
adb devices
3. Install + launch
ADB_SERVER_SOCKET=tcp:192.168.240.1:5037 \
scripts/android-deploy.sh src-tauri/gen/android/app/build/outputs/apk/universal/debug/app-universal-debug.apk
This runs adb install -r then am start -n com.voltius.app/.MainActivity. On success it prints the
WebView debug socket line — that confirms the app actually came up, not just installed.
4. Hand off
Tell the user it's installed and launched on their phone (app name Voltius), and that they can
reopen it from the launcher. If you changed something specific, tell them what to look for. If they
report a crash, you can pull it: ADB_SERVER_SOCKET=… adb logcat -b crash -d (Rust panics show under
RustStdoutStderr).
Common mistakes
| Mistake | Fix |
|---|
Building x86_64 for a real phone | Real phones are arm64 — build aarch64 |
Forgetting ADB_SERVER_SOCKET | Set it inline every Bash call — fresh shell each time |
adb devices shows unauthorized | Unlock phone, tap "Allow USB debugging" (RSA prompt) |
adb devices hangs | Bounded timeout 3 bash -c 'echo >/dev/tcp/<ip>/5037' first; hang = Hyper-V firewall drop |
| Regenerating the debug keystore | Breaks install -r upgrades — it's committed, never regenerate |
| "It installed" = it works | Installed ≠ launched. Check the deploy script's WebView-socket line, or ask the user |
