| name | adb-device-workflow |
| description | Use ADB to connect devices, install Android debug builds, and troubleshoot deployment failures. Use for device detection errors, install failures, launch failures, package selection across flavors, and first-pass process checks. For deeper runtime investigation, prefer the Argent workflow. |
| argument-hint | Describe the ADB task, target variant, and whether device is USB or wireless |
ADB Device Workflow
What This Skill Produces
- A reliable, repeatable ADB flow to install and validate Android debug builds.
- Device connectivity checks (USB and wireless) before deployment.
- Fast troubleshooting branches for common ADB and package install failures.
When To Use
- Installing a debug build to a phone/emulator.
- Diagnosing adb device detection issues.
- Capturing app logs after launch failures.
- Narrowing runtime failures to the correct installed package and process.
- Reinstalling, clearing app data, or validating package state.
Procedure
- Verify ADB is available and server is healthy.
command -v adb
adb start-server
adb version
Quality check:
adb version must return a valid version string.
- Enumerate connected targets.
adb devices -l
Decision point:
- If no devices appear, check cable/USB debugging or start an emulator.
- If a device shows as
unauthorized, unlock device and accept RSA prompt.
- If multiple devices are connected, capture target serial for later commands.
- Build and install with Gradle first (preferred path for this repo).
./gradlew --no-daemon installDebug
Decision point:
- If multiple devices are attached and Gradle cannot choose a target, install manually with
adb -s <serial> install -r <apk-path>.
- If install succeeds, continue to validation.
- Manual install fallback with explicit target serial.
adb -s <serial> install -r app/build/outputs/apk/github/debug/app-github-debug.apk
Notes:
- Use
-r to replace existing app while preserving data.
- Add
-d only when intentionally allowing version downgrade.
- Add
-t when installing test-only APKs.
- Launch and validate app process.
adb -s <serial> shell monkey -p co.anitrend -c android.intent.category.LAUNCHER 1
adb -s <serial> shell pidof co.anitrend
Quality check:
- App process should have a PID after launch.
- If the repo ships multiple flavors or package names, resolve the installed package before collecting logs.
adb -s <serial> shell pm list packages | grep anitrend
adb -s <serial> shell pidof -s <package-name>
Decision point:
- If more than one AniTrend package is installed, match the package name to the flavor segment in
the package name. If that is still ambiguous, ask the user to confirm the exact package name
before proceeding.
- If the process exits too quickly to keep a PID, start a background capture with
adb -s <serial> logcat -c && adb -s <serial> logcat > /tmp/anitrend.log &, reproduce the
failure, then stop the capture and inspect /tmp/anitrend.log.
- Capture focused logs for startup/debug failures.
adb -s <serial> logcat -c
adb -s <serial> logcat | grep -E "AndroidRuntime|FATAL EXCEPTION|anitrend|ActivityManager"
Decision point:
- If process crashes immediately, collect stack trace and check runtime permissions or missing resources.
- Prefer pid-scoped logcat once the app is alive.
pid=$(adb -s <serial> shell pidof -s <package-name> | tr -d '\r')
adb -s <serial> logcat -d --pid="$pid"
Quality check:
- The captured log should be dominated by the target process instead of unrelated system noise.
- Escalate to the deeper runtime workflow when logs alone are insufficient.
Use the android-runtime-investigation skill when you need to:
- correlate UI failures with recorded HTTP responses via Chucker
- inspect network traffic captured by the debug HTTP inspector
- map suspicious UI nodes back to source files via UIAutomator dumps
- pull Chucker or Room database evidence for deeper inspection
Wireless ADB Branch
Use when USB is unavailable and device + host are on same network.
adb -s <serial> tcpip 5555
adb connect <device-ip>:5555
adb devices -l
Quality check:
- Device appears as
<device-ip>:5555 and accepts shell commands.
Recovery Branches
adb kill-server
adb start-server
adb reconnect offline
adb devices -l
- Install conflict (
INSTALL_FAILED_UPDATE_INCOMPATIBLE):
adb -s <serial> uninstall co.anitrend
adb -s <serial> install app/build/outputs/apk/github/debug/app-github-debug.apk
- Signature mismatch or stale state:
adb -s <serial> uninstall co.anitrend
adb -s <serial> install app/build/outputs/apk/github/debug/app-github-debug.apk
Use pm clear only when the user has agreed to lose app data and the install/uninstall path does
not resolve the stale state.
Completion Checklist
- ADB server is running and target device is
device state.
- Debug APK installs successfully.
- App launches and remains alive (PID present).
- If failure occurred, actionable log output was captured and scoped to the correct package when possible.
Fast Invocation Examples
- "Install debug build to my connected device and verify launch"
- "ADB sees unauthorized device, recover and deploy debug APK"
- "Use wireless ADB to deploy and stream startup crash logs"
