Boot an AVD, screenshot, read the UI hierarchy, tap/swipe/type, set a device
lock, read logcat, run Gradle builds and tests. 79 tools,
from Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, or any MCP client over stdio.
It is the Android counterpart to XcodeBuildMCP,
built on the official Go MCP SDK.
describe_ui → tap_on_text → screenshot, driven live against a real emulator (emulator-5556), showing the actual tool calls and their actual output.
Android is a trademark of Google LLC. adb-mcp is an independent, unofficial
tool built for Android and is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by Google.
The Android robot above is reproduced/modified from work created and shared by
Google and used according to terms described in the
Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution License.
Why
Driving Android by hand means a long runbook of raw adb commands, and it is
easy to get wrong (stale tap coordinates, CRLF-corrupted screenshots, forgetting
exec-out, guessing coordinates off a downscaled image). This server bakes
that knowledge into its tools, so the agent doesn't have to relearn it:
- Screenshots use
exec-out screencap (no CRLF corruption) and are auto-downscaled
so the image reader accepts them.
describe_ui returns each element's center in true device pixels (so taps
land where you mean them to, no guessing off the image) and retries the
transient "could not get idle state" failure on its own.
The workflow itself ships as readable resources the agent can pull up
mid-task (the observe→act loop, native PIN/lock handling, crash triage, see
below) instead of relearning them each session.
Getting started
1. Prerequisites
- Android SDK with
platform-tools (adb) and emulator. The server finds it
via $ANDROID_HOME / $ANDROID_SDK_ROOT, else the platform default
(~/Library/Android/sdk on macOS). If your MCP client launches the server
without those set, pass --sdk /path/to/sdk in the client config's args
(the server then exports it, so Gradle finds the SDK too). doctor prints
the location it resolved.
- At least one AVD (create one in Android Studio's Device Manager).
Go is not required: releases ship prebuilt binaries, and it's only needed to
build from source.
2. Install
On macOS/Linux:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/iksnerd/adb-mcp/main/install.sh | sh
The script (install.sh) picks the right archive for your
OS/architecture, verifies its SHA-256 against the release's checksums.txt,
and installs to ~/.local/bin (override with BIN_DIR=...; pin a version
with VERSION=v0.17.0).
Prefer to grab the binary yourself? Every platform's archive (macOS, Linux,
and Windows, amd64 and arm64) is on the
Releases page, each with a
checksum in checksums.txt. On Windows, download the windows_amd64 or
windows_arm64 zip and put adb-mcp.exe somewhere on your PATH.
Once installed, stay current with the built-in updater. It fetches the latest
release, verifies its checksum, and swaps the binary in place:
The registration below launches the server by the bare name adb-mcp, so it
must be on your $PATH (which adb-mcp should resolve; the installer warns
if ~/.local/bin isn't on it). Otherwise point the client at the absolute
path to the binary instead.
3. Register with your MCP client
Claude Code:
claude mcp add adb -- adb-mcp
(When working inside this repo itself, the bundled .mcp.json is picked up
automatically, no registration needed.)
Or install as a plugin, which registers the server and adds a skill per
driving guide:
claude plugin marketplace add iksnerd/adb-mcp
claude plugin install adb-mcp@adb-mcp
For Codex, the same plugin ships in Codex's manifest shape:
codex plugin marketplace add iksnerd/adb-mcp
codex plugin add adb-mcp@adb-mcp-plugins
Either way adb-mcp still has to be on your PATH from step 2 - the plugin
registers the server, it does not install the binary.
Cursor / VS Code: one-click install (assumes adb-mcp is on your PATH
from step 2):
Any other client (Windsurf, Codex, …): run adb-mcp over stdio.
The usual config shape:
{
"mcpServers": {
"adb": { "command": "adb-mcp" }
}
}
To confirm it's wired up, ask your agent to "boot an emulator and take a screenshot".
From source (Go 1.26+)
make install
go build -o bin/adb-mcp ./cmd/adb-mcp
go install github.com/iksnerd/adb-mcp/cmd/adb-mcp@latest
79 tools across ten areas. Every device-facing tool takes an optional
serial (adb -s). Omit it with one device attached, or pass one from
list_devices with several. Full reference: docs/TOOLS.md.
- Emulator / device: boot, list, wait-for-boot, shut down, connect over Wi-Fi,
adb_reverse port forwarding (Metro!)
- Observe:
screenshot to see (works on multi-display foldables, pick a panel with display), describe_ui for true-pixel element centers, with the focused top window (spot a biometric prompt, or the wrong app entirely, occluding your target via optional package), filter/query/compact modes, and a hidden-node count so absence is trustworthy
- Interact: tap,
tap_on_text/tap_element (id-addressed), swipe, drag, long-press, type, key combos, PIN pads, wait, run_sequence (batch steps + guards in one call, which keeps native-timer flows from being perturbed by per-step round-trips); opt-in verify_change tells you whether a tap/key actually changed the UI; opt-in via_accessibility on tap_on_text/tap_element (EXPERIMENTAL) dispatches a real accessibility click for native views a coordinate tap can't reach, see bridge/README.md
- Lock / Keystore / Biometrics: set/clear a secure lock screen, check lock state,
has_biometric_enrolled + fingerprint_touch/finger_remove to satisfy a BiometricPrompt on the emulator
- Extended Controls (emulator):
send_sms (OTP/2FA), phone_call, set_battery (also works on real devices via dumpsys), cellular (roaming/weak-signal/throttled), set_sensor (accelerometer/light/…), rotate_screen, avd_snapshot, driving the emulator's console-only panel that describe_ui can't see
- App lifecycle: install/uninstall, launch/stop,
app_state (running pid(s) + Metro-vs-embedded bundle), launch_dev_client (Expo dev build → Metro, skipping the Dev Launcher), reload_app/open_dev_menu, clear data, permissions, deep links, push/pull files, last_crash
- Logs & capture: one-shot or streaming
logcat (substring/priority/tag filters, since time window, opt-in redact to mask tokens/passwords/API keys before output), clear_logcat, last_crash, screen recording
- Environment & diagnostics: dark mode, mock location, clean status bar,
stay_awake (stop a doze-happy screen blanking your screenshots), doctor
- Gradle build & test:
assembleDebug, unit tests, instrumented tests, JVM unit-test coverage via JaCoCo (get_coverage_report/get_file_coverage), task + variant + module discovery (list_gradle_variants/list_gradle_projects), one-shot build_and_run
- Session defaults: pin
project_dir/serial once (session_set_defaults) so a multi-module/multi-flavor project or multi-device session doesn't need them repeated on every call
The driving know-how itself ships as six MCP resources (android://guide/*)
the client can list and read. See docs/TOOLS.md for the URIs,
or jump straight to android://guide/driving for the core loop below.
The core loop
observe → locate → act → re-observe. screenshot to see, describe_ui to
get true-pixel centers, tap/tap_on_text/swipe/input_text to act, then
screenshot again to confirm. Read android://guide/driving for the full loop
and the gotchas that waste turns.
Development
Layout:
cmd/adb-mcp/main.go entry: subcommands (update/version) or serve MCP over stdio
internal/tools/ thin MCP tool bindings
internal/adb/ the device layer: an adb.Client whose methods are the commands
internal/gradle/ host-side Gradle: build, find APKs, parse test reports
internal/uiauto/ pure uiautomator-hierarchy model + parsing (unit-tested)
internal/sdk/ resolves the Android SDK (adb/emulator paths, PATH env)
internal/concurrent/ RunAll/RunIndexed: fan out independent I/O calls, join, done
internal/guides/ the skill guides, embedded and served as MCP resources
internal/selfupdate/ the `adb-mcp update` release fetch/verify/swap
internal/bridgeupdate/ the `adb-mcp bridge install` release fetch/verify/install
Dependencies point inward only (tools → adb, gradle, uiauto → sdk), and each
internal/tools/<domain>.go adapter mirrors an execution file of the same
name (device commands are adb.Client methods). Full map, the package graph,
and the rules for adding a tool: ARCHITECTURE.md.
Documentation
Contributing
See CONTRIBUTING.md for setup and conventions. Found a
security issue? See SECURITY.md instead of opening a public
issue. Licensed under MIT.
