Android CLI: Build Android apps 3x faster using any agent (android-developers.googleblog.com)
154 points by ingve 9 hours ago
user2722 7 hours ago
Agents will allow human programmers to get what they've been begging for decades now: proper requirements and flexible, logical, tooling.
rtpg 5 hours ago
this has been my sort of big tent alignment with AI people. If I'm getting good CLI tooling that _actually works_ (or fixes to existing ones that have been busted forever) then I'm pretty happy.
Things that make systems more understandable to the LLMs ... usually make things more understandable for humans as well. Usually.
The biggest issue I've found is that vibed up tooling tends to be pretty bad at having the right kind of "sense" for what makes good CLI UX. So you still have awkward argument structures or naming. Better than nothing though
whattheheckheck an hour ago
Any textbooks or resources on getting better at naming things?
The Programmers Brain book was my go to
stavros 44 minutes ago
jadbox 5 hours ago
I've been thinking the same thing lately. It's sorta frustrating that it required bots to force tech companies to make clean simple cli driven development workflows.
qingcharles 4 hours ago
It's wild that it took AI to get half the companies on the planet to actually add reasonably priced APIs to their products so I don't have to puppeteer every damn thing with a flakey harness.
bayarearefugee 7 hours ago
> Agents will allow human programmers to get what they've been begging for decades now: proper requirements and flexible, logical, tooling.
...and once this goal is finally reached the programmer will breathe a sigh of relief and then promptly be fired since now the machine can do the job as well as they could.
risyachka 5 hours ago
The tooling in 2026 is so easy you can do almost anything without AI very very quickly.
anabis 34 minutes ago
The install command shown for Windows is 404.
`curl -fsSL https://dl.google.com/android/cli/latest/windows_x86_64/inst... | bash`
The URL shown for individual OSs work, but the script errors for me.
`curl.exe -fsSL https://dl.google.com/android/cli/latest/windows_x86_64/inst... -o "%TEMP%\i.cmd" && "%TEMP%\i.cmd"`
I manually downloaded the exe, but it say socket error. vibe coding is going strong!
rvillberg 30 minutes ago
This is a good step forward, but keep in mind the claimed gains are about "project and environment setup", not the tasks you deal with on a daily basis in an existing project.
anabis 27 minutes ago
Taking screenshots, optionally with component borders highlighted, and operating the UI with element names like "button1" instead of tap 200,30 looks useful. If I could get it to work.
hemc4 an hour ago
Wow. Thanks for this update. It streamlined a lot of tasks.
Apart from this, next step will be to add suport for building android apps on the android phones itself. No desktop needed.Building on the laptop with agents and installing the build in the phone and testing doea not seem AI native. If everything can run on my android phone, development cycle will speed up.
whstl 5 hours ago
I wish the same thing existed for Apple.
Everything I do for macOS/iOS is already without Xcode but it's a pain in the ass to keep up with changes, and there are things I haven't figured out yet (like AUv3).
sunaookami 7 hours ago
>Google collects usage data for the Android CLI, such as commands, sub-commands, and flags used. This data does not include custom parameters or identifiable information. This information helps improve the tool and is collected in accordance with Google's Privacy Policy.
>https://policies.google.com/privacy
>Disable Android CLI metrics collection by using the --no-metrics flag.
No thanks, is there no env variable for this? Doesn't Google have enough data already?
gowld 7 hours ago
Android CLI can write a tool that wraps android-cli and automatically passes the flag based on an env variable.
How would Google have enough data about a brand new product without collecting that data?
panzi 3 hours ago
`alias android-cli='android-cli --no-metrics'`
SJMG 2 hours ago
tredre3 5 hours ago
> How would Google have enough data about a brand new product without collecting that data?
They wouldn't. But on the other hand, they probably have a large amount of in-house Android app developers on whom they can conduct such metrics collection. I wouldn't expect outsiders to have vastly different workflows, because when you get out of the happy path with Android all you get is pain.
jadar an hour ago
This is great. We also need a tool to expose source jars to agents so they don’t need to compress. There’s a lot of Compose overloads that Claude just guesses at. I built something internally but it needs polish and Claude really struggled with the deep Gradle integration.
antirez 6 hours ago
Let's see if even mid/big companies with tons of resources, with AI and the right tooling will continue to write webview-apps or, even worse, use some kind of multi target wrapper.
winrid an hour ago
Catching up to Flutter.
firemelt 28 minutes ago
flutter have this already?
diego_sandoval 10 minutes ago
AFAIK, Flutter has had a good, capable CLI since the beggining. You've never needed to install Android Studio to use Flutter.
winrid 14 minutes ago
I meant in terms of development speed with agents.
mridulmalpani 3 hours ago
How can I use this official android skill with Claude code?
Is there any step by step process or guidance on it?
cbhl 3 hours ago
Looks like the docs start here: https://developer.android.com/tools/agents/android-skills#us...
There's a link to a repo or you can use the CLI tool to init the skills
iririririr 6 hours ago
> Your agents perform best when they have a lightweight, programmatic interface to interact with the Android SDK and development environment.
F you google. Me too. Why didn't we get a sane way to build android apps before you had to please chatbots?
bitpush 5 hours ago
Damned if you do. Damned if you dont.
stavros 41 minutes ago
Damned if you don't, damned if you do fifteen years later for an entirely different reason.
OutOfHere 7 hours ago
But can I publish an app without having to share my ID? I want an ecosystem that doesn't require it.
binkHN 4 hours ago
It's not just your ID; it's your address, phone number, and the list goes on.
Flavius 7 hours ago
Absolutely not. That would be crazy.
nout 5 hours ago
Zapstore or Obtanium...
Evidlo 7 hours ago
Now please let us install the apps just as easily
stronglikedan 6 hours ago
downloading an APK and opening it is already about as easy as it gets. the only thing easier would be for someone else to do it for you
throwaway81523 5 hours ago
You're forgetting the installation ("sideloading", what everyone else calls installation) restrictions they are about to deploy. It will be a significant hassle to install anything without Google's approval. Many F-droid apps are showing warning notices about this upcoming change.
stavros 39 minutes ago
"This APK cannot be scanned and its safety cannot be verified. Learn more/go back" and "learn more" has a link that looks like nothing but is actually a button to actually install the app.
I can think of some easier things, for example popping up a dialog, pressing "install" and having my all actually be installed after that.
agentifysh 5 hours ago
Flutter CLI is what we really need but this is a welcome addition.
bartekpacia 3 hours ago
It exists already. Wdym?