What does this skill do, and when should you use it?
This skill provides a full guide to the `android` command-line tool, a critical utility for Android development. It enables creating new projects, running apps on devices, managing Android Virtual Devices, capturing screenshots, inspecting UI layouts, managing SDK packages, and searching official Android documentation. It also includes commands for managing other Android skills. This skill is a standalone skill within the android/skills repository, following the open Agent Skills standard, and is designed to be used by various AI agents.
This skill provides instructions for using the android CLI to: create new Android projects (e.g., android create empty-activity --name="My App" --output=./my-app), install/update/list/remove SDK packages via android sdk subcommands, manage emulators (create/start/stop/list/remove) via android emulator, capture screenshots via android screen capture or android screenshot, output the UI layout tree via android layout, deploy APKs via android run, search official docs via android docs search, manage skills via android skills, and update the CLI via android update. It also gives installation instructions for the CLI itself (via curl scripts).
- A developer who wants to create a new Android project locally without manually configuring Gradle files.
- A developer who needs to install or update specific Android SDK platforms or build tools.
- A QA engineer who wants to automate emulator creation and startup for testing or screenshot capture.
- A developer debugging layout issues who needs to quickly inspect the UI layout tree of an app.
- An AI agent that needs to search the latest Android API documentation for up-to-date information.
- A developer who wants to discover and install other Android skills using the `android skills` command.
How do you install this skill?
- Installation scripts may not be reachable from mainland China networks; verify availability.
- Install and update commands execute remote scripts or downloads; users should verify sources and confirm.
- No rollback or backup procedures are documented; exercise caution with delete or update commands.
- Shell / CLI
- Network access
- Local filesystem
Clone or download the [android/skills](https://github.com/android/skills) repository from GitHub. The skill is located at devtools/android-cli/SKILL.md. To install this skill into your agent, copy the devtools/android-cli folder to your agent's skills directory (e.g., ~/.gemini/antigravity/skills/). Alternatively, use the Android CLI itself: android skills add --skill=android-cli --project=. (if the android CLI is not yet installed, install it first).
tmp="$(mktemp -d)"
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/android/skills.git "$tmp"
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
cp -R "$tmp/devtools/android-cli" ~/.claude/skills/
rm -rf "$tmp"Generated from the source repository and skill path; it copies only this skill's folder. If the author's install steps above differ, follow those first. To scope it to one project, replace ~/.claude/skills with that project's .claude/skills.
How do you use this skill?
Once installed, send your agent any of these to trigger it:
- Create a new Android project using the `android create` command
- Search Android docs using `android docs search`.
Ensure the android CLI is installed and accessible (follow the installation instructions in SKILL.md). Then, give your AI agent a task such as: "Create a new Android project using the android create command" or "Search Android docs using android docs search." The skill provides command syntax and examples for the agent to reference.
What are this skill's strengths and limitations?
- Comprehensive coverage of Android CLI commands, touching on multiple aspects of the development workflow.
- Access to official documentation for docs search, ensuring up-to-date information.
- Part of a larger skill collection, allowing discovery of other Android skills via `android skills`.
- Includes `android layout` for UI layout inspection, aiding in debugging.
- Requires installation of the `android` CLI, an additional external dependency.
- Installation scripts are OS-specific (Linux, macOS Intel/ARM, Windows) and may require manual download.
- No test suite or tests are provided to validate the skill's functionality.
- The skill focuses primarily on the command line and may not cover all GUI-driven development tasks.
How does this skill compare with similar options?
Side by side with related skills; every score comes from the same FSRS standard.
| Skill | FS score | Stars | Last updated | License |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Android CLI Skill Pack this page | 52 · Use with care | ★ 7.7k | 16d ago | Apache-2.0 |
| Expo Integration Examples | 51 · Use with care | ★ 2.7k | 6d ago | MIT |
| VS Code Project Bootstrapper ✓ Microsoft · Official | 43 · Not recommended | ★ 193k | 3d ago | MIT |
| Hugging Face MCP Assistant | 36 · Not recommended | ★ 11k | 3d ago | Apache-2.0 |
| Context7 Project Bootstrapper ✓ Microsoft · Official | 36 · Not recommended | ★ 193k | 3d ago | MIT |
How did FollowSkills review this skill?
The skill primarily provides CLI usage instructions; installation commands come from official domain (dl.google.com), with no malicious or overreaching behavior. However, it does not require user confirmation for sensitive operations (install, update, remove SDK packages), and lacks data-flow and rollback documentation, hence deductions.
The instructions are internally consistent and include command examples, but there are no test cases or verification steps to ensure commands run as described. Error handling and failure feedback for invalid input are insufficient, hence deductions.
The skill targets clear Android development scenarios with clear trigger conditions (when using android CLI), but lacks explicit capability boundaries (e.g., unsupported cases) and Chinese localization considerations. Given dependence on Google services, reachability from mainland China networks is at risk, hence deductions.
Documentation is well-structured with installation, commands, and references. However, it lacks version information, changelog, maintenance ownership details, and known limitations. Contribution is 'not accepted at this time', and update path relies on CI, hence deductions.
The skill provides CLI help and examples, and is expected to accomplish tasks, but lacks actual run verification or output examples to confirm direct usability. The value is clear, but evidence is insufficient, so only a base score is given.
The repo contains CI workflows (create-release, update-skills) but these focus on release and skill updates, not on verifying skill command execution. The skill itself provides no tests or independent reproduction evidence; only file content consistency can be confirmed, hence low score.
Open a dimension to read why it scored that way
Evidence confidence：Low — Mostly static review, author material or a limited demo; useful for discovery, not high-risk decisions.
See the full review method →