Android

Android

Senior Android developer workflows. Covers both the codebase layer (Kotlin / Compose / MVVM / Coroutines / Room / Retrofit) and the device layer (plugin tools for device management and diagnostics, mobile-mcp for UI interaction).

Self-contained. This skill does not require kotlin-engineer. All Kotlin/coroutine rules relevant for Android are included here.

Reference Guide

Google Official Skills

For specific migration or upgrade tasks, install the relevant Google Android skill into the project:

# See all available skills and their descriptions
npx android-skills-pack list

# Install only if the skill is not already installed
npx android-skills-pack install --target junie --skill <name>

Relevant hints are in each reference file. When a task matches a Google skill, install it only if not already present.

Tool priority (three-tier fallback chain)

Use the first available layer for any device/app operation:

1. Plugin tools — first choice. Device management (list/start/stop emulator, list AVDs), app lifecycle (build/install/launch/clear), diagnostics (logcat, last crash, ANR traces), system tweaks (permissions, network, dark mode), Compose preview rendering. Fastest, structured output, no shell parsing needed.
2. mobile-mcp — UI interaction only. Reading the UI element tree, taps, swipes, text input, back/home, orientation, opening URLs, screenshot fallback. Use it when the action involves interacting with the UI surface.
3. ADB shell — last-resort fallback. Only when neither a plugin tool nor mobile-mcp covers the operation, or when one of them is unavailable. See references/adb.md.

The core loop

Whenever the agent touches the device, it follows this loop — no blind actions:

read UI element tree (mobile-mcp)        → observe current state (text, ids, bounds)
     ↓
action (mobile-mcp: tap / swipe / type / press button)
     ↓
read UI element tree (mobile-mcp)        → verify UI changed as expected
     ↓
read logcat (plugin tool)                → catch silent crashes

The element tree is the primary observation channel — it returns structured data (text, resource-id, bounds) that the agent can read directly without vision. A screenshot is a fallback only: use it when elements are missing from the tree (custom-drawn views, games, WebView content, visual layout issues).

Before running on device — verify Compose UI via headless preview

For any UI-touching task (Compose), render @Preview composables before running on the emulator:

• display_android_compose_preview(path) — when the file path is known (typical case after editing a file).
• read_android_last_preview (no args) — when the file is already open in the editor and the path is not known.

Both return one image per @Preview and trigger a build if needed. Only proceed to the emulator after the preview looks right.

Key Patterns

MVVM + UDF (Compose)

// State — what's on screen right now
sealed interface UserUiState {
    data object Loading : UserUiState
    data class Success(val user: User) : UserUiState
    data class Error(val message: String) : UserUiState
}

// ViewModel — no Context, no View, no Activity
class UserViewModel(
    private val repo: UserRepository,
) : ViewModel() {
    private val _state = MutableStateFlow<UserUiState>(UserUiState.Loading)
    val state: StateFlow<UserUiState> = _state.asStateFlow()

    fun load(id: String) = viewModelScope.launch {
        _state.value = UserUiState.Loading
        _state.value = runCatching { repo.user(id) }
            .onFailure { if (it is CancellationException) throw it }  // never swallow cancellation
            .fold({ UserUiState.Success(it) }, { UserUiState.Error(it.message ?: "Error") })
    }
}

// Composable — observes state with lifecycle awareness
@Composable
fun UserScreen(vm: UserViewModel = hiltViewModel()) {
    val state by vm.state.collectAsStateWithLifecycle()
    when (val s = state) {
        UserUiState.Loading     -> LoadingIndicator()
        is UserUiState.Error    -> ErrorView(s.message) { vm.load("me") }
        is UserUiState.Success  -> UserContent(s.user)
    }
}

Full Repository / Retrofit / Fragment examples → references/implement.md.

Output Format

When implementing a feature:

1. Plan — one sentence stating what changes and which layers are touched (UI / ViewModel / Repository / data).
2. Code — implement bottom-up: data layer → domain → ViewModel → UI. Follow existing architecture patterns.
3. Checklist — confirm: no Context in ViewModel, flows collected with collectAsStateWithLifecycle, runBlocking not used on main thread, no hardcoded colors/dp.

When reviewing code: call out MUST-DO / MUST-NOT violations, lifecycle leaks, threading issues, and N+1 data fetches. Suggest minimal fixes.

When running QA: follow the core loop — observe → act → verify. Delegate long scenarios to android-qa-agent.

Constraints

MUST DO:

• Use Kotlin, Jetpack Compose, MVVM, Coroutines/Flow.
• Prefer plugin tools for device management, app lifecycle, diagnostics (logcat, crashes, ANR), permissions, and system settings — they are the first-tier choice.
• Use mobile-mcp for UI interaction: element tree, taps, swipes, text input, back/home, orientation, open-url.
• Fall back to raw ADB shell only when neither tier covers the operation (references/adb.md).
• Wrap every UI action: read element tree → act → read element tree, then check logcat.
• When unit-testing, mock at the ApiService / Dao boundary so the Repository logic (cache-first, API fallback, error mapping) is actually exercised. See references/test.md.
• Reuse existing architecture patterns; read 2–3 similar features before adding a new one.

MUST NOT DO:

• Write new files in Java (Kotlin for all new code; keep existing Java files in Java).
• Hold Context, View, Activity references in a ViewModel.
• Call runBlocking on the main thread.
• Swallow exceptions with empty catch blocks.
• Hardcode dp/sp/colors — use MaterialTheme / theme tokens.
• Bypass failing tests with @Ignore, skip flags, or weakened assertions.

Dedicated agent

For autonomous QA loops, delegate to the android-qa-agent — it runs scenarios on the emulator and produces a structured PASS/FAIL/BLOCKED report without modifying source code.