How do I install the Injecting Input And State skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add skydoves/injecting-input-and-state in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

What does the Injecting Input And State skill do?

Use this skill to drive an Android device from the host shell — inject taps, swipes, text, key events, and drag-and-drop via `adb shell input`; resize the display with `wm size` / `wm density`; flip hermetic-test settings with `settings put global window_animation_scale 0`; reset app state with `pm clear` vs `am force-stop`; launch Activities with `am start -n pkg/.Activity`; and use the modern `cmd ` wrapper (`cmd wifi`, `cmd connectivity`, `cmd uimode night`, `cmd locale set-app-locales`) instead of the deprecated `svc` aliases on API 30+. If the user mentions "input tap", "input swipe", "input text spaces", "KEYCODE_BACK", "wm size for screen-size matrix", "settings put animation_scale", "force-stop vs pm clear", "svc wifi no-op", "cmd wifi set-wifi-enabled", or "am start intent extras", use this skill. It is listed under Integrations & APIs on SkillMD.

Is Injecting Input And State safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Injecting Input And State?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Injecting Input And State free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free. This skill is licensed under Apache-2.

Who published Injecting Input And State?

skydoves (@skydoves) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Injecting Input And State by skydoves

Name: Injecting Input And State
Author: skydoves

Injecting Input and State — Drive the Device From the Shell

This skill covers the on-device shell surface a test/QA engineer drives over adb to simulate user gestures, override the screen configuration, flip system settings, reset app state, and launch Activities. Transport (adb devices, USB/TCP) lives in ../../architecture/understanding-adb-architecture/SKILL.md; capturing artefacts after driving the device lives in ../../capture/capturing-screenshots-and-screenrecord/SKILL.md.

When to use this skill

The developer needs to script a user journey from CI without writing instrumentation: tap, swipe, type text, press hardware keys.
A bug repro requires a specific screen size or density (wm size 411x731, wm density 320) without recreating an emulator AVD.
The test suite is flaky because animations are on; the developer wants the canonical hermetic preamble (window_animation_scale = 0 etc.).
The developer needs to clear app data between runs and is unsure whether am force-stop is enough (it is not).
A script uses adb shell svc wifi disable and silently does nothing on API 30+ — the modern cmd wifi set-wifi-enabled disabled is the fix.
The developer needs to launch a deep-link Activity with typed extras (--ez, --ei, --es).

When NOT to use this skill

The bytes need to leave the device (screenshots, logs, DB). Use ../../capture/capturing-screenshots-and-screenrecord/SKILL.md, ../../observability/extracting-logs-with-logcat/SKILL.md, ../../transfer/extracting-test-artifacts/SKILL.md.
Driving the device from inside an instrumentation test, not from the host. Use ../../../instrumentation/scenarios/launching-activities-with-activityscenario/SKILL.md or UiAutomator.
Installing or uninstalling APKs. Use ../../apps/installing-and-managing-apps/SKILL.md.
Connecting to the device in the first place. Use ../../devices/connecting-to-devices/SKILL.md or ../../devices/connecting-over-wifi/SKILL.md.

Prerequisites

A reachable device or emulator (adb get-state returns device).
Platform Tools 23+ on the host. Quoting through adb shell is double-shell (ssh-style) since Platform Tools 23 — load-bearing for any string with spaces (developer.android.com/tools/adb#shellcommands).
For cmd wrapper APIs and reliable shell exit codes: device API 24+ (cmd introduced API 24).

`input` — synthesised user events

input is the on-device wrapper around InputManager.injectInputEvent(). The full grammar:

input [<source>] <command> [<arg>...]

<source> defaults per command (touchscreen for tap/swipe, keyboard for text/keyevent).

Tap, swipe, draganddrop

adb shell input tap <x> <y>
adb shell input swipe <x1> <y1> <x2> <y2> [<duration_ms>]
adb shell input draganddrop <x1> <y1> <x2> <y2> [<duration_ms>]
adb shell input roll <dx> <dy>                        # rotary/trackball axes
adb shell input motionevent <DOWN|UP|MOVE|CANCEL> <x> <y>

swipe defaults to ~300 ms when <duration_ms> is omitted. To synthesise a long-press, swipe in place for the long-press timeout: input swipe <x> <y> <x> <y> 1000. draganddrop differs from swipe in that it emits the drag-and-drop gesture sequence (DOWN → MOVE → UP) consumable by View.OnDragListener, not the same event stream as swipe.

Text input — quoting trap

adb shell input text "<string>"

Caveats (from developer.android.com/tools/adb):

Spaces MUST be encoded as %s. input text "hello world" types hello, then nothing.
Shell metacharacters (', ", &, (, ), <, >, |, ;, \, backtick) MUST be escaped twice — once for the local shell, once for the device-side shell.
Non-ASCII / Unicode is unreliable through input text. Use UiAutomator UiObject2.setText(...) for those.

Key events

adb shell input keyevent [--longpress|--doubletap] <KEYCODE> [<KEYCODE>...]
adb shell input keyevent <NUMERIC_CODE>

Test-relevant KEYCODE_* (KeyEvent constants from frameworks/base; full table in research note A2):

Mnemonic	Numeric	Notes
`KEYCODE_HOME`	3	Press Home (does not always wake screen).
`KEYCODE_BACK`	4	Back button.
`KEYCODE_DPAD_UP/DOWN/LEFT/RIGHT/CENTER`	19-23	TV / focus traversal.
`KEYCODE_VOLUME_UP/DOWN/MUTE`	24/25/164
`KEYCODE_POWER`	26	Toggles screen off/on.
`KEYCODE_TAB`	61
`KEYCODE_ENTER`	66
`KEYCODE_DEL`	67	Backspace.
`KEYCODE_MENU`	82
`KEYCODE_APP_SWITCH`	187	Recents button.
`KEYCODE_WAKEUP`	224	Wake without unlocking.
`KEYCODE_SLEEP`	223	Force sleep.

Wake + dismiss-keyguard for emulator with no lock:

adb shell input keyevent KEYCODE_WAKEUP
adb shell input keyevent 82                     # menu, dismiss the AOSP swipe-up

Source prefixes

input <source> <command> maps to InputDevice.SOURCE_*. Use a source prefix when a screen has multiple input listeners or when targeting non-touch hardware:

Source	Typical use
`touchscreen`	Default for `tap`, `swipe`, `draganddrop`.
`touchpad`	External touchpads (Chromebook / Android tablet keyboard).
`dpad`	TV/focus traversal: `input dpad keyevent KEYCODE_DPAD_DOWN`.
`keyboard`	Default for `text`, `keyevent`.
`mouse`	Mouse buttons + scroll.
`trackball`	Trackball roll.
`gamepad` / `joystick`	Gamepad buttons / joystick axes.
`stylus`	Pressure-aware touch (S-Pen).

`wm` — display size and density overrides

wm is the shell wrapper for IWindowManager. The test-relevant subcommands:

adb shell wm size                               # read current logical size
adb shell wm size 1080x1920                     # override
adb shell wm size reset                         # restore device default

adb shell wm density                            # read current dpi
adb shell wm density 320                        # override
adb shell wm density reset

adb shell wm dismiss-keyguard                   # insecure keyguard only
adb shell wm user-rotation [free|lock [<rotation>]]   # 0,1,2,3 = 0/90/180/270

Use case — screen-size / density matrix without recreating the emulator:

# Per configuration in the matrix
adb shell wm size 411x731
adb shell wm density 240
# … run tests …
adb shell wm size reset
adb shell wm density reset

Caveats:

MUST call reset in @AfterClass / suite teardown — otherwise the device stays in the modified configuration after the run, breaking later runs and any human user.
wm size / wm density trigger a configuration change that recreates the foreground Activity. Treat them as between-test knobs, not mid-test.
am display-size / am display-density are equivalent legacy spellings; wm is preferred.

`settings` — hermetic test state

adb shell settings [--user <id>] get   <namespace> <key>
adb shell settings [--user <id>] put   <namespace> <key> <value> [<tag>] [default]
adb shell settings [--user <id>] delete <namespace> <key>
adb shell settings [--user <id>] reset <namespace> [<package>] [untrusted_defaults|untrusted_clear|trusted_defaults]
adb shell settings [--user <id>] list  <namespace>

<namespace> is one of global, system, secure.

The hermetic preamble — animation knobs

Set all three to 0 for stable instrumented and screenshot tests:

adb shell settings put global window_animation_scale 0
adb shell settings put global transition_animation_scale 0
adb shell settings put global animator_duration_scale 0

Or via Gradle: testOptions.animationsDisabled = true.

Other test-relevant keys

Namespace	Key	Purpose
`system`	`font_scale`	Float (e.g. `1.0`, `1.3`); type-scale tests.
`secure`	`accessibility_enabled`	`1` to enable a11y; pair with `enabled_accessibility_services`.
`secure`	`enabled_accessibility_services`	CSV `pkg/.Service` for a11y tests.
`secure`	`default_input_method`	Force a known IME.
`secure`	`show_ime_with_hard_keyboard`	`1` to keep IME visible on emulators.
`secure`	`long_press_timeout`	Stabilise long-press tests.
`global`	`airplane_mode_on`	Pair with `am broadcast android.intent.action.AIRPLANE_MODE`.
`global`	`policy_control`	E.g. `immersive.full=*` to hide system bars.

App state — `am force-stop` vs `pm clear`

Command	Kills processes?	Clears data/cache/prefs?	Resets runtime permissions?
`am force-stop <pkg>`	Yes	No	No
`pm clear <pkg>`	Yes (implicitly)	Yes	Yes
`cmd activity stop-app <pkg>`	Yes (modern, API 28+)	No	No

For a hermetic between-test reset, use pm clear. For "kill the process so the next launch is cold", am force-stop is enough. See ../../apps/installing-and-managing-apps/SKILL.md for the full pm surface.

Launching Activities — `am start`

# Most reliable for tests: explicit component.
adb shell am start -n com.example.app/.MainActivity

# Force-stop first, then launch (clean cold start).
adb shell am start -S -W -n com.example.app/.MainActivity

# Launch by action + URI (default handler for https://).
adb shell am start -a android.intent.action.VIEW -d 'https://example.com'

# Pass typed extras.
adb shell am start -n com.example.app/.MainActivity \
  --es screen "settings" --ez debug true --ei count 42

# Return to launcher between tests.
adb shell am start -a android.intent.action.MAIN -c android.intent.category.HOME

Intent specifier flags (abridged from developer.android.com/tools/adb#IntentSpec):

Token	Effect
`-a action`	Intent action (e.g. `android.intent.action.VIEW`).
`-d data_uri`	Data URI.
`-t mime_type`	MIME type.
`-c category`	Category.
`-n component`	Explicit component (`pkg/.Activity`).
`-f flags`	Hex `setFlags()` value.
`--es	-e key value`
`--ez key bool`	Boolean extra.
`--ei key int`	Int extra.
`--el key long`	Long extra.
`--ef key float`	Float extra.
`--eu key uri`	URI extra.
`--ecn key component`	ComponentName extra.
`--eia/--ela/--efa key v[,v...]`	Array extras.
`--activity-clear-top` etc.	Map to `FLAG_ACTIVITY_*`.
`-S`	Force-stop the target before starting.
`-W`	Wait for launch to complete.

`cmd <service>` — the modern wrapper

cmd is a generic wrapper that calls into a binder service's onShellCommand. Available since API 24. To list services: adb shell cmd -l (or dumpsys -l). Test-relevant entry points:

Invocation	Effect
`cmd activity stop-app <pkg>`	Modern equivalent of `am force-stop`.
`cmd activity broadcast …`	Same as `am broadcast`.
`cmd package install -r -t -g <path>`	`pm install` equivalent.
`cmd package compile -m speed -f <pkg>`	Force AOT compilation.
`cmd appops set allow	deny
`cmd jobscheduler run -f <pkg> <jobId>`	Force a JobService to run now.
`cmd uimode night yes	no
`cmd locale set-app-locales <pkg> --locales en-US`	Per-app locales (Android 13+).
`cmd statusbar expand-notifications` / `collapse`	Expand/collapse the shade.
`cmd wifi set-wifi-enabled enabled	disabled`
`cmd connectivity airplane-mode enable	disable`
`cmd testharness enable`	Reset device to a hermetic test-harness state (Android 10+).

`svc` deprecation on API 30+

svc data, svc wifi, svc bluetooth are no-ops on API 30+ unless invoked from a privileged shell (corpus §I.10). The preferred replacements are the cmd wrappers above.

Patterns

Pattern: WRONG — `svc wifi disable` on API 30+

# WRONG
adb shell svc wifi disable
# WRONG because: silently no-ops on API 30+ since the svc CLI was demoted from a privileged
# helper to an ordinary shell command. Exit code 0, Wi-Fi still on. The script proceeds
# under a wrong assumption — exactly the worst kind of failure mode.

# RIGHT
adb shell cmd wifi set-wifi-enabled disabled
adb shell cmd wifi status                       # verify

Pattern: WRONG — `am force-stop` for a between-test reset

# WRONG
adb shell am force-stop com.example.app
./run-next-test.sh
# WRONG because: am force-stop kills the process but leaves shared prefs, databases, the
# image cache, and granted runtime permissions intact. The "next test" inherits state
# from the previous run.

# RIGHT
adb shell pm clear com.example.app
adb shell pm clear com.example.app.test         # also reset test process state
./run-next-test.sh

(Test Orchestrator with clearPackageData: 'true' is the equivalent inside Gradle — see ../../tests/running-instrumented-tests-via-adb/SKILL.md.)

Pattern: WRONG — `input text "hello world"`

# WRONG
adb shell input text "hello world"
# WRONG because: spaces in `input text` MUST be encoded as %s. The above types only "hello".

# RIGHT
adb shell input text 'hello%sworld'

Pattern: hermetic preamble + Activity launch

adb shell settings put global window_animation_scale 0
adb shell settings put global transition_animation_scale 0
adb shell settings put global animator_duration_scale 0
adb shell pm clear com.example.app
adb shell am start -S -W -n com.example.app/.MainActivity

-S force-stops first; -W blocks until the launch completes.

Pattern: TV / focus navigation via dpad

adb shell input dpad keyevent KEYCODE_DPAD_DOWN
adb shell input dpad keyevent KEYCODE_DPAD_DOWN
adb shell input dpad keyevent KEYCODE_DPAD_CENTER

Source-prefixing dpad ensures the events route to TV-style focus handlers, not the touchscreen pipeline.

Mandatory rules

MUST use cmd wifi set-wifi-enabled / cmd connectivity airplane-mode / cmd bluetooth_manager enable on API 30+. MUST NOT rely on svc wifi / svc bluetooth / svc data — they no-op silently on modern releases.
MUST use pm clear <pkg> (not am force-stop) when the goal is a hermetic between-test reset. force-stop only kills processes; data is untouched.
MUST encode spaces in input text as %s; MUST double-shell quote (ssh-style) any string with shell metacharacters. Platform Tools 23+ (developer.android.com/tools/adb#shellcommands).
MUST call wm size reset and wm density reset in suite teardown when the suite overrode them. A leaked override breaks every subsequent run on that device.
MUST set the three animation scales to 0 (or use testOptions.animationsDisabled = true in Gradle) before any UI-asserting test run.
MUST NOT use Thread.sleep between adb shell input calls to "let the UI catch up". Inside an instrumentation test, use Compose's idle synchronisation (../../../compose/synchronization/synchronizing-with-idle/SKILL.md); from a host script, use adb shell am start -W to block on Activity launch and adb shell wait-for-device between reboots.
MUST NOT assume adb shell am instrument returns a meaningful exit code without -w. See ../../tests/running-instrumented-tests-via-adb/SKILL.md and ../../automation/scripting-adb-for-ci/SKILL.md.
PREFERRED: am start -S -W -n pkg/.Activity for cold-start launches in tests — -S resets, -W blocks until ready.

Verification

adb shell settings get global window_animation_scale returns 0 (or 0.0) before tests run; same for transition_animation_scale and animator_duration_scale.
No script in scripts/ or .github/workflows/ uses svc wifi / svc bluetooth / svc data.
Every am force-stop between tests is paired with (or replaced by) pm clear.
No input text "<string with spaces>" exists; all spaces are %s.
Every wm size <override> in setup has a matching wm size reset in teardown.
CI passes 50 consecutive runs without a "device entered prior config" flake.

References

developer.android.com/tools/adb — am, pm, input, wm, settings, intent specs (https://developer.android.com/tools/adb).
developer.android.com/tools/adb#shellcommands — quoting through adb shell since Platform Tools 23.
developer.android.com/reference/android/view/KeyEvent — KEYCODE_* constants table.
developer.android.com/training/testing/instrumented-tests/stability — the canonical animation-scale-zero recipe.
developer.android.com/studio/test/advanced-test-setup#use-gradle-managed-devices — testOptions.animationsDisabled.
Research note tasks/research/A2-adb-shell-commands.md — full input / wm / settings / am / pm / cmd / svc tables and verbatim quotes.
Sibling skill: ../../architecture/understanding-adb-architecture/SKILL.md — three-piece architecture, server, daemon.
Sibling skill: ../../devices/connecting-to-devices/SKILL.md — adb devices states, wait-for-device.
Sibling skill: ../../devices/connecting-over-wifi/SKILL.md — adb pair / adb connect.
Sibling skill: ../../apps/installing-and-managing-apps/SKILL.md — full pm install / pm uninstall / pm grant surface.
Sibling skill: ../../tests/running-instrumented-tests-via-adb/SKILL.md — am instrument -w -r.
Sibling skill: ../../capture/capturing-screenshots-and-screenrecord/SKILL.md — capturing artefacts after driving the device.
Sibling skill: ../../observability/extracting-logs-with-logcat/SKILL.md — reading device logs.
Sibling skill: ../../transfer/extracting-test-artifacts/SKILL.md — adb pull / adb push / run-as.
Sibling skill: ../../automation/scripting-adb-for-ci/SKILL.md — bash idioms, retries, port forwarding.
Cross-set: ../../../instrumentation/scenarios/launching-activities-with-activityscenario/SKILL.md — launching from inside an instrumentation test.
Cross-set: ../../../fundamentals/strategies/applying-testing-strategies/SKILL.md — when to drive via adb vs instrumentation.

Injecting Input And State

File contents

Injecting Input and State — Drive the Device From the Shell

When to use this skill

When NOT to use this skill

Prerequisites

`input` — synthesised user events

Tap, swipe, draganddrop

Text input — quoting trap

Key events

Source prefixes

`wm` — display size and density overrides

`settings` — hermetic test state

The hermetic preamble — animation knobs

Other test-relevant keys

App state — `am force-stop` vs `pm clear`

Launching Activities — `am start`

`cmd <service>` — the modern wrapper

`svc` deprecation on API 30+

Patterns

Pattern: WRONG — `svc wifi disable` on API 30+

Pattern: WRONG — `am force-stop` for a between-test reset

Pattern: WRONG — `input text "hello world"`

Pattern: hermetic preamble + Activity launch

Pattern: TV / focus navigation via dpad

Mandatory rules

Verification

References

Frequently asked questions

Injecting Input And State

File contents

Injecting Input and State — Drive the Device From the Shell

When to use this skill

When NOT to use this skill

Prerequisites

input — synthesised user events

Tap, swipe, draganddrop

Text input — quoting trap

Key events

Source prefixes

wm — display size and density overrides

settings — hermetic test state

The hermetic preamble — animation knobs

Other test-relevant keys

App state — am force-stop vs pm clear

Launching Activities — am start

cmd <service> — the modern wrapper

svc deprecation on API 30+

Patterns

Pattern: WRONG — svc wifi disable on API 30+

Pattern: WRONG — am force-stop for a between-test reset

Pattern: WRONG — input text "hello world"

Pattern: hermetic preamble + Activity launch

Pattern: TV / focus navigation via dpad

Mandatory rules

Verification

References

Related skills

Frequently asked questions

How do I install the Injecting Input And State skill?

What does the Injecting Input And State skill do?

Is Injecting Input And State safe to use?

Which AI agents work with Injecting Input And State?

Is Injecting Input And State free to use?

Who published Injecting Input And State?

`input` — synthesised user events

`wm` — display size and density overrides

`settings` — hermetic test state

App state — `am force-stop` vs `pm clear`

Launching Activities — `am start`

`cmd <service>` — the modern wrapper

`svc` deprecation on API 30+

Pattern: WRONG — `svc wifi disable` on API 30+

Pattern: WRONG — `am force-stop` for a between-test reset

Pattern: WRONG — `input text "hello world"`