Gplay Apps

gplay apps (registry + app details)

Two jobs: gplay's local registry of packages, and an app's App details record. Shared conventions (auth, --package, output, exit codes) live in gplay-cli-usage.

Local registry vs. server-side discovery

Two different questions, two commands:

• "What have I chosen to work on?" → apps list reads gplay's local registry: the packages you have apps add-ed under the active Account. The classic Android Publisher API has no apps.list endpoint, so this working set is gplay's own record, not a Play read.
• "What can this credential actually reach?" → apps accessible list is a server-authoritative inventory, straight from Google via the Play Developer Reporting apps.search method (least-privilege reporting scope, no local-registry fallback).

The two sets do not necessarily coincide (ADR-0039): a credential may be able to apps add a package it cannot see here, or see org apps it does not drive. Use apps accessible list to bootstrap — discover package names, then apps add the ones you want to work on.

Pagination is one page per call: --page-size / --page-token, and --output json passes the SearchAccessibleAppsResponse through verbatim (nextPageToken included, ADR-0003); table/markdown output notes the next --page-token on stderr when more apps are available.

Registering and managing packages

gplay apps accessible list             # server-side: apps this credential can reach
gplay apps add com.example.app         # register one (validates access via the API)
gplay apps add com.a com.b com.c       # register several — independent, partial success
gplay apps list                        # list packages in the local registry
gplay apps view --package com.example.app   # default language, title, contact email, icon
gplay apps remove com.example.app      # drop from the registry (does not touch Play)
gplay init                             # pin a package to ./.gplay for this repo

apps add takes one or more packages and validates by default (ADR-0006): for each it opens and immediately discards a Play Edit — a cheap probe that catches a typo'd package name or a missing per-app permission grant now, at registration, instead of weeks later in a CI release. Multiple packages are independent units of work: a failure on one does not stop or roll back the others (partial success), each gets a ✓/✗ line on stderr, and the exit code reflects the most serious failure (a batch carrying any non-retryable failure exits non-retryable, so an automated caller won't blindly retry it). Duplicate arguments are collapsed. Pass --no-verify to skip the API round-trip and record every package unconditionally (offline or preparatory registration). gplay apps init scaffolds the .gplay/ pin (same idea as the top-level gplay init).

apps view also reports the store icon when the default language has one ([experimental]): the icon's content sha256 in table/markdown, and an "icon" key {"url":..,"sha256":..} in the JSON envelope (omitted when the slot is empty). The sha256 is the durable content-identity handle; the url is an ephemeral preview link — never persist it (fetch the bytes with gplay metadata images pull). Each run is a live read; nothing is cached.

App details (read + write)

App details is the app-global record holding defaultLanguage and the user-visible contactEmail, contactPhone, and contactWebsite — writable via the API (ADR-0012):

gplay apps details view --package com.example.app
gplay apps details set --contact-email support@example.com
gplay apps details set --default-language en-US --contact-phone ""

apps details set is a partial patch at flag granularity: a field you pass is written, a field you omit is left intact, and an explicit empty value clears a field (e.g. --contact-phone "" removes the number). A bare set with no field flag is refused (exit 2) so a forgotten flag can never emit an empty patch. There is no --confirm (contact info is low-stakes and reversible); use --dry-run to preview the patch with no HTTP call. Confirm the field flags with gplay apps details set --help.

The bare gplay apps details command prints help — it groups view + set, it is not itself a read (post-ADR-0019: no verb-less reads).

Next steps

With an app registered and pinned, move on to gplay-release-flow (ship a build), gplay-tracks (tracks + testers), or gplay-metadata-sync (store listing). Auth not set up yet? Start with gplay-setup.