adbkit
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adbkit is a pure Node.js client for the Android Debug Bridge server. It can be used either as a library in your own application, or simply as a convenient utility for playing with your device.
Most of the adb
command line tool's functionality is supported (including pushing/pulling files, installing APKs and processing logs), with some added functionality such as being able to generate touch/key events and take screenshots. Some shims are provided for older devices, but we have not and will not test anything below Android 2.3.
Internally, we use this library to drive a multitude of Android devices from a variety of manufacturers, so we can say with a fairly high degree of confidence that it will most likely work with your device(s), too.
Requirements
- Node.js >= 0.10
- The
adb
command line tool
Please note that although it may happen at some point, this project is NOT an implementation of the ADB server. The target host (where the devices are connected) must still have ADB installed and either already running (e.g. via adb start-server
) or available in $PATH
. An attempt will be made to start the server locally via the aforementioned command if the initial connection fails. This is the only case where we fall back to the adb
binary.
When targeting a remote host, starting the server is entirely your responsibility.
Alternatively, you may want to consider using the Chrome ADB extension, as it includes the ADB server and can be started/stopped quite easily.
Getting started
Install via NPM:
npm install --save adbkit
We use debug, and our debug namespace is adb
. Some of the dependencies may provide debug output of their own. To see the debug output, set the DEBUG
environment variable. For example, run your program with DEBUG=adb:* node app.js
.
Note that even though the module is written in CoffeeScript, only the compiled JavaScript is published to NPM, which means that it can easily be used with pure JavaScript codebases, too.
Examples
The examples may be a bit verbose, but that's because we're trying to keep them as close to real-life code as possible, with flow control and error handling taken care of.
Checking for NFC support
var Promise = var adb = var client = adb client
Installing an APK
var Promise = var adb = var client = adbvar apk = 'vendor/app.apk' client
Tracking devices
var adb = var client = adb client
Pulling a file from all connected devices
var Promise = var fs = var adb = var client = adb client
Pushing a file to all connected devices
var Promise = var adb = var client = adb client
List files in a folder
var Promise = var adb = var client = adb client
API
ADB
adb.createClient([options])
Creates a client instance with the provided options. Note that this will not automatically establish a connection, it will only be done when necessary.
- options An object compatible with Net.connect's options:
- port The port where the ADB server is listening. Defaults to
5037
. - host The host of the ADB server. Defaults to
'localhost'
. - bin As the sole exception, this option provides the path to the
adb
binary, used for starting the server locally if initial connection fails. Defaults to'adb'
.
- port The port where the ADB server is listening. Defaults to
- Returns: The client instance.
adb.util.parsePublicKey(androidKey[, callback])
Parses an Android-formatted mincrypt public key (e.g. ~/.android/adbkey.pub
).
- androidKey The key String or
Buffer
to parse. Not a filename. - callback(err, output) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - key The key as a forge.pki public key. You may need node-forge for complicated operations. Additionally the following properties are present:
- fingerprint The key fingerprint, like it would display on a device. Note that this is different than the one you'd get from
forge.ssh.getPublicKeyFingerprint(key)
, because the device fingerprint is based on the original format. - comment The key comment, if any.
- fingerprint The key fingerprint, like it would display on a device. Note that this is different than the one you'd get from
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
key
(see callback)
adb.util.readAll(stream[, callback])
Takes a Stream
and reads everything it outputs until the stream ends. Then it resolves with the collected output. Convenient with client.shell()
.
- stream The
Stream
to read. - callback(err, output) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - output All the output as a
Buffer
. Useoutput.toString('utf-8')
to get a readable string from it.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
output
(see callback)
Client
client.clear(serial, pkg[, callback])
Deletes all data associated with a package from the device. This is roughly analogous to adb shell pm clear <pkg>
.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - pkg The package name. This is NOT the APK.
- callback(err) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
true
client.connect(host[, port][, callback])
Connects to the given device, which must have its ADB daemon running in tcp mode (see client.tcpip()
) and be accessible on the same network. Same as adb connect <host>:<port>
.
- host The target host. Can also contain the port, in which case the port argument is not used and can be skipped.
- port Optional. The target port. Defaults to
5555
. - callback(err, id) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - id The connected device ID. Can be used as
serial
in other commands.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
id
(see callback)
Example - switch to TCP mode and set up a forward for Chrome devtools
Note: be careful with using client.listDevices()
together with client.tcpip()
and other similar methods that modify the connection with ADB. You might have the same device twice in your device list (i.e. one device connected via both USB and TCP), which can cause havoc if run simultaneously.
var Promise = var client = client
client.disconnect(host[, port][, callback])
Disconnects from the given device, which should have been connected via client.connect()
or just adb connect <host>:<port>
.
- host The target host. Can also contain the port, in which case the port argument is not used and can be skipped. In other words you can just put the
id
you got fromclient.connect()
here and it will be fine. - port Optional. The target port. Defaults to
5555
. - callback(err, id) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - id The disconnected device ID. Will no longer be usable as a
serial
in other commands until you've connected again.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
id
(see callback)
client.forward(serial, local, remote[, callback])
Forwards socket connections from the ADB server host (local) to the device (remote). This is analogous to adb forward <local> <remote>
. It's important to note that if you are connected to a remote ADB server, the forward will be created on that host.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - local A string representing the local endpoint on the ADB host. At time of writing, can be one of:
tcp:<port>
localabstract:<unix domain socket name>
localreserved:<unix domain socket name>
localfilesystem:<unix domain socket name>
dev:<character device name>
- remote A string representing the remote endpoint on the device. At time of writing, can be one of:
- Any value accepted by the
local
argument jdwp:<process pid>
- Any value accepted by the
- callback(err) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
true
client.framebuffer(serial[, format][, callback])
Fetches the current raw framebuffer (i.e. what is visible on the screen) from the device, and optionally converts it into something more usable by using GraphicsMagick's gm
command, which must be available in $PATH
if conversion is desired. Note that we don't bother supporting really old framebuffer formats such as RGB_565. If for some mysterious reason you happen to run into a >=2.3
device that uses RGB_565, let us know.
Note that high-resolution devices can have quite massive framebuffers. For example, a device with a resolution of 1920x1080 and 32 bit colors would have a roughly 8MB (1920*1080*4
byte) RGBA framebuffer. Empirical tests point to about 5MB/s bandwidth limit for the ADB USB connection, which means that it can take ~1.6 seconds for the raw data to arrive, or even more if the USB connection is already congested. Using a conversion will further slow down completion.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - format The desired output format. Any output format supported by GraphicsMagick (such as
'png'
) is supported. Defaults to'raw'
for raw framebuffer data. - callback(err, framebuffer) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - framebuffer The possibly converted framebuffer stream. The stream also has a
meta
property with the following values:- version The framebuffer version. Useful for patching possible backwards-compatibility issues.
- bpp Bits per pixel (i.e. color depth).
- size The raw byte size of the framebuffer.
- width The horizontal resolution of the framebuffer. This SHOULD always be the same as screen width. We have not encountered any device with incorrect framebuffer metadata, but according to rumors there might be some.
- height The vertical resolution of the framebuffer. This SHOULD always be the same as screen height.
- red_offset The bit offset of the red color in a pixel.
- red_length The bit length of the red color in a pixel.
- blue_offset The bit offset of the blue color in a pixel.
- blue_length The bit length of the blue color in a pixel.
- green_offset The bit offset of the green color in a pixel.
- green_length The bit length of the green color in a pixel.
- alpha_offset The bit offset of alpha in a pixel.
- alpha_length The bit length of alpha in a pixel.
0
when not available. - format The framebuffer format for convenience. This can be one of
'bgr'
,'bgra'
,'rgb'
,'rgba'
.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
framebuffer
(see callback)
client.getDevicePath(serial[, callback])
Gets the device path of the device identified by the given serial number.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - callback(err, path) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - path The device path. This corresponds to the device path in
client.listDevicesWithPaths()
.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
path
(see callback)
client.getDHCPIpAddress(serial[, iface][, callback])
Attemps to retrieve the IP address of the device. Roughly analogous to adb shell getprop dhcp.<iface>.ipaddress
.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - iface Optional. The network interface. Defaults to
'wlan0'
. - callback(err, ip) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - ip The IP address as a
String
.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
ip
(see callback)
client.getFeatures(serial[, callback])
Retrieves the features of the device identified by the given serial number. This is analogous to adb shell pm list features
. Useful for checking whether hardware features such as NFC are available (you'd check for 'android.hardware.nfc'
).
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - callback(err, features) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - features An object of device features. Each key corresponds to a device feature, with the value being either
true
for a boolean feature, or the feature value as a string (e.g.'0x20000'
forreqGlEsVersion
).
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
features
(see callback)
client.getPackages(serial[, callback])
Retrieves the list of packages present on the device. This is analogous to adb shell pm list packages
. If you just want to see if something's installed, consider using client.isInstalled()
instead.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - callback(err, packages) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - packages An array of package names.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
packages
(see callback)
client.getProperties(serial[, callback])
Retrieves the properties of the device identified by the given serial number. This is analogous to adb shell getprop
.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - callback(err, properties) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - properties An object of device properties. Each key corresponds to a device property. Convenient for accessing things like
'ro.product.model'
.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
properties
(see callback)
client.getSerialNo(serial[, callback])
Gets the serial number of the device identified by the given serial number. With our API this doesn't really make much sense, but it has been implemented for completeness. FYI: in the raw ADB protocol you can specify a device in other ways, too.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - callback(err, serial) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - serial The serial number of the device.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
serial
(see callback)
client.getState(serial[, callback])
Gets the state of the device identified by the given serial number.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - callback(err, state) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - state The device state. This corresponds to the device type in
client.listDevices()
.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
state
(see callback)
client.install(serial, apk[, callback])
Installs the APK on the device, replacing any previously installed version. This is roughly analogous to adb install -r <apk>
.
Note that if the call seems to stall, you may have to accept a dialog on the phone first.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - apk When
String
, interpreted as a path to an APK file. WhenStream
, installs directly from the stream, which must be a valid APK. - callback(err) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. It may have a.code
property containing the error code reported by the device.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
true
Example - install an APK from a URL
This example requires the request module. It also doesn't do any error handling (404 responses, timeouts, invalid URLs etc).
var client = var request = var Readable = Readable // The request module implements old-style streams, so we have to wrap it.client
client.installRemote(serial, apk[, callback])
Installs an APK file which must already be located on the device file system, and replaces any previously installed version. Useful if you've previously pushed the file to the device for some reason (perhaps to have direct access to client.push()
's transfer stats). This is roughly analogous to adb shell pm install -r <apk>
followed by adb shell rm -f <apk>
.
Note that if the call seems to stall, you may have to accept a dialog on the phone first.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - apk The path to the APK file on the device. The file will be removed when the command completes.
- callback(err) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
true
client.isInstalled(serial, pkg[, callback])
Tells you if the specific package is installed or not. This is analogous to adb shell pm path <pkg>
and some output parsing.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - pkg The package name. This is NOT the APK.
- callback(err, installed) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - installed
true
if the package is installed,false
otherwise.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
installed
(see callback)
client.kill([callback])
This kills the ADB server. Note that the next connection will attempt to start the server again when it's unable to connect.
- callback(err) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
true
client.listDevices([callback])
Gets the list of currently connected devices and emulators.
- callback(err, devices) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - devices An array of device objects. The device objects are plain JavaScript objects with two properties:
id
andtype
.- id The ID of the device. For real devices, this is usually the USB identifier.
- type The device type. Values include
'emulator'
for emulators,'device'
for devices, and'offline'
for offline devices.'offline'
can occur for example during boot, in low-battery conditions or when the ADB connection has not yet been approved on the device.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
devices
(see callback)
client.listDevicesWithPaths([callback])
Like client.listDevices()
, but includes the "path" of every device.
- callback(err, devices) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - devices An array of device objects. The device objects are plain JavaScript objects with the following properties:
- id See
client.listDevices()
. - type See
client.listDevices()
. - path The device path. This can be something like
usb:FD120000
for real devices.
- id See
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
devices
(see callback)
client.listForwards(serial[, callback])
Lists forwarded connections on the device. This is analogous to adb forward --list
.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - callback(err, forwards) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - forwards An array of forward objects with the following properties:
- serial The device serial.
- local The local endpoint. Same format as
client.forward()
'slocal
argument. - remote The remote endpoint on the device. Same format as
client.forward()
'sremote
argument.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
forwards
(see callback)
client.listReverses(serial[, callback])
Lists forwarded connections on the device. This is analogous to adb reverse --list
.
-
serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. -
callback(err, forwards) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - reverses An array of reverse objects with the following properties:
- remote The remote endpoint on the device. Same format as
client.reverse()
'sremote
argument. - local The local endpoint on the host. Same format as
client.reverse()
'slocal
argument.
- remote The remote endpoint on the device. Same format as
- err
-
Returns:
Promise
-
Resolves with:
reverses
(see callback)
client.openLocal(serial, path[, callback])
Opens a direct connection to a unix domain socket in the given path.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - path The path to the socket. Prefixed with
'localfilesystem:'
by default, include another prefix (e.g.'localabstract:'
) in the path to override. - callback(err, conn) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - conn The connection (i.e.
net.Socket
). Read and write as you please. Callconn.end()
to end the connection.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
conn
(see callback)
client.openLog(serial, name[, callback])
Opens a direct connection to a binary log file, providing access to the raw log data. Note that it is usually much more convenient to use the client.openLogcat()
method, described separately.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - name The name of the log. Available logs include
'main'
,'system'
,'radio'
and'events'
. - callback(err, log) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - log The binary log stream. Call
log.end()
when you wish to stop receiving data.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
log
(see callback)
client.openLogcat(serial[, options][, callback])
Calls the logcat
utility on the device and hands off the connection to adbkit-logcat, a pure Node.js Logcat client. This is analogous to adb logcat -B
, but the event stream will be parsed for you and a separate event will be emitted for every log entry, allowing for easy processing.
For more information, check out the adbkit-logcat documentation.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - options Optional. The following options are supported:
- clear When
true
, clears logcat before opening the reader. Not set by default.
- clear When
- callback(err, logcat) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - logcat The Logcat client. Please see the adbkit-logcat documentation for details.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
logcat
(see callback)
client.openMonkey(serial[, port][, callback])
Starts the built-in monkey
utility on the device, connects to it using client.openTcp()
and hands the connection to adbkit-monkey, a pure Node.js Monkey client. This allows you to create touch and key events, among other things.
For more information, check out the adbkit-monkey documentation.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - port Optional. The device port where you'd like Monkey to run at. Defaults to
1080
. - callback(err, monkey) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - monkey The Monkey client. Please see the adbkit-monkey documentation for details.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
monkey
(see callback)
client.openProcStat(serial[, callback])
Tracks /proc/stat
and emits useful information, such as CPU load. A single sync service instance is used to download the /proc/stat
file for processing. While doing this does consume some resources, it is very light and should not be a problem.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - callback(err, stats) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - stats The
/proc/stat
tracker, which is anEventEmitter
. Callstat.end()
to stop tracking. The following events are available:- load (loads) Emitted when a CPU load calculation is available.
- loads CPU loads of online CPUs. Each key is a CPU id (e.g.
'cpu0'
,'cpu1'
) and the value an object with the following properties:- user Percentage (0-100) of ticks spent on user programs.
- nice Percentage (0-100) of ticks spent on
nice
d user programs. - system Percentage (0-100) of ticks spent on system programs.
- idle Percentage (0-100) of ticks spent idling.
- iowait Percentage (0-100) of ticks spent waiting for IO.
- irq Percentage (0-100) of ticks spent on hardware interrupts.
- softirq Percentage (0-100) of ticks spent on software interrupts.
- steal Percentage (0-100) of ticks stolen by others.
- guest Percentage (0-100) of ticks spent by a guest.
- guestnice Percentage (0-100) of ticks spent by a
nice
d guest. - total Total. Always 100.
- loads CPU loads of online CPUs. Each key is a CPU id (e.g.
- load (loads) Emitted when a CPU load calculation is available.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
stats
(see callback)
client.openTcp(serial, port[, host][, callback])
Opens a direct TCP connection to a port on the device, without any port forwarding required.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - port The port number to connect to.
- host Optional. The host to connect to. Allegedly this is supposed to establish a connection to the given host from the device, but we have not been able to get it to work at all. Skip the host and everything works great.
- callback(err, conn) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - conn The TCP connection (i.e.
net.Socket
). Read and write as you please. Callconn.end()
to end the connection.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
conn
(see callback)
client.pull(serial, path[, callback])
A convenience shortcut for sync.pull()
, mainly for one-off use cases. The connection cannot be reused, resulting in poorer performance over multiple calls. However, the Sync client will be closed automatically for you, so that's one less thing to worry about.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - path See
sync.pull()
for details. - callback(err, transfer) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - transfer A
PullTransfer
instance (see below)
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
transfer
(see callback)
client.push(serial, contents, path[, mode][, callback])
A convenience shortcut for sync.push()
, mainly for one-off use cases. The connection cannot be reused, resulting in poorer performance over multiple calls. However, the Sync client will be closed automatically for you, so that's one less thing to worry about.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - contents See
sync.push()
for details. - path See
sync.push()
for details. - mode See
sync.push()
for details. - callback(err, transfer) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - transfer A
PushTransfer
instance (see below)
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
transfer
(see callback)
client.readdir(serial, path[, callback])
A convenience shortcut for sync.readdir()
, mainly for one-off use cases. The connection cannot be reused, resulting in poorer performance over multiple calls. However, the Sync client will be closed automatically for you, so that's one less thing to worry about.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - path See
sync.readdir()
for details. - callback(err, files) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
. Seesync.readdir()
for details. - Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with: See
sync.readdir()
for details.
client.reboot(serial[, callback])
Reboots the device. Similar to adb reboot
. Note that the method resolves when ADB reports that the device has been rebooted (i.e. the reboot command was successful), not when the device becomes available again.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - callback(err) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
true
client.remount(serial[, callback])
Attempts to remount the /system
partition in read-write mode. This will usually only work on emulators and developer devices.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - callback(err) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
true
client.reverse(serial, remote, local[, callback])
Reverses socket connections from the device (remote) to the ADB server host (local). This is analogous to adb reverse <remote> <local>
. It's important to note that if you are connected to a remote ADB server, the reverse will be created on that host.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - remote A string representing the remote endpoint on the device. At time of writing, can be one of:
tcp:<port>
localabstract:<unix domain socket name>
localreserved:<unix domain socket name>
localfilesystem:<unix domain socket name>
- local A string representing the local endpoint on the ADB host. At time of writing, can be any value accepted by the
remote
argument. - callback(err) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
true
client.root(serial[, callback])
Puts the device into root mode which may be needed by certain shell commands. A remount is generally required after a successful root call. Note that this will only work if your device supports this feature. Production devices almost never do.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - callback(err) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
true
client.screencap(serial[, callback])
Takes a screenshot in PNG format using the built-in screencap
utility. This is analogous to adb shell screencap -p
. Sadly, the utility is not available on most Android <=2.3
devices, but a silent fallback to the client.framebuffer()
command in PNG mode is attempted, so you should have its dependencies installed just in case.
Generating the PNG on the device naturally requires considerably more processing time on that side. However, as the data transferred over USB easily decreases by ~95%, and no conversion being required on the host, this method is usually several times faster than using the framebuffer. Naturally, this benefit does not apply if we're forced to fall back to the framebuffer.
For convenience purposes, if the screencap command fails (e.g. because it doesn't exist on older Androids), we fall back to client.framebuffer(serial, 'png')
, which is slower and has additional installation requirements.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - callback(err, screencap) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - screencap The PNG stream.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
screencap
(see callback)
client.shell(serial, command[, callback])
Runs a shell command on the device. Note that you'll be limited to the permissions of the shell
user, which ADB uses.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - command The shell command to execute. When
String
, the command is run as-is. WhenArray
, the elements will be rudimentarily escaped (for convenience, not security) and joined to form a command. - callback(err, output) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - output A Buffer containing all the output. Call
output.toString('utf-8')
to get a readable String from it.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
output
(see callback)
Example
var Promise = var adb = var client = adb client
client.startActivity(serial, options[, callback])
Starts the configured activity on the device. Roughly analogous to adb shell am start <options>
.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - options The activity configuration. The following options are available:
- debug Set to
true
to enable debugging. - wait Set to
true
to wait for the activity to launch. - user The user to run as. Not set by default. If the option is unsupported by the device, an attempt will be made to run the same command again without the user option.
- action The action.
- data The data URI, if any.
- mimeType The mime type, if any.
- category The category. For multiple categories, pass an
Array
. - component The component.
- flags Numeric flags.
- extras Any extra data.
- When an
Array
, each item must be anObject
the following properties:- key The key name.
- type The type, which can be one of
'string'
,'null'
,'bool'
,'int'
,'long'
,'float'
,'uri'
,'component'
. - value The value. Optional and unused if type is
'null'
. If anArray
, type is automatically set to be an array of<type>
.
- When an
Object
, each key is treated as the key name. Simple values likenull
,String
,Boolean
andNumber
are type-mapped automatically (Number
maps to'int'
) and can be used as-is. For more complex types, like arrays and URIs, set the value to be anObject
like in the Array syntax (see above), but leave out thekey
property.
- When an
- debug Set to
- callback(err) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
true
client.startService(serial, options[, callback])
Starts the configured service on the device. Roughly analogous to adb shell am startservice <options>
.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - options The service configuration. The following options are available:
- user The user to run as. Defaults to
0
. If the option is unsupported by the device, an attempt will be made to run the same command again without the user option. - action See
client.startActivity()
for details. - data See
client.startActivity()
for details. - mimeType See
client.startActivity()
for details. - category See
client.startActivity()
for details. - component See
client.startActivity()
for details. - flags See
client.startActivity()
for details. - extras See
client.startActivity()
for details.
- user The user to run as. Defaults to
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
true
client.stat(serial, path[, callback])
A convenience shortcut for sync.stat()
, mainly for one-off use cases. The connection cannot be reused, resulting in poorer performance over multiple calls. However, the Sync client will be closed automatically for you, so that's one less thing to worry about.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - path See
sync.stat()
for details. - callback(err, stats) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
. Seesync.stat()
for details. - Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with: See
sync.stat()
for details.
client.syncService(serial[, callback])
Establishes a new Sync connection that can be used to push and pull files. This method provides the most freedom and the best performance for repeated use, but can be a bit cumbersome to use. For simple use cases, consider using client.stat()
, client.push()
and client.pull()
.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - callback(err, sync) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - sync The Sync client. See below for details. Call
sync.end()
when done.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
sync
(see callback)
client.tcpip(serial, port[, callback])
Puts the device's ADB daemon into tcp mode, allowing you to use adb connect
or client.connect()
to connect to it. Note that the device will still be visible to ADB as a regular USB-connected device until you unplug it. Same as adb tcpip <port>
.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - port Optional. The port the device should listen on. Defaults to
5555
. - callback(err, port) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - port The port the device started listening on.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
port
(see callback)
client.trackDevices([callback])
Gets a device tracker. Events will be emitted when devices are added, removed, or their type changes (i.e. to/from offline
). Note that the same events will be emitted for the initially connected devices also, so that you don't need to use both client.listDevices()
and client.trackDevices()
.
Note that as the tracker will keep a connection open, you must call tracker.end()
if you wish to stop tracking devices.
- callback(err, tracker) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - tracker The device tracker, which is an
EventEmitter
. The following events are available:- add (device) Emitted when a new device is connected, once per device. See
client.listDevices()
for details on the device object. - remove (device) Emitted when a device is unplugged, once per device. This does not include
offline
devices, those devices are connected but unavailable to ADB. Seeclient.listDevices()
for details on the device object. - change (device) Emitted when the
type
property of a device changes, once per device. The current value oftype
is the new value. This event usually occurs the type changes from'device'
to'offline'
or the other way around. Seeclient.listDevices()
for details on the device object and the'offline'
type. - changeSet (changes) Emitted once for all changes reported by ADB in a single run. Multiple changes can occur when, for example, a USB hub is connected/unplugged and the device list changes quickly. If you wish to process all changes at once, use this event instead of the once-per-device ones. Keep in mind that the other events will still be emitted, though.
- changes An object with the following properties always present:
- added An array of added device objects, each one as in the
add
event. Empty if none. - removed An array of removed device objects, each one as in the
remove
event. Empty if none. - changed An array of changed device objects, each one as in the
change
event. Empty if none.
- added An array of added device objects, each one as in the
- changes An object with the following properties always present:
- end Emitted when the underlying connection ends.
- error (err) Emitted if there's an error.
- add (device) Emitted when a new device is connected, once per device. See
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
tracker
(see callback)
client.trackJdwp(serial[, callback])
Starts a JDWP tracker for the given device.
Note that as the tracker will keep a connection open, you must call tracker.end()
if you wish to stop tracking JDWP processes.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - callback(err, tracker) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - tracker The JDWP tracker, which is an
EventEmitter
. The following events are available:- add (pid) Emitted when a new JDWP process becomes available, once per pid.
- remove (pid) Emitted when a JDWP process becomes unavailable, once per pid.
- changeSet (changes, pids) All changes in a single event.
- changes An object with the following properties always present:
- added An array of pids that were added. Empty if none.
- removed An array of pids that were removed. Empty if none.
- pids All currently active pids (including pids from previous runs).
- changes An object with the following properties always present:
- end Emitted when the underlying connection ends.
- error (err) Emitted if there's an error.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
tracker
(see callback)
client.uninstall(serial, pkg[, callback])
Uninstalls the package from the device. This is roughly analogous to adb uninstall <pkg>
.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - pkg The package name. This is NOT the APK.
- callback(err) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
true
client.usb(serial[, callback])
Puts the device's ADB daemon back into USB mode. Reverses client.tcpip()
. Same as adb usb
.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - callback(err) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
true
client.version([callback])
Queries the ADB server for its version. This is mainly useful for backwards-compatibility purposes.
- callback(err, version) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - version The version of the ADB server.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
version
(see callback)
client.waitBootComplete(serial[, callback])
Waits until the device has finished booting. Note that the device must already be seen by ADB. This is roughly analogous to periodically checking adb shell getprop sys.boot_completed
.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - callback(err) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
if the device has completed booting,Error
otherwise (can occur if the connection dies while checking).
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
true
client.waitForDevice(serial[, callback])
Waits until ADB can see the device. Note that you must know the serial in advance. Other than that, works like adb -s serial wait-for-device
. If you're planning on reacting to random devices being plugged in and out, consider using client.trackDevices()
instead.
- serial The serial number of the device. Corresponds to the device ID in
client.listDevices()
. - callback(err, id) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
if the device has completed booting,Error
otherwise (can occur if the connection dies while checking). - id The device ID. Can be useful for chaining.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
id
(see callback)
Sync
sync.end()
Closes the Sync connection, allowing Node to quit (assuming nothing else is keeping it alive, of course).
- Returns: The sync instance.
sync.pull(path)
Pulls a file from the device as a PullTransfer
Stream
.
- path The path to pull from.
- Returns: A
PullTransfer
instance. See below for details.
sync.push(contents, path[, mode])
Attempts to identify contents
and calls the appropriate push*
method for it.
- contents When
String
, treated as a local file path and forwarded tosync.pushFile()
. Otherwise, treated as aStream
and forwarded tosync.pushStream()
. - path The path to push to.
- mode Optional. The mode of the file. Defaults to
0644
. - Returns: A
PushTransfer
instance. See below for details.
sync.pushFile(file, path[, mode])
Pushes a local file to the given path. Note that the path must be writable by the ADB user (usually shell
). When in doubt, use '/data/local/tmp'
with an appropriate filename.
- file The local file path.
- path See
sync.push()
for details. - mode See
sync.push()
for details. - Returns: See
sync.push()
for details.
sync.pushStream(stream, path[, mode])
Pushes a Stream
to the given path. Note that the path must be writable by the ADB user (usually shell
). When in doubt, use '/data/local/tmp'
with an appropriate filename.
- stream The readable stream.
- path See
sync.push()
for details. - mode See
sync.push()
for details. - Returns: See
sync.push()
for details.
sync.readdir(path[, callback])
Retrieves a list of directory entries (e.g. files) in the given path, not including the .
and ..
entries, just like fs.readdir
. If given a non-directory path, no entries are returned.
- path The path.
- callback(err, files) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - files An
Array
offs.Stats
-compatible instances. While thestats.is*
methods are available, only the following properties are supported (in addition to thename
field which contains the filename):- name The filename.
- mode The raw mode.
- size The file size.
- mtime The time of last modification as a
Date
.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
files
(see callback)
sync.stat(path[, callback])
Retrieves information about the given path.
- path The path.
- callback(err, stats) Optional. Use this or the returned
Promise
.- err
null
when successful,Error
otherwise. - stats An
fs.Stats
instance. While thestats.is*
methods are available, only the following properties are supported:- mode The raw mode.
- size The file size.
- mtime The time of last modification as a
Date
.
- err
- Returns:
Promise
- Resolves with:
stats
(see callback)
sync.tempFile(path)
A simple helper method for creating appropriate temporary filenames for pushing files. This is essentially the same as taking the basename of the file and appending it to '/data/local/tmp/'
.
- path The path of the file.
- Returns: An appropriate temporary file path.
PushTransfer
A simple EventEmitter, mainly for keeping track of the progress.
List of events:
- progress (stats) Emitted when a chunk has been flushed to the ADB connection.
- stats An object with the following stats about the transfer:
- bytesTransferred The number of bytes transferred so far.
- stats An object with the following stats about the transfer:
- error (err) Emitted on error.
- err An
Error
.
- err An
- end Emitted when the transfer has successfully completed.
pushTransfer.cancel()
Cancels the transfer by ending both the stream that is being pushed and the sync connection. This will most likely end up creating a broken file on your device. Use at your own risk. Also note that you must create a new sync connection if you wish to continue using the sync service.
- Returns: The pushTransfer instance.
PullTransfer
PullTransfer
is a Stream
. Use fs.createWriteStream()
to pipe the stream to a file if necessary.
List of events:
- progress (stats) Emitted when a new chunk is received.
- stats An object with the following stats about the transfer:
- bytesTransferred The number of bytes transferred so far.
- stats An object with the following stats about the transfer:
- error (err) Emitted on error.
- err An
Error
.
- err An
- end Emitted when the transfer has successfully completed.
pullTransfer.cancel()
Cancels the transfer by ending the connection. Can be useful for reading endless streams of data, such as /dev/urandom
or /dev/zero
, perhaps for benchmarking use. Note that you must create a new sync connection if you wish to continue using the sync service.
- Returns: The pullTransfer instance.
Incompatible changes in version 2.x
Previously, we made extensive use of callbacks in almost every feature. While this normally works okay, ADB connections can be quite fickle, and it was starting to become difficult to handle every possible error. For example, we'd often fail to properly clean up after ourselves when a connection suddenly died in an unexpected place, causing memory and resource leaks.
In version 2, we've replaced nearly all callbacks with Promises (using Bluebird), allowing for much more reliable error propagation and resource cleanup (thanks to .finally()
). Additionally, many commands can now be cancelled on the fly, and although unimplemented at this point, we'll also be able to report progress on long-running commands without any changes to the API.
Unfortunately, some API changes were required for this change. client.framebuffer()
's callback, for example, previously accepted more than one argument, which doesn't translate into Promises so well. Thankfully, it made sense to combine the arguments anyway, and we were able to do it quite cleanly.
Furthermore, most API methods were returning the current instance for chaining purposes. While perhaps useful in some contexts, most of the time it probably didn't quite do what users expected, as chained calls were run in parallel rather than in serial fashion. Now every applicable API method returns a Promise, which is an incompatible but welcome change. This will also allow you to hook into yield
and coroutines in Node 0.12.
However, all methods still accept (and will accept in the future) callbacks for those who prefer them.
Test coverage was also massively improved, although we've still got ways to go.
More information
- Android Debug Bridge
- SERVICES.TXT (ADB socket protocol)
- Android ADB Protocols (a blog post explaining the protocol)
- adb.js (another Node.js ADB implementation)
- ADB Chrome extension
Contributing
See CONTRIBUTING.md.
License
See LICENSE.
Copyright © The OpenSTF Project. All Rights Reserved.