android-cli-setup

android-cli-setup

Pre-flight + onboarding for the Google Android CLI. Most other skills in this repo assume android is installed and pointing at a valid SDK; this skill is the fallback that fixes those preconditions.

Configuration

Reads .claude/android-skills.json at the git repo root:

{
  "androidCli": {
    "sdkPath": "/Users/me/Library/Android/sdk",
    "preferredAgents": ["claude-code"]
  }
}

Field	Purpose
androidCli.sdkPath	Override Android SDK location. Used to populate --sdk in .androidrc. If absent, fall back to android info.
androidCli.preferredAgents	Which agents android skills add should target by default.

Pre-flight checklist

Run these in order. Stop and remediate at the first failure.

# 1. Is the CLI installed?
which android || command -v android

# 2. What version?
android --version

# 3. Where is the SDK?
android info

Expected outputs:

• (1) a path under /usr/local/bin/android (macOS) or similar.
• (2) something like 0.7.x. The CLI changes often — anything more than a few weeks old should be updated.
• (3) a path that exists and contains platforms/, build-tools/, platform-tools/.

Remediation steps

Not installed

OS-specific install (per the Android CLI release page):

# macOS (Apple Silicon)
curl -fsSL https://dl.google.com/android/cli/latest/darwin_arm64/install.sh | bash

# Linux x86_64
curl -fsSL https://dl.google.com/android/cli/latest/linux_x86_64/install.sh | bash

Windows: documented as not supported via PowerShell download. Use cmd.exe:

curl.exe -fsSL https://dl.google.com/android/cli/latest/windows_x86_64/install.cmd -o "%TEMP%\i.cmd" && "%TEMP%\i.cmd"

Re-open the shell so PATH refreshes. Verify with which android.

Outdated

android update

Encourage running this regularly — feature surface changes weekly.

SDK path wrong / not set

1. Find the correct path. Common locations:
   • macOS: ~/Library/Android/sdk or ~/Library/Android/Sdk
   • Linux: ~/Android/Sdk
2. Either:
   • Override per-command: android --sdk=/path/to/sdk <command>
   • Persist via .androidrc: see below.
3. Save the resolved path to androidCli.sdkPath in .claude/android-skills.json so other skills can read it.

.androidrc setup

Location: ~/.androidrc on macOS/Linux, %USERPROFILE%\.androidrc on Windows. One flag per line:

--sdk=/Users/me/Library/Android/sdk

Only persist flags that should apply to every invocation. Per-command flags belong on the command line.

Agent integration (android init)

Installs the official android-cli skill into detected agent skill directories. Run once per machine:

android init

If the user has multiple agents (Claude Code, Gemini, Antigravity) and only wants some, use:

android skills add --agent='claude-code' --skill=android-cli

Note: this repo's skills are richer than the official one. Recommend keeping the official skill for "what does this command do" lookups and our skills (android-deploy, android-emulator, etc.) for workflows.

Onboarding flow (run once)

If .claude/android-skills.json lacks androidCli and the user is setting up:

1. Run the pre-flight checklist. Capture the SDK path from android info.
2. Ask the user a single question: "Save the resolved SDK path (<path>) and your active agent to .claude/android-skills.json? [y/N]".
3. On yes, merge:

   {
     "androidCli": {
       "sdkPath": "<path>",
       "preferredAgents": ["<active-agent>"]
     }
   }
   

4. Note that the file is committable so the team shares the same baseline.

Operating rules

1. Verify before suggesting. Always run which android and android info before recommending an install — the CLI may already be set up correctly.
2. Don't edit PATH manually when the official install.sh already configures it. Use the official installers.
3. Don't write --sdk into every command. Either .androidrc or a single env-var override.
4. Don't run android update autonomously — let the user trigger updates so they don't lose work mid-task.
5. Don't conflate this CLI with sdkmanager. They overlap (android sdk install) but Android CLI is the recommended entry point.

Anti-patterns

• ❌ Setting ANDROID_HOME / ANDROID_SDK_ROOT env vars when --sdk / .androidrc does the job per-CLI.
• ❌ Skipping the version check — old CLIs have missing subcommands and the user gets cryptic errors.
• ❌ Running android init blindly on every machine without checking which agents are detected (it installs to all by default).
• ❌ Re-installing instead of android update when the CLI is already present.
• ❌ Ignoring the Windows emulator known issue when planning workflows on Windows.