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simfleet

Guides

Android emulators

Boot, slim, stream, and drive Android emulators alongside your simulators.

Android devices are addressed by AVD name (for example Pixel_8_API_35). The emulator-5554 style serial exists only while an emulator runs, so the fleet never uses it as an identity.

Lifecycle

simfleet emu list                                   # AVDs, state, slim status, footprint, agents
simfleet emu boot <avd> [--window] [--cold] [--stock]
simfleet emu slim <avd>                              # re-slim a running emulator, no reboot
simfleet emu restore <avd>                           # stock packages (records an opt-out)
simfleet emu shutdown <avd>
simfleet emu tune <avd>                              # shut-down AVD only: low-memory config.ini

boot is headless by default (the dashboard is the screen); --window opens the emulator window. Boots are serialized so avdslim never races for a console port, and a boot returns only after the slim state is verified on the device.

Inspect and drive

Coordinates are device pixels from the UIAutomator tree:

simfleet emu ui <avd> [x y]
simfleet emu tap <avd> <x> <y>
simfleet emu long-press <avd> <x> <y>
simfleet emu swipe <avd> <x1> <y1> <x2> <y2>
simfleet emu type <avd> "ascii text"
simfleet emu key <avd> Enter
simfleet emu button <avd> back|home|app-switcher|menu|lock|power|volume-up|volume-down
simfleet emu rotate <avd> landscape-left
simfleet emu open-url <avd> 'myapp://path'
simfleet emu dev-menu <avd>
simfleet emu screenshot <avd> /absolute/out.png

Lanes

simfleet lane start "$PWD" <avd>
simfleet lane launch <lane-id>

The fleet leases a Metro port, runs adb reverse for it, and opens your dev client with the expo-development-client deep link for that port. It prefers your configured scheme, then the exp+<slug> scheme Expo registers. The development build must already be installed on the emulator; Android lanes are debug-only.

Performance

  • Guest RAM. simfleet boots with 2 GB (SIM_FLEET_ANDROID_RAM_MB). At 1.5 GB, Android 15 images swap hundreds of megabytes and input feels sluggish.
  • Live video. Install scrcpy. The dashboard then streams H.264 and injects touch directly — typically 15–80 ms from input to frame on Apple silicon, versus about two seconds with screenshot polling.
  • Images. Google APIs (non-Play) system images let avdslim disable the most packages.