Command Line Tools

The Android SDK tools available from the SDK Manager provide additional command-line tools to help you during your Android development. The tools are classified into two groups: SDK tools and platform tools. SDK tools are platform independent and are required no matter which Android platform you are developing on. Platform tools are customized to support the features of the latest Android platform.

Command Line Tools The Android SDK tools available from the SDK Manager provide additional command-line tools to help you during your Android development. The tools are classified into two groups: SDK tools and platform tools. SDK tools are platform independent and are required no matter which Android platform you are developing on. Platform tools are customized to support the features of the latest Android platform.

SDK Tools

The SDK tools are installed with the SDK starter package and are periodically updated. The SDK tools are required if you are developing Android applications. The most important SDK tools include the Android SDK Manager (android sdk), the AVD Manager (android avd) the emulator (emulator), and the Dalvik Debug Monitor Server (ddms). A short summary of some frequently-used SDK tools is provided below.

SDK Tools The SDK tools are installed with the SDK starter package and are periodically updated. The SDK tools are required if you are developing Android applications. The most important SDK tools include the Android SDK Manager (android sdk), the AVD Manager (android avd) the emulator (emulator), and the Dalvik Debug Monitor Server (ddms). A short summary of some frequently-used SDK tools is provided below.

Development Tools

Hierarchy Viewer (hierarchyviewer)

Provides a visual representation of the layout's View hierarchy with performance information for each node in the layout, and a magnified view of the display to closely examine the pixels in your layout.

SDK Manager

Lets you manage SDK packages, such as installed platforms and system images.

sqlite3

Lets you access the SQLite data files created and used by Android applications.

Development Tools Hierarchy Viewer (hierarchyviewer) Provides a visual representation of the layout's View hierarchy with performance information for each node in the layout, and a magnified view of the display to closely examine the pixels in your layout. SDK Manager Lets you manage SDK packages, such as installed platforms and system images. sqlite3 Lets you access the SQLite data files created and used by Android applications.

Debugging Tools

Android Monitor

Android Monitor is integrated into Android Studio and provides logcat, memory, CPU, GPU, and network monitors for app debugging and analysis.

adb

Android Debug Bridge (adb) is a versatile command line tool that lets you communicate with an emulator instance or connected Android-powered device. It also provides access to the device shell.

Dalvik Debug Monitor Server (ddms)

Lets you debug Android apps.

Device Monitor

Android Device Monitor is a stand-alone tool that provides a graphical user interface for several Android application debugging and analysis tools.

Systrace

Lets you analyze the execution of your application in the context of system processes, to help diagnose display and performance issues.

traceview

Provides a graphical viewer for execution logs saved by your application.

Tracer for OpenGL ES

Allows you to capture OpenGL ES commands and frame-by-frame images to help you understand how your app is executing graphics commands.

Debugging Tools Android Monitor Android Monitor is integrated into Android Studio and provides logcat, memory, CPU, GPU, and network monitors for app debugging and analysis. adb Android Debug Bridge (adb) is a versatile command line tool that lets you communicate with an emulator instance or connected Android-powered device. It also provides access to the device shell. Dalvik Debug Monitor Server (ddms) Lets you debug Android apps. Device Monitor Android Device Monitor is a stand-alone tool that provides a graphical user interface for several Android application debugging and analysis tools. Systrace Lets you analyze the execution of your application in the context of system processes, to help diagnose display and performance issues. traceview Provides a graphical viewer for execution logs saved by your application. Tracer for OpenGL ES Allows you to capture OpenGL ES commands and frame-by-frame images to help you understand how your app is executing graphics commands.

Build Tools

apksigner

Signs APKs and checks whether APK signatures will be verified successfully on all platform versions that a given APK supports.

JOBB

Allows you to build encrypted and unencrypted APK expansion files in Opaque Binary Blob (OBB) format.

ProGuard

Shrinks, optimizes, and obfuscates your code by removing unused code and renaming classes, fields, and methods with semantically obscure names.

zipalign

Optimizes APK files by ensuring that all uncompressed data starts with a particular alignment relative to the start of the file.

Build Tools apksigner Signs APKs and checks whether APK signatures will be verified successfully on all platform versions that a given APK supports. JOBB Allows you to build encrypted and unencrypted APK expansion files in Opaque Binary Blob (OBB) format. ProGuard Shrinks, optimizes, and obfuscates your code by removing unused code and renaming classes, fields, and methods with semantically obscure names. zipalign Optimizes APK files by ensuring that all uncompressed data starts with a particular alignment relative to the start of the file.

Image Tools

Draw 9-patch

Allows you to easily create a NinePatch graphic using a WYSIWYG editor. It also previews stretched versions of the image, and highlights the area in which content is allowed.

etc1tool

A command line utility that lets you encode PNG images to the ETC1 compression standard and decode ETC1 compressed images back to PNG.

Image Tools Draw 9-patch Allows you to easily create a NinePatch graphic using a WYSIWYG editor. It also previews stretched versions of the image, and highlights the area in which content is allowed. etc1tool A command line utility that lets you encode PNG images to the ETC1 compression standard and decode ETC1 compressed images back to PNG.

Platform Tools

The platform tools are typically updated every time you install a new SDK platform. Each update of the platform tools is backward compatible with older platforms. Usually, you directly use only one of the platform tools—the Android Debug Bridge (adb). Android Debug Bridge is a versatile tool that lets you manage the state of an emulator instance or Android-powered device. You can also use it to install an Android application (APK) file on a device.

The other platform tools, such as aidl, aapt, dexdump, and dx, are typically called by the Android build tools, so you rarely need to invoke these tools directly. As a general rule, you should rely on the build tools to call them as needed.

Note: The Android SDK provides additional shell tools that can be accessed through adb, such as bmgr and logcat.

bmgr

A shell tool you can use to interact with the Backup Manager on Android devices supporting API Level 8 or greater.

logcat

Provides a mechanism for collecting and viewing system debug output.

Platform Tools The platform tools are typically updated every time you install a new SDK platform. Each update of the platform tools is backward compatible with older platforms. Usually, you directly use only one of the platform tools—the Android Debug Bridge (adb). Android Debug Bridge is a versatile tool that lets you manage the state of an emulator instance or Android-powered device. You can also use it to install an Android application (APK) file on a device. The other platform tools, such as aidl, aapt, dexdump, and dx, are typically called by the Android build tools, so you rarely need to invoke these tools directly. As a general rule, you should rely on the build tools to call them as needed. Note: The Android SDK provides additional shell tools that can be accessed through adb, such as bmgr and logcat. bmgr A shell tool you can use to interact with the Backup Manager on Android devices supporting API Level 8 or greater. logcat Provides a mechanism for collecting and viewing system debug output.

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