Caspian Emulator

Android emulator management for VS Code — no Android Studio required.

Launch emulators, manage AVDs, install APKs, view logcat, mirror screens, manage apps, and browse device files — all without leaving your editor. The extension can download and set up the entire Android SDK automatically.

Zero-Setup Android Development

Don't have the Android SDK installed? No problem. Caspian Emulator can download and configure everything for you:

1. Click "Download & Install Android SDK" when prompted
2. The extension downloads the SDK command-line tools, installs adb, the emulator, and a system image
3. A default virtual device is created automatically — ready to launch

No Android Studio. No manual path configuration. Just install the extension and go.

Features

Automatic SDK Setup

• Downloads Android SDK command-line tools from Google
• Installs platform-tools (adb), emulator, and system images via sdkmanager
• Accepts SDK licenses automatically
• Creates a default AVD (Pixel 6, Android 35) ready to launch
• Detects existing SDK installations via ANDROID_HOME and common paths
• Requires only Java 17+ — everything else is handled

AVD Management

• Create virtual devices by name — pick Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 8, Pixel Fold, Pixel Tablet, and more from a preset list
• System image downloaded automatically if not installed (~1 GB)
• Launch, stop, delete, clone, and edit AVDs from the sidebar
• Cold boot option — launch without loading snapshots
• Clone AVD — duplicate an existing virtual device for testing variations
• Boot progress notification — shows progress while emulator starts
• See running/stopped status at a glance with color-coded icons
• Custom emulator launch arguments via settings

Physical Phone Support

• Guided USB setup — step-by-step walkthrough: Developer Options → USB Debugging → authorize connection
• Wireless ADB — connect devices over Wi-Fi via TCP/IP or Android 11+ wireless debugging with pairing code
• QR code pairing — scan a QR code to pair instantly (Android 11+), no manual IP/port entry needed
• Unauthorized phones appear in the sidebar with a one-click "How to Connect" guide
• Auto-notification when a phone is plugged in without USB debugging enabled

App Management

• List installed apps with interactive action menu (launch, stop, clear data, uninstall)
• Launch App — start any installed app by package name
• Force Stop — kill a running app
• Clear App Data — wipe app storage, cache, and login state
• Uninstall — remove apps from the device
• App Logcat — open a logcat panel filtered to a specific app's logs

Connected Devices

• Live-updating list of all connected devices (emulators + physical USB + Wi-Fi devices)
• Active device selector — click the status bar to switch the active device
• Shows unauthorized and offline devices with contextual status messages
• Configurable polling interval (default: 3 seconds)

ADB Controls

• Install APK — select and install .apk files with one click
• Screenshot — capture and save device screenshots as PNG
• Screen Recording — record device screen to MP4
• ADB Shell — open an integrated terminal with full shell access

Logcat Viewer

Real-time log viewer in a dedicated webview panel:

• Package filtering — show logs from a specific app only
• Regex search — filter with /regex/ patterns or plain text
• Priority filtering (Verbose, Debug, Info, Warning, Error, Fatal)
• Export logs to file for bug reports and sharing
• Pause / resume streaming
• Color-coded output by log level with highlighted stack traces
• Auto-scroll with manual override
• Configurable max line count, font size, and line wrapping

Screen Mirror

Live device display inside VS Code — works for emulators and physical devices:

• scrcpy integration — if installed, launches with 30+ FPS, full touch and keyboard support
• Swipe gestures — click-and-drag to scroll, fling, and swipe
• Touch input forwarding — click to tap
• Navigation buttons (Back, Home, Recents)
• FPS counter for monitoring performance
• Optimized screencap fallback (~3 FPS when scrcpy is unavailable)

Device File Explorer

Browse the device filesystem from the sidebar:

• Lazy-loading directory tree with configurable root path
• Create folders on the device
• Rename files and folders
• Open text files directly in VS Code
• Download files from device to local machine
• Upload files from local machine to device
• Delete files and directories on device
• Toggle hidden file visibility

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• VS Code 1.85 or later
• Java 17+ (JDK) — required by Android SDK tools
  • Install from Eclipse Adoptium if not already present
• Android Studio is NOT required — the extension handles SDK setup

Install

Search "Caspian Emulator" in the VS Code Extensions panel, or:

code --install-extension caspian-emulator-0.5.0.vsix

First Launch

1. Click the phone icon in the Activity Bar (left sidebar)
2. If no Android SDK is detected, you'll see two options:
   • Download & Install Android SDK — fully automated setup (~5 GB download)
   • Configure Existing SDK — point to an existing SDK installation
3. After setup, your virtual devices appear in the sidebar — click play to launch

Keyboard Shortcuts

Settings

All settings are under the caspian namespace. Open VS Code Settings and search "caspian".

Commands

Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) and type "Caspian" to see all commands:

Documentation

Requirements

License

MIT