DroidKit — Android Development Toolkit for VS Code

Build, run, and manage Android emulators without ever opening Android Studio.

Why DroidKit?

Android Studio is a powerful IDE — but it's also heavy. On machines with limited RAM, it competes with VS Code, the browser, and everything else you have open. For developers who already live in VS Code, opening Android Studio just to launch an emulator or check logcat is wasteful.

DroidKit was built on a simple belief: you should be able to do 90% of your Android development workflow without leaving VS Code.

The Android SDK already ships with excellent CLI tools — emulator, avdmanager, adb, gradlew. DroidKit is a thin, focused GUI wrapper around those tools. It doesn't reinvent anything; it just puts buttons on top of commands you'd otherwise type manually.

Philosophy

Lightweight first. DroidKit has zero runtime dependencies beyond the VS Code API and Node.js built-ins. No Electron overhead, no background services.
CLI is the source of truth. Every action DroidKit performs is a transparent CLI call. You can always see what's happening in the integrated terminal.
Don't replace what works. Gradle, ADB, and the emulator are mature tools. DroidKit surfaces them — not replaces them.
Open and simple. The codebase is small enough to read in an afternoon. Contributions welcome.

Features

AVD Manager

Manage Android Virtual Devices directly from the VS Code sidebar.

List all AVDs with live running/stopped status (auto-refreshes every 5 seconds)
Launch emulator with one click
Stop running emulator without hunting for the terminal
Create new AVD via guided quick-pick (picks system image → set name)
Wipe AVD data (fresh start without deleting the AVD)
Delete AVD with confirmation dialog

Build (Gradle)

Status bar buttons for the most common Gradle tasks.

Button	Command	Gradle task
`$(tools) Build`	Build Debug	`./gradlew assembleDebug`
Build Release	—	`./gradlew assembleRelease`
Clean	—	`./gradlew clean`

Run on Device

$(play) Run — installs the debug APK and launches the app on the connected device/emulator in one step.

Logcat

$(list-unordered) Logcat — streams logcat output to a dedicated VS Code Output Channel. Automatically filters by your app's PID if androidTools.appPackage is set.

Start / stop logcat from the status bar
Clear logcat buffer (both VS Code panel and device)
Status bar button turns green while logcat is running

ADB Commands

Quick access to common ADB operations via Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P → type ADB):

Command	Description
`ADB: List Devices`	Show all connected devices/emulators
`ADB: Open Shell`	Open interactive ADB shell in terminal
`ADB: Screenshot`	Capture and open screenshot directly in VS Code
`ADB: Reboot Device`	Reboot selected device
`ADB: Connect Wireless`	Connect to device over Wi-Fi (enter IP address)

Requirements

VS Code 1.85+
Android SDK with emulator and platform-tools installed
JDK 17+ — required by avdmanager for AVD creation/deletion (not needed for launching or ADB)

Setup

1. Install DroidKit

Search DroidKit in the VS Code Extensions panel, or install via CLI:

code --install-extension dayanleksonoputro.droidkit

2. Configure your Android SDK path (if not auto-detected)

DroidKit auto-detects the SDK from:

ANDROID_HOME environment variable
ANDROID_SDK_ROOT environment variable
~/Library/Android/sdk (macOS default)
~/Android/sdk (Linux default)

If your SDK is elsewhere, add this to your VS Code settings.json:

{
  "androidTools.sdkPath": "/path/to/your/android/sdk"
}

3. Set your app package name (for Run & Logcat filter)

{
  "androidTools.appPackage": "com.example.yourapp",
  "androidTools.mainActivity": ".MainActivity"
}

4. (Optional) Set JDK 17+ path for AVD management

{
  "androidTools.javaHome": "/path/to/jdk17"
}

On macOS, you can find your JDK path with:

/usr/libexec/java_home -v 17

Usage

Status Bar

After opening an Android project (any folder containing gradlew), four buttons appear in the VS Code status bar:

[ $(tools) Build ]  [ $(play) Run ]  [ $(device-mobile) AVD ]  [ $(list-unordered) Logcat ]

Click the Android icon in the Activity Bar (left sidebar) to open the AVD Manager panel. Right-click any AVD for context menu options.

Command Palette

All commands are available via Cmd+Shift+P (macOS) / Ctrl+Shift+P (Windows/Linux). Search for:

Android: Build Debug
Android: Run on Device
Android: Start Logcat
ADB: Screenshot
etc.

Extension Settings

Setting	Default	Description
`androidTools.sdkPath`	`""`	Path to Android SDK root (auto-detected if empty)
`androidTools.appPackage`	`""`	App package name (e.g. `com.example.app`)
`androidTools.mainActivity`	`".MainActivity"`	Main activity class name
`androidTools.javaHome`	`""`	Path to JDK 17+ home directory

Roadmap

[ ] Layout Inspector (basic view hierarchy)
[ ] APK size analyzer (wraps apkanalyzer)
[ ] Build variant selector (debug / release / custom flavors)
[ ] Device file explorer via ADB
[ ] Run tests (./gradlew test, connectedAndroidTest)
[ ] Multi-device deploy

Contributing

DroidKit is intentionally small and readable. If you want to add a feature:

Fork this repo
Create a branch: git checkout -b feature/my-feature
Make your changes
Submit a PR — describe what CLI command you're wrapping and why it belongs here

See CONTRIBUTING.md for details.

License

MIT — free to use, modify, and distribute.

Built by Dayan Leksono Putro — because Android Studio shouldn't be a requirement for Android development.

DroidKit

Dayan Leksono Putro