Scrcpy for VS Code
Display and control your Android device screen directly within VS Code, similar to Android Studio's "Running Devices" feature.
Features
- Multi-device support with tab bar for switching between devices
- View Android device screen in real-time
- Audio streaming - hear device audio with mute button (requires scrcpy 2.0+)
- Touch input support (tap, drag)
- Mouse wheel scrolling - scroll content using the mouse wheel (configurable sensitivity)
- Keyboard input - click canvas to enable typing, with modifier support (Ctrl, Alt, Shift)
- Device control buttons with long press support (Volume, Back, Home, Recent Apps, Power, Rotate)
- Clipboard sync - Ctrl+V pastes from PC to device, Ctrl+C copies from device to PC
- WiFi connection - connect wirelessly via Android 11+ Wireless Debugging or legacy adb tcpip
- APK installation - install APKs via toolbar button
- File upload - upload files and folders to device via toolbar button
- Auto-connect - automatically connects when devices are plugged in
- Auto-reconnect - automatic reconnection on disconnect (configurable retries)
- Hardware-accelerated video decoding (WebCodecs API)
- Configurable video quality, resolution, and FPS
- Turn device screen off while mirroring (saves battery)
Video & Streaming
Audio
Prerequisites
ADB installed and in PATH
- macOS:
brew install android-platform-tools
- Linux:
sudo apt install adb
- Windows: Download Platform Tools
scrcpy installed (for the server component)
- macOS:
brew install scrcpy
- Linux:
sudo apt install scrcpy
- Windows: Download from scrcpy releases
Android device connected via USB or WiFi with debugging enabled
- Enable Developer Options: Settings > About Phone > Tap "Build number" 7 times
- Enable USB Debugging: Settings > Developer Options > USB Debugging
- For wireless: Enable Wireless debugging (Android 11+) or use
adb tcpip 5555
Usage
- Connect your Android device(s) via USB (or enable wireless debugging)
- Verify ADB sees your device:
adb devices
- Click the scrcpy icon in the Activity Bar (left sidebar)
- The first device automatically connects and appears in the sidebar view
- Tip: Drag the view to the Secondary Sidebar (right side) for optimal placement
Multi-Device Support
- Click the + button in the tab bar to add another device
- Switch between devices by clicking their tabs
- Close a device connection by clicking the × on its tab
- Only the active tab streams video (saves resources)
WiFi Connection
Android 11+ (with pairing):
- On your device: Settings > Developer Options > Wireless debugging > Enable
- Tap "Pair device with pairing code" to get the pairing address and code
- In VS Code: Run "Scrcpy: Connect to Device over WiFi" or click the WiFi icon in the view title
- Select "Pair new device (Android 11+)"
- Enter the pairing address and 6-digit code
- Enter the connection address from the main Wireless debugging screen
Legacy method (Android 10 and below):
- Connect device via USB and run:
adb tcpip 5555
- Disconnect USB cable
- Run "Scrcpy: Connect to Device over WiFi" and enter device IP (e.g.,
192.168.1.100:5555)
Commands
| Command |
Description |
Scrcpy: Start Device Mirroring |
Focus the view and connect to device |
Scrcpy: Stop Device Mirroring |
Disconnect from device |
Scrcpy: Connect to Device over WiFi |
Connect wirelessly (supports Android 11+ pairing) |
Scrcpy: Install APK |
Select and install an APK file on the device |
Scrcpy: Upload Files to Device |
Upload files or folders to /sdcard/Download/ |
Scrcpy: Open Settings |
Open extension settings |
Settings
Click the gear icon in the scrcpy view toolbar to access settings.
| Setting |
Default |
Description |
scrcpy.path |
(empty) |
Path to scrcpy installation directory |
scrcpy.apkInstallDefaultPath |
(empty) |
Default folder for APK file picker (defaults to Downloads) |
scrcpy.screenOff |
false |
Turn device screen off while mirroring |
scrcpy.stayAwake |
true |
Keep device awake during mirroring |
scrcpy.maxSize |
1920 |
Maximum screen dimension in pixels |
scrcpy.bitRate |
8 |
Video bitrate in Mbps |
scrcpy.maxFps |
60 |
Maximum frames per second |
scrcpy.showTouches |
false |
Show visual touch feedback on device |
scrcpy.audio |
true |
Enable audio streaming (requires scrcpy 2.0+) |
scrcpy.clipboardSync |
true |
Enable clipboard sync |
scrcpy.autoConnect |
true |
Auto-connect when devices are plugged in |
scrcpy.autoReconnect |
true |
Auto-reconnect when connection is lost |
scrcpy.reconnectRetries |
2 |
Number of reconnection attempts |
scrcpy.lockVideoOrientation |
false |
Lock video orientation |
scrcpy.scrollSensitivity |
1.0 |
Mouse wheel scroll sensitivity (0.1-5.0) |
scrcpy.showStats |
false |
Show FPS statistics overlay |
Troubleshooting
"No Android devices found"
- Ensure device is connected via USB
- Check
adb devices shows your device as "device" (not "unauthorized")
- Accept the USB debugging prompt on your device
"Failed to get scrcpy version"
- Ensure scrcpy is installed:
scrcpy --version
- Ensure scrcpy is in your PATH, or set
scrcpy.path in settings
"Disconnected from device"
- This can happen if Android Studio or another tool restarts ADB
- The extension will automatically attempt to reconnect
- If auto-reconnect fails, click the Reconnect button
Video not displaying
- Open DevTools in the Extension Development Host (Help > Toggle Developer Tools)
- Check console for WebCodecs errors
Requirements
- VS Code 1.85.0 or higher
- ADB installed and accessible
- scrcpy installed (for server binary)
License
Apache-2.0 (following scrcpy project)
Credits
- scrcpy by Genymobile - The Android screen mirroring tool
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