Skip to content

Quickstart

From zero to a phone-controlling agent in under 2 minutes.

The Journey

graph LR
    A["1️⃣ Install"] --> B["2️⃣ Connect"]
    B --> C["3️⃣ Import adb"]
    C --> D["4️⃣ Ask anything"]

    style A fill:#1e3a5f,stroke:#60a5fa,color:#fff
    style B fill:#3DDC84,stroke:#3DDC84,color:#000
    style C fill:#4a1d96,stroke:#a78bfa,color:#fff
    style D fill:#92400e,stroke:#fbbf24,color:#fff

1. Install

pip install strands-adb
brew install android-platform-tools   # or apt / pacman / winget

2. Connect

adb devices
# 59230DLCH0012Z  device

If you see unauthorized, accept the trust dialog on the phone.

3. Hello, Phone

from strands import Agent
from strands_adb import adb

agent = Agent(tools=[adb])
agent("what's on my phone screen right now?")

The agent will:

  1. Call adb(action="screenshot")
  2. Receive a PNG image block (it can literally see)
  3. Describe what's on screen

4. Drive the UI

agent("open whatsapp and tell me the last message")

Under the hood:

sequenceDiagram
    participant U as 🧑 You
    participant A as 🤖 Agent
    participant T as 🔧 adb tool
    participant P as 📱 Phone

    U->>A: "open whatsapp & read last msg"
    A->>T: action="launch", package="com.whatsapp"
    T->>P: am start com.whatsapp
    P-->>T: launched
    A->>T: action="screenshot"
    T->>P: screencap -p
    P-->>T: PNG bytes
    T-->>A: image block
    A->>A: (vision) read chat
    A-->>U: "Mom: on my way back, 20m"

5. Common One-Liners

# Reality check
agent("take a photo with the front camera and describe me")

# Device state
agent("how's my battery? any thermal warnings?")

# Notifications
agent("read me my current notifications")

# Launch app
agent("open spotify and tell me what's playing")

# UI automation
agent("tap the button that says 'Send'")

# Settings mutation
agent("enable airplane mode, I'm about to board")

# Sensors
agent("is the phone face-down right now?")

DevDuck is the minimalist agent runtime. With one env var, adb becomes a first-class tool:

export DEVDUCK_TOOLS="strands_adb:adb;strands_tools:shell"
devduck "text mom 'on my way' via whatsapp"

→ DevDuck integration guide

7. Multi-Device

Target a specific device when you have several connected:

agent("take a screenshot of device 59230DLCH0012Z")

# Or set a default:
import os
os.environ["ADB_SERIAL"] = "59230DLCH0012Z"

→ See Connect a Device for wireless / SSH / multi-device setups.

What's Next

graph LR
    QS["✅ You are here:<br/>Quickstart"] --> V["👁️ Vision"]
    QS --> SM["🎯 Smart Tap"]
    QS --> DD["🦆 DevDuck"]
    QS --> EX["📚 Examples"]

    style QS fill:#3DDC84,stroke:#3DDC84,color:#000
    style V fill:#1e3a5f,stroke:#60a5fa,color:#fff
    style SM fill:#4a1d96,stroke:#a78bfa,color:#fff
    style DD fill:#92400e,stroke:#fbbf24,color:#fff
    style EX fill:#831843,stroke:#f472b6,color:#fff