Development & Runtime
dsh-plugin-android-tools
asdukw/dsh-plugin-android-tools · ★ 0
Android device automation tools for DeepSeek Harness (dsh): read screen, tap, type, back, launch app, swipe over a local HTTP bridge
Repository is no longer available (checked 2026-11-15). This entry is retained for tracking and cannot be installed.
Manifest details
README
Table of contents
DeepSeek Harness (dsh) plugin that turns a device UI
automation bridge into agent tools: read the screen, capture frames, tap nodes/targets,
long press, type text, press system keys, launch apps and swipe.
This plugin is a thin, platform-independent HTTP client: it registers the tools and
forwards each call to a bridge host that implements the contract below. Reading the
UI tree and injecting gestures stays in the host. A reference host runs on Android with
an AccessibilityService, but any system that speaks the contract works with the same
plugin.
Requirements
dshrunning with@deepseek-ai/dsh-tools>=0.1.0-rc.6(peer dependency).- A bridge host: this repository ships the client half only — no host is published here. Point the plugin at an existing host, or implement the small contract below (see Writing a host); a runnable mock host is included for testing. Without a host, tool calls fail with a clear error.
Tools
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
read_ui_tree(full?) |
Dump the current screen's node tree as lines like [12] TextView "Send" clickable @(900,2200). Consecutive reads return only the diff ([+ref] added, [~ref] changed, [-ref] gone); full=true forces a full dump |
tap_node(ref) |
Tap a node from the last read_ui_tree |
capture_screenshot() |
Capture a frame: the image plus its frame info (image/screen size, screenshot_id) |
tap_target(screenshot_id,x1,y1,x2,y2) |
Tap a target you saw in that frame — bbox in image pixels, the host converts |
long_press_target(screenshot_id,x1,y1,x2,y2,duration_ms?) |
Long-press a frame target (default 700 ms, 300-2000 ms) |
long_press(ref,duration_ms?) |
Long-press a node from the last read_ui_tree |
type_text(text) |
Write text into the focused input; does not send |
press(key) |
Press back / home / recents / enter; use back for Esc-like cancel/exit |
launch_app(query) |
Launch an app by fuzzy name or package name |
swipe(direction) |
Swipe about half a screen up / down / left / right |
run_command(cmd,timeout_ms?) |
Run a shell command inside the phone's Linux (Debian, built into the host app); returns stdout / stderr / exit code |
run_command is not like the others: those operate the UI (reversible, visible), this one changes the
filesystem (no undo, nothing on screen). It is a real shell — git / python / apt / npm all work —
but every command is its own session (cd, env vars and background processes do not persist) and there is no
docker / systemd / iptables (proot is not a real kernel).
It is only registered when the host injects FACTOTUM_PROOT=1 — hosts whose build predates the embedded
runtime (or that ship without it) never see a tool that is guaranteed to fail.
It is also approval-gated like the calendar/alarm writes: tools/pre-execute returns ask, the audit
reason says only "run shell command", and the command text travels in displayReason (UI only, not persisted).
that setup never see a tool that is guaranteed to fail.
A capture_screenshot image only reaches the model through the attachment service
(ctx.attachments): the tool persists the bytes and returns an image content block. Without a
mounted attachment service it degrades to text (the call still succeeds, the image does not reach
the model) instead of failing. A bridge host just returns
{ mediaType, width, height, base64 } as the action payload.
The tools are app-agnostic atomic actions; the model composes them into tasks.
Scheduled tasks
schedule_task creates a task from natural language; list_scheduled_tasks returns ids and next triggers;
update_scheduled_task changes or pauses/resumes one; delete_scheduled_task removes one. Writes require approval.
title, prompt, hour (0–23) and minute (0–59) are required on create. Optional schedule_type selects:
| Rule | Extra fields |
|---|---|
daily (default) |
None; old four-argument calls remain daily |
weekly |
weekday (Monday=1 through Sunday=7) |
monthly |
day_of_month (1–31); missing dates are skipped |
yearly |
month (1–12) and day_of_month; February 29 skips non-leap years |
once |
Future local date (YYYY-MM-DD); disables on claim even when execution fails |
All rules use the device local timezone and HH:mm. Update only the fields that should change; changing rule type
requires its new parameters, while unrelated old rule fields are cleared. Ask about ambiguous dates/times; never
silently turn an unsupported request into daily. List includes schedule, timezone, next_trigger (null when
disabled/completed), and last-run metadata. Android exact-alarm permission and ROM restrictions still affect delivery;
this is not cron and it does not bypass lock screens or write approvals.
System prompt variable
The plugin registers one prompt variable, device_now — the device's local time, e.g.
2026-10-25 02:17 周日(UTC+08:00), re-resolved on every prompt assembly. Reference it from your
prompt (当前设备时间:{{device_now}}). Without it the model has no clock: before any relative-date
task it opens the Clock app and taps through to the World Clock tab just to learn today's date.
The variable exists only when the host mounts system-prompt (the plugin declares
inject: ['tools', 'systemPrompt']), so a prompt that references {{device_now}} without this plugin
fails assembly loudly instead of silently shipping a prompt with a hole in it.
Install
# from git, pinned to a release tag:
dsh plugin add github:asdukw/dsh-plugin-android-tools#v0.3.0
# or from the tarball attached to any GitHub Release:
dsh plugin add ./dsh-plugin-android-tools-0.3.0.tgz
# once npm publishing is enabled:
dsh plugin add dsh-plugin-android-tools
The package ships a dsh.bundle layer (cordis.patch.yml) that inserts the plugin row
on install. Restart dsh afterwards.
Configure
| Variable | Meaning |
|---|---|
ANDROID_BRIDGE_URL |
Bridge base URL, e.g. http://127.0.0.1:37812 |
ANDROID_BRIDGE_TOKEN |
Shared token checked on every request, usually random per host start |
FACTOTUM_PROOT |
Set to 1 by the host when the embedded Debian (proot) runtime is available; without it run_command is not registered |
The host app or launcher normally injects both variables; they can also be exported
manually in the environment that starts dsh. If either is missing, every tool call
fails with ANDROID_BRIDGE_URL/ANDROID_BRIDGE_TOKEN not set.
Usage
The intended loop is read first, act, read again to confirm:
User: open the clock app and set a 5 minute timer
Agent: launch_app("Clock") → read_ui_tree → tap_node(12) → type_text("5") → …
To try the plugin without a device, run the bundled mock host (canned screen, no device needed):
node examples/mock-host.mjs # mock host on http://127.0.0.1:37812 (token: dev-token)
export ANDROID_BRIDGE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:37812
export ANDROID_BRIDGE_TOKEN=dev-token
The mock acknowledges every action and returns a canned read_ui_tree.
Bridge contract
POST {ANDROID_BRIDGE_URL}/action
header: x-android-bridge-token: <ANDROID_BRIDGE_TOKEN>
body: { "action": "read_ui_tree" | "tap_node" | "long_press"
| "capture_screenshot" | "tap_target" | "long_press_target"
| "type_text" | "press" | "launch_app" | "swipe",
...action args }
Success: { "ok": true, "payload": "…" } — failure: { "ok": false, "summary": "…" }.
| Action | Args | Payload |
|---|---|---|
read_ui_tree |
full (boolean, optional) |
node-tree text, one node per line ([ref] ClassName "text" [flags] @(x,y)); a host may return a delta against the previous read |
tap_node |
ref (integer) |
result summary |
tap_target |
screenshot_id, x1, y1, x2, y2 (image pixels) |
result summary; changed says whether the screen moved |
long_press_target |
same as tap_target, plus optional duration_ms |
result summary; changed |
long_press |
ref, plus optional duration_ms |
result summary |
type_text |
text (string) |
result summary |
press |
key (back / home / recents / enter) |
result summary |
launch_app |
query (string) |
result summary |
swipe |
direction (up / down / left / right) |
result summary |
capture_screenshot |
– | JSON string { "mediaType", "width", "height", "screenshotId", "screenWidth", "screenHeight", "offsetX", "offsetY", "base64" } |
press_back remains an optional legacy bridge alias for press(back), but it is not
registered as a model tool. Keep the bridge local (e.g. loopback) and token-checked:
screen content can be personal data, and the bridge can drive the device. Payloads are
only returned to the model; do not log them.
Writing a host
A host is any process that can read the UI and inject input. The contract above is the entire interface:
| Where the host runs | Typical building blocks |
|---|---|
| Android | AccessibilityService (getRootInActiveWindow, dispatchGesture, ACTION_SET_TEXT, …) |
| Windows | UI Automation |
| macOS | Accessibility API (AXUIElement) |
| iOS | WebDriverAgent / XCTest |
| Anything else | whatever can produce read_ui_tree text and accept taps |
Checklist:
- listen on loopback (or authenticate hard) and verify
x-android-bridge-tokenon every request; - map
action+ args to the platform primitives and return{ok, payload}or{ok, summary}; read_ui_treemust emit one line per interesting node in the documented format — the model relies on[ref]staying stable until the next read sotap_nodeworks;- if the host returns deltas, unchanged nodes must keep their previous
[ref], and a full dump must remain available throughfull=true(the model may lose the earlier output to context truncation); - keep ROM/OEM quirks inside the host so the tool surface never changes.
examples/mock-host.mjs is a ~60-line reference for the parsing/auth/reply shape.
Platform notes
- The plugin contains no OS-specific code — it only speaks HTTP. Porting to another platform means writing a bridge host, not changing the plugin.
- ROM/OEM behaviour (accessibility permissions, gesture injection quirks, node-tree differences) belongs behind the bridge, so the tool surface stays stable.
Generic boundary
This plugin intentionally exposes only app-agnostic primitives. Chat, shopping, settings and other business flows are composed by the model; no page-specific tool is built in.
Development
No dependencies needed for the smoke test (a loader stub replaces
@deepseek-ai/dsh-tools):
npm test
Release: push a v* tag. The release workflow runs the tests, packs the package and
creates a GitHub Release with the .tgz attached. npm publishing is prepared as a
gated job: publish the first version locally (npm login, then npm publish --access public), add a trusted publisher on npmjs.com (package → Settings → Trusted Publisher
→ GitHub Actions: user asdukw, repository dsh-plugin-android-tools, workflow
filename release.yml, allowed action npm publish), then enable the job:
gh variable set NPM_PUBLISH_READY --body true -R asdukw/dsh-plugin-android-tools
License
MIT