androidboss MCP server

Tested tools for Android and Kotlin Multiplatform developers and their coding agents

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AndroidBoss turns the fiddly parts of Android and Kotlin® Multiplatform work into small, deterministic tools: deobfuscating an R8 stack trace, checking that Kotlin, AGP and Gradle versions work together, finding what changes when you raise targetSdk, writing actual declarations for each KMP target, and more.

The same tools are available three ways:

	Where	Best for
Hosted MCP server	https://mcp.androidboss.org/mcp	Giving Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, Cursor or VS Code the tools with nothing to install
Local CLI and MCP server	npx androidboss	Large or private inputs, offline work, scripts and CI
Web tools	androidboss.info	Using them in a browser, with your input never leaving the page

Every tool's output is checked against the real toolchain before it ships: R8 and Google's retrace, Gradle, aapt2, Kotlin/Native, swiftc and the Android CLI.

[!NOTE] AndroidBoss is an independent, free and non-commercial community project, made by developers for developers. It isn't affiliated with or endorsed by Google. See Legal and trademarks.

Contents

• Quick start
• Tools
• Connect your agent
• Command-line usage
• Versions
• Privacy and limits
• How it's built
• Development
• Contributing
• Support the project
• Licence

Quick start

Give your coding agent the tools (Claude Code shown; other agents below):

claude mcp add --transport http androidboss https://mcp.androidboss.org/mcp

Then ask it something like "Retrace this crash with app/build/outputs/mapping/release/mapping.txt" or "Can I move to AGP 9.5 with my current Gradle version?"

Or run the tools yourself (Node.js 22.23.4 or newer; 26 LTS recommended):

npx androidboss tools
npx androidboss retrace --mapping @app/build/outputs/mapping/release/mapping.txt < crash.txt
npx androidboss check-compatibility --kotlin 2.4.0 --agp 9.5.1 --gradle 9.6.0

Tools

CLI command	MCP tool	What it does
retrace	retrace	Deobfuscates a stack trace with the mapping.txt from the same build. Output matches Google's retrace.
json-to-kotlin	json_to_kotlin	Kotlin data classes from a JSON sample, for kotlinx.serialization, Moshi or Gson.
check-compatibility	check_compatibility	Whether Kotlin, AGP, Gradle, KSP, Compose Multiplatform and compileSdk versions work together.
android-cli-tasks	android_cli_tasks	What the Android CLI can do, and the fields each task takes.
android-cli-command	android_cli_command	The exact Android CLI command for a task.
crash-to-prompt	crash_to_prompt	A crash or ANR as a short, redacted prompt for an agent: root cause, files to open, trimmed trace.
version-catalog	version_catalog	Moves a build file's dependencies and plugins into libs.versions.toml, lists newer stable versions, and can write them in (--use-latest).
convert-vector	convert_vector	SVG, VectorDrawable and Compose ImageVector, in any direction.
keep-rules	keep_rules	Writes R8 keep rules for reflection, JSON models and JNI, or lints proguard-rules.pro.
expect-actual	expect_actual	actual declarations for each KMP target from commonMain expect code.
kotlin-to-swift	kotlin_to_swift	How a shared Kotlin file looks when called from Swift.
find-kmp-libraries	find_kmp_libraries	KMP libraries by task and target, with current versions and a ready libs.versions.toml.
android-permissions	android_permissions	Permission facts, and a check of your AndroidManifest.xml.
target-sdk-changes	target_sdk_changes	Behaviour changes between two targetSdk levels, flagged against your manifest.
cheatsheet	cheatsheet	Tested commands and compiled snippets for adb, Gradle, the emulator, the Android CLI, coroutines and Flow, KMP Gradle, R8 keep rules, signing and simctl, searched by task, with your values filled in.

All tools are read-only: they never write files, run commands or call other services.

Connect your agent

The hosted server speaks Streamable HTTP (MCP 2026-07-28, with a fallback for 2025 clients) and needs no sign-in. To run it on your own machine instead, use npx -y androidboss mcp as a stdio server; see the last entry.

claude mcp add --transport http androidboss https://mcp.androidboss.org/mcp

Or in .mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "androidboss": { "type": "http", "url": "https://mcp.androidboss.org/mcp" }
  }
}

codex mcp add androidboss --url https://mcp.androidboss.org/mcp

Or in .codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.androidboss]
url = "https://mcp.androidboss.org/mcp"

In .gemini/settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "androidboss": { "httpUrl": "https://mcp.androidboss.org/mcp" }
  }
}

In .cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "androidboss": { "url": "https://mcp.androidboss.org/mcp" }
  }
}

In .vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "androidboss": { "type": "http", "url": "https://mcp.androidboss.org/mcp" }
  }
}

In .agents/mcp_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "androidboss": { "serverUrl": "https://mcp.androidboss.org/mcp" }
  }
}

claude mcp add androidboss -- npx -y androidboss mcp

For agents configured in JSON, add a stdio server:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "androidboss": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "androidboss", "mcp"] }
  }
}

https://androidboss.info/mcp serves the same tools from the same code, and keeps working for existing setups.

Command-line usage

androidboss <tool> [--option value]... [--json]
androidboss tools              list the tools
androidboss help <tool>        a tool's options
androidboss mcp                run as a local MCP server over stdio

Options come from each tool's input schema, so the CLI and the MCP server always accept the same inputs.

Syntax	Meaning	Example
--name value	An option, in kebab-case or camelCase	--target-sdk 36
@path	Read the value from a file	--manifest @app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml
-	Read the value from standard input	--manifest -
Piped input	Fills the tool's one missing required text option	androidboss retrace --mapping @mapping.txt < crash.txt
a,b or repeated	A list	--targets android,ios
--key.sub value	One key of an object option	--values.device pixel_9
--json	Print the structured result instead of text	androidboss find-kmp-libraries --query ktor --json

Exit codes: 0 success, 1 the tool reported an error, 2 a usage error (unknown option, missing value, unreadable file).

More examples:

# What changes when targetSdk goes to 36, checked against your manifest
npx androidboss target-sdk-changes --to 36 --manifest @app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml

# Networking libraries that publish both Android and iOS targets
npx androidboss find-kmp-libraries --category networking --targets android,ios

# Exact, tested commands by task, with your package filled in
npx androidboss cheatsheet --query "logs one app" --values.package com.my.app

# Look up permissions and check a manifest for Play-restricted ones
npx androidboss android-permissions --names CAMERA,ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION --manifest @app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml

Versions

Component	Version
androidboss CLI on npm	0.4.2
MCP server	0.4.2, MCP spec 2026-07-28 with a fallback for 2025 clients
Node.js	26 LTS recommended. Minimum 22.23.4; on the 24 line use 24.22.1 or newer, which include the October 2026 security fixes
Android CLI commands	Checked against Android CLI 1.1.16717390 (2 November 2026)
Kotlin, AGP and Gradle compatibility data	Copied from the official tables, re-checked 8 November 2026
Newest library and plugin versions	2,225 Google Maven artifacts, 108 Maven Central libraries and 26 Gradle plugins, read from the repositories on 8 November 2026 (npm run update:latest -w @androidboss/data)
Cheatsheets	282 entries in 9 sheets. Commands checked against adb 37.0.1 (Android 17 emulator), Gradle 9.9 with AGP 9.5.1, emulator 37, build-tools 37.0.0, Android CLI 1.1.16717390 and Xcode 27; Kotlin snippets compiled with kotlinx.coroutines 1.11; keep rules run through R8; KMP Gradle snippets configured with Kotlin 2.4.21 and AGP 9.5.1 (re-checked on Gradle 9.9 and build-tools 37.0.0, 7 November 2026)

Each release is listed with its changes on the Releases page.

Privacy and limits

• Nothing is stored. The hosted server handles each request in memory and keeps no database; request bodies aren't logged. The CLI runs entirely on your machine.
• Inputs are capped on the hosted server to stay within Cloudflare's free tier: a mapping.txt up to 5 MB, most other inputs up to 100 KB, and a per-IP rate limit. The CLI accepts mapping files up to 100 MB.
• Mind what you send. crash_to_prompt redacts emails, tokens and IP addresses, but review crash logs before sharing them with any service.

How it's built

packages/
  core/         Tool logic in plain TypeScript. Runs in browsers, Node.js and Workers.
                core/src/cheatsheets holds the cheatsheets and the tests that check every
                command against the real tools (npm run test:cheatsheets -w @androidboss/core).
  data/         Data the tools read: permissions, targetSdk changes, compatibility tables,
                KMP libraries, Apple privacy keys, newest library versions. Refreshed from
                the source by scripts/.
  mcp/          The MCP server (15 tools) and its HTTP handler.
  cli/          The npm package `androidboss`: the server as commands and as a stdio server.
apps/
  mcp-worker/   mcp.androidboss.org on Cloudflare Workers.

The web tools at androidboss.info use core and data from this repository, so a fix here reaches the website, the MCP server and the CLI together.

Correctness comes from fixtures produced by the real tools. For example, packages/core/src/retrace/fixtures holds a mapping and stack traces from an R8 build together with the exact output of Google's retrace, and the implementation must reproduce it byte for byte.

Development

You need Node.js 26 LTS (the version in .nvmrc; with nvm, run nvm use). Node 22.23.4 or newer also works.

git clone https://github.com/androidboss-org/androidboss.git
cd androidboss
npm ci
npm test          # unit tests for every package
npm run check     # type checks

Command	What it does
npm test -w @androidboss/core	Tests for one package
npm run build -w androidboss	Bundles the CLI into packages/cli/dist/androidboss.mjs
node packages/cli/dist/androidboss.mjs tools	Runs your local build of the CLI
npm run dev -w @androidboss/mcp-worker	Serves the MCP Worker at http://localhost:8787/mcp
MCP_URL=http://localhost:8787/mcp npm test -w @androidboss/mcp	Runs the MCP client tests against a running server

Some tests compile or run generated code with real toolchains. They're skipped unless you turn them on:

Variable	Needs	Checks
CHECK_GRADLE=1	Gradle ($GRADLE or a wrapper download); macOS, Android SDK and Xcode for the KMP libraries	Version catalogs compile with Gradle; every KMP library compiles for Android, iOS and JVM
CHECK_KMP=1	Gradle, Android SDK, Xcode	expect/actual stubs compile for every target; generated Swift type-checks with swiftc
CHECK_ANDROID=1	Android SDK, Gradle	VectorDrawables through aapt2; ImageVector and themes through the Kotlin and Compose compilers
CHECK_ANDROID_CLI=1	Android CLI	Every Android CLI command against the installed CLI

CHECK_GRADLE=1 npm test -w @androidboss/core

Contributing

Bug reports, fixes and new tools are welcome. For questions, ideas and show-and-tell, use GitHub Discussions. The contributing guide has the details, and everyone taking part follows the Code of Conduct.

1. Open an issue first for anything bigger than a small fix, so we can agree on the approach. For a wrong result, include the input, the output you expected and the tool that produced it.
2. Keep tools deterministic and read-only. The same input must give the same output, with no network calls.
3. Prove it against the real tool. A change to output needs a test, ideally with a fixture produced by the official toolchain, like the existing ones.
4. Run npm test and npm run check before opening a pull request. CI runs both.

Data in packages/data comes from the update scripts in packages/data/scripts; change the script rather than editing the generated JSON by hand.

Releases

Each release has a vX.Y.Z tag matching the version in packages/cli/package.json. Pushing the tag runs the release workflow, which tests the project, publishes the CLI to npm through trusted publishing with provenance (no stored tokens; npm shows which commit and workflow built it), and creates a GitHub Release with the package tarball.

Security

Please don't report security problems in public issues. Use private vulnerability reporting instead; see the security policy.

Support the project

If AndroidBoss saves you time:

• ⭐ Star the repository so other Android developers can find it.
• ☕ Sponsor the work with the Sponsor button at the top of the repository.
• 🛠️ Report a wrong result or send a fix. Real-world inputs make the tools better.
• 💬 Share how you use it in Discussions.

The project is non-commercial: no ads, no paid plans. Donations only help cover hosting and domains.

Licence

MIT © AndroidBoss

The CLI bundles third-party packages under their own licences, listed in dist/THIRD-PARTY-LICENSES.txt inside the npm package.

Trademarks

Android is a trademark of Google LLC. Google Play is a trademark of Google LLC. Apple, App Store, iOS, Swift and Xcode are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries and regions. Kotlin® is a trademark protected by the Kotlin Foundation. Gradle is a trademark of Gradle, Inc. Other names belong to their owners and are used only to say which products the tools work with.

AndroidBoss is not affiliated with or endorsed by Google, Apple, JetBrains or the Kotlin Foundation, and uses none of their logos. If you own a trademark used here and have a concern, please email legal@androidboss.info or open an issue: we'll reply within 7 days and, at your request, change the content, rename the project or take it offline, and transfer the domains to you free of charge. Details: Legal and trademarks.