brickproof-adb

brickproof-adb

Let an AI assistant look after your own Android devices — TV boxes first, phones and tablets too — over ADB, without bricking them.

brickproof-adb is an MCP server. It gives Claude (or any MCP client) the screen, the input and the package manager of your devices, and puts guard rails where a careless call would hurt: every package change is a dry run first, the packages a device cannot live without are read off the device and refused, a package that serves something on your network right now is not touched, and everything applied goes into a snapshot that one call rolls back.

It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, in Docker, and as a Home Assistant app; devices connect over USB or the network.

What it looks like

Finding the TV.

You: Find my TV.

Claude calls adb_devices discover=true. Nothing is connected yet; the search looks for devices that announce debugging and for port 5555 on the home network:

Found:
  192.0.2.50:5555 (port 5555 open, network debugging) - adb_connect host=192.0.2.50:5555; if this computer is new to the device, it asks on its screen to allow debugging

Claude: I found one device at 192.0.2.50. Shall I connect? The TV will ask whether to allow debugging.

You: Yes.

Claude calls adb_connect host=192.0.2.50:5555; you confirm the prompt to allow debugging on the TV screen, with "Always allow" checked. The address is remembered and connected again whenever the server starts.

Installing what you just downloaded.

You: Install on the TV the app I just downloaded.

Claude calls adb_install without a path and gets the newest installable files of your Downloads folder, then adb_install with the first one: a report of what would be installed on which device. After your yes, the same call with dry_run=false installs it.

Cleaning up a TV box.

You: The box is slow. Turn off the preinstalled junk, but nothing it needs.

Claude calls adb_app action=list filter=system, picks five packages and calls adb_app action=disable with them. That is a dry run by default: the plan comes back with the rollback path of each package — and one package refused, because the box uses it as its launcher:

REFUSED: the list contains protected packages - com.example.launcher.
  com.example.launcher — launcher, roles (HOME)
The full set with every source: adb_app action=protected
Nothing was applied. Remove them from the list by hand; the tool has no override.

Claude drops it, runs the plan for the other four, then repeats it with dry_run=false. The account count and the launcher are checked after the batch, and the four packages are recorded in the snapshot.

You: The voice remote stopped working.

Claude calls adb_app action=restore, reads the plan and repeats it with dry_run=false: the four packages are enabled again in one call.

Seeing the screen and tapping.

You: Open the network settings on the phone.

Claude calls adb_screenshot, gets the picture and the line under it:

screen 1080x2340 -> image 473x1024 · scale 2.283/2.285 · pass coords="screenshot" to adb_tap/adb_swipe

and taps the "Network & internet" row it sees, with adb_tap coords="screenshot", in the image's own coordinates. On a TV box without a touchscreen it uses adb_find_and_tap text="Network", which walks the focus there with the remote's keys.

Install it where your AI is

Details, other setups and checks: docs/installation.md. An AI app without MCP support cannot use this server.

• Home Assistant — install the ha-adb-mcp app. It is reachable from a browser chat through your Home Assistant's external address.
• Claude Desktop (Windows, macOS) — download the .mcpb file from the latest release and drag it into the Claude Desktop window, or choose it in Settings → Extensions → Advanced settings → Install Extension… (a double click works too, unless an archiver opens the file instead); Claude Desktop shows a short form and installs it. No Node.js needed. A JSON configuration instead: docs/installation.md.
• Claude Code:

  claude mcp add brickproof-adb -- npx -y brickproof-adb

• Other MCP clients on your computer — the server command is npx -y brickproof-adb.
• A chat in the browser without Home Assistant — needs a computer at home that stays on, running brickproof-adb serve, behind a public HTTPS address: docs/installation.md.
• Docker — ghcr.io/st412m/brickproof-adb: docs/installation.md.

First run

1. Turn on debugging on the device. Android TV, Google TV, Fire TV and phones hide it under Developer options, which appear after tapping the build number seven times in the About screen of the settings. There: USB debugging for a cable; Network debugging or ADB debugging on many TV boxes; Wireless debugging on a phone with Android 11 or newer.
2. Tell the assistant "find my TV" (or phone). It searches the network and suggests what to connect; a phone on a cable shows up by itself.
3. Confirm the prompt to allow debugging on the device screen, with "Always allow" checked. A phone over Wi-Fi asks for the pairing code shown on its screen instead.

Defaults that need no setting: files go to and from your Downloads folder, connected devices are remembered, and adb is found by itself (or brickproof-adb get-adb downloads it).

Requirements

• Node.js 22.17 or newer — for every setup except the Claude Desktop extension, Home Assistant and Docker.
• adb (Android SDK Platform-Tools): found by itself where Android Studio, WinGet, Homebrew or your system put it, or downloaded with brickproof-adb get-adb. Docker and Home Assistant bring their own.
• A device with debugging on, over USB or the network.

Connecting

Over stdio (Claude Desktop, Claude Code) there is nothing to connect: the client starts the server. Over HTTP (brickproof-adb serve) the token goes either in the path or in a header:

https://<your-host>/private_<token>/mcp
Authorization: Bearer <token>

The token is generated on the first start; brickproof-adb token shows it again, brickproof-adb token --new replaces it. See docs/security.md.

Tools

18 tools. Semantics, refusals and time limits: docs/tools.md; screen geometry and input: docs/screen-and-input.md.

• adb_devices — connected and remembered devices; discover=true searches the network
• adb_connect — connect a network device, ip or ip:port; remembered for the next start
• adb_disconnect — drop one network device (and forget it), or all
• adb_pair — pair an Android 11+ device over Wireless debugging
• adb_shell — any shell command; off unless allow_shell is set
• adb_logcat — recent log lines, filtered on the device
• adb_screenshot — the screen as JPEG, with the scale to tap by
• adb_ui_dump — on-screen elements with tap coordinates
• adb_tap — tap a point, in screen or screenshot coordinates
• adb_swipe — swipe or long-press
• adb_key — a key press (HOME, BACK, DPAD_CENTER…)
• adb_text — type into the focused field, Unicode through ADBKeyBoard
• adb_find_and_tap — find an element by its label and activate it
• adb_install — install an APK, a split set or an .apks/.xapk/.apkm bundle; dry run by default; without a path, lists what can be installed
• adb_uninstall — remove an app by package name
• adb_app — package operations with guard rails, snapshot and rollback
• adb_push — copy a file to the device
• adb_pull — copy a file from the device

Safety

What protects your devices, and what does not: docs/safety.md. In short: dry runs by default, a protected set read off the device, a network guard on live services, an account canary between batches, a snapshot with one-call rollback, and adb_shell and uninstalling off until you turn them on. No tool changes these switches; you do, with brickproof-adb set or in the settings of your app.

Limitations

• ADB is not a sandbox. With allow_shell on, adb_shell can do anything the device's shell user can, past every guard.
• The search finds devices on the same network only: a guest network, Wi-Fi client isolation or separate VLANs hide them. In Docker and Home Assistant only TV boxes on port 5555 are found; phones connect by the address on their screen.
• The tool list is cached per chat; after an update start a new chat.
• A screenshot of a sleeping device is a dark frame, and the answer says screen: Asleep; adb_key key=WAKEUP wakes it, and HDMI-CEC may then switch on the television.
• Content protected with FLAG_SECURE (streaming players, banking apps) shows as a black frame.
• Snapshots live on the machine that made them: a rollback has to run where the change was made.
• USB devices in Docker work only on a Linux host.

License

MIT