Android APK Utilities

This skill provides a comprehensive suite of utilities for working with Android APK files and split-APK ZIP archives offline.

Using Helper Scripts vs. Raw CLI Tools

Use the scripts in scripts/ as the primary interface for APK inspection. They automate handling split-APK ZIP archives (extracting base splits to temporary directories), normalize output across aapt, aapt2, and apkanalyzer, and format XML manifests for clean readability.

When raw tools like apkanalyzer or aapt2 are needed for specialized flags, refer to the helper scripts as reference implementations for handling archive extraction and error recovery.

Script Index

See references/command-index.md for detailed usage.

• scripts/apk-info: The unified read-only APK metadata and file inspector. Supports subcommands (package, manifest, version, libraries, tiles, complications, launcher, file).

Extraction & Decoding

• scripts/apk-decode: Decompile the entire APK using apktool to inspect resources.
• scripts/apk-launcher-icon-extract: Decompile and extract the launcher and round launcher icons as files.
• scripts/apk-unzip: Unzip ZIP archives, split APK bundles, or app bundles.

Device Interaction

• scripts/apk-install-and-launch: Install the APK/ZIP on a connected device and launch its main activity.

[!TIP] If the application is already installed on the device and you want to launch it without reinstalling (preserving state and cache), you can compose the scripts/apk-info package query with an ADB package management utility (such as packagename, if available in your workspace):

• Fish: packagename launch (apk-info package app.apk)
• Bash/Zsh: packagename launch $(apk-info package app.apk)

Reference Material

• Command Index — Detailed synopsis, options, and examples for all APK scripts.
• Troubleshooting — Solutions for missing dependencies (apkanalyzer, xpath, apktool, aapt).