Android’s sideloading modifications pushed me to construct an APK installer

I don’t have an issue utilizing ADB through the command line each on occasion. However between remembering the place I put the executable, opening a terminal window, connecting a tool, and pasting within the APK file path, it’s a little bit of a chore. Booting up a small app on my PC to deal with a lot of the legwork can be a lot sooner.

Sure, there are already choices in the marketplace, reminiscent of ADB AppControl, EasyADB, or QuickADB. Nonetheless, I wished to construct one thing myself that particularly focuses on the APK set up workflow — wi-fi debugging pairing, file/listing shopping, and bundle unpacking — moderately than a full ADB management suite.

Whereas I’m a reasonably succesful programmer, between work and two children, I don’t have the time to put in writing an app solely from scratch. So I assumed I’d give AI-assisted “vibe coding” a attempt. This had the additional benefit of letting me check out a brand new programming language I wasn’t conversant in: Go.

Why Go? It’s a easy language that’s an ideal match for a compact challenge like this (no want for Rust), but it simply compiles right into a small, cross-platform executable (sorry, Python). Plus, I wished to construct a cool-looking terminal app utilizing the attractive Bubble Tea TUI framework that I’d just lately come throughout. With the design in thoughts, I set off to seek out an AI agent to assist me.

I’ve dabbled in AI instruments sufficient to know that merely asking one to construct an utility for you is a raffle. Costly fashions from Anthropic and OpenAI can one-shot easy duties, however you usually find yourself in an exhausting back-and-forth to resolve bugs whenever you let an agent free on a posh challenge. To work together with ADB and construct a terminal-based UI, I made a decision I wished a extra hands-on method.

I wasn’t about to spend lots of of {dollars} on Opus 4.6 for this little challenge. Even with cautious planning, there’s all the time a danger that fashions get caught in an costly construct loop or hit an inescapable drawback. As an alternative of asking Claude or Codex to deal with the duty themselves, I paired my regular IDE with OpenCode and its very inexpensive $10 Go subscription. That gave me entry to MiniMax M2.7 and the very spectacular GLM 5 to make use of alongside my slower human mind and keyboard-worn fingers.

I laid out the naked bones of the construction myself—folders, a number of placeholder features, a .gitignore, and so forth—and wrote a fast AGENTS.md to stipulate the challenge’s necessities, targets, and coding specifics. Then, moderately than asking AI to complete the entire thing, I moved slowly by means of the phases I knew I’d want: planning, constructing, reviewing, and tweaking every step alongside the way in which. I extremely suggest utilizing model management, like Git, so you may undo main AI errors and climb again out of inevitable rabbit holes.

First, I bought a fundamental ADB wrapper working in Go, permitting me to run instructions like adb units to seek out related telephones after which utilizing adb set up to push APKs to them. Subsequent, I expanded the working instructions right into a fundamental terminal interface to step by means of the method. That was fairly easy, however not probably the most user-friendly expertise.

Lastly — and positively probably the most arduous a part of the back-and-forth — was establishing the UI circulate. It didn’t assist that I used to be studying a brand new language and framework on the similar time, however by instructing the AI agent to show theming by means of a configuration file, I used to be capable of make guide tweaks myself. That saved time (and credit) by avoiding the necessity to burn assets on each small element.

In the long run, the mix of human planning, AI constructing, and tag-team tweaking produced a stable little app in simply three days of off-duty work. I actually wouldn’t have been capable of write the ~3,000 traces of code on my own in that point. Not unhealthy in any respect for $10, and I’ve loads of credit left for one more thought.

It’s a compact 7MB executable — no set up required. It could robotically obtain ADB from Google in case you don’t have already got it, or use an present PATH set up. The app launches ADB when wanted and shuts it down on exit. You’ll be able to pair with debuggable Android units over USB or Wi-Fi, browse recordsdata utilizing a built-in file explorer, and set up APKs immediately. It additionally helps unpacking and putting in app bundles, together with APKM, XAPK, and APKS recordsdata.

The excellent news is that I bought a working app, and it’s genuinely helpful. If there’s one downside, it’s that I didn’t study as a lot Go as I’d initially hoped. By asking AI to unravel issues for me, I missed out on deeply studying the language’s syntax and patterns. I’ve picked up some understanding from reviewing the code and following the logic, however with out doing a lot of the problem-solving myself, I nonetheless wouldn’t name myself competent in Go.

And that’s the true danger with vibe coding: not absolutely understanding how the code works. I noticed a few innocent bugs and even a zipper slip vulnerability whereas reviewing AI-generated modifications, however I can solely think about the dangers when constructing one thing involving encryption, API keys, or delicate credentials. My recommendation to anybody making an attempt vibe coding is to place within the effort to plan and perceive not simply how your app ought to work, but additionally which instruments you want, how one can handle the challenge, and what generally goes unsuitable. That approach, you’re higher positioned to confirm AI output when it inevitably misses the mark.

If you wish to give my app a attempt, you could find releases and the supply code on the Tiny APK Installer GitHub repo. I haven’t had an opportunity to check the Mac or Linux builds but, so I’m trusting that Go compiled every little thing appropriately. For those who spot any bugs, be happy to open a difficulty — and perhaps curse AI for making it this straightforward to construct (and break) issues.