Mobile E2E testing on a cloud Android emulator

The one-command way: pilldrops test

The mobile-test template injects a session harness: your script runs automatically with the emulator screen recorded, and the sandbox URL serves live progress → final report (video, screenshot, log, artifacts). Exit code 0 = GREEN, anything else = RED. Anything your script writes to /test/artifacts/ lands in the report.

$ pilldrops test ./suite.sh
sandbox: sb_m1
session: https://8765-sb_m1.pilldrops.app/   ← open now: live progress · later: report
  ✓ Wait for Android boot
  ✓ Run test script (screen recording on)
  ✓ Collect artifacts: video · screenshot · log
verdict: GREEN

# suite.sh is any script — adb, Appium (localhost:4723 inside), Maestro…
# push a new version of the script and the session re-runs automatically.

Manual mode: boot the emulator sandbox

The template asks for 4 vCPU / 8 GB — Android boots in ~1–2 minutes. The app_url is the live device screen (noVNC) — open it in a tab.

$ pilldrops sandbox create --template android --timeout 3600
sb_droid1   running   android   4 vCPU · 8 GB
app_url: https://6080-sb_droid1.pilldrops.app/   ← the device screen

Wait for Android, then install your APK

$ pilldrops exec sb_droid1 -- bash -c \
    'until [ "$(adb shell getprop sys.boot_completed 2>/dev/null | tr -d "\r")" = "1" ]; do sleep 5; done; echo booted'
$ pilldrops cp ./app-release.apk sb_droid1:/tmp/app.apk
$ pilldrops exec sb_droid1 -- adb install /tmp/app.apk
Success

Run the E2E suite

Appium runs inside the sandbox on port 4723 — point your test runner at it locally, or exec the whole suite in-sandbox and pull the report out.

$ pilldrops cp ./e2e sb_droid1:/tests
$ pilldrops exec sb_droid1 -- bash -c 'cd /tests && npm ci && npx wdio run wdio.conf.js'
$ pilldrops cp sb_droid1:/tests/report ./report   # junit/allure output

Or let an agent drive the phone

The same loop as computer use, but for mobile: screenshot via adb, feed the frame to a vision model, tap via input events.

sb.run("adb exec-out screencap -p > /tmp/screen.png")
frame = sb.files.read("/tmp/screen.png")      # → model decides
sb.run(f"adb shell input tap {x} {y}")         # act

Headless mode for CI — no screen, Appium as the URL

Tests don't need a screen. The android-headless template skips the VNC/streaming stack entirely (lower CPU/RAM, same ~45 s warm boot) and publishes Appium as the preview URL — so CI drives the device remotely, exactly like a Playwright grid endpoint.

$ pilldrops sandbox create --template android-headless --timeout 1800
app_url: https://4723-sb_ci42.pilldrops.app/   ← remote WebDriver endpoint

# wdio.conf.js / Appium client in CI:
#   hostname: "4723-sb_ci42.pilldrops.app", port: 443, protocol: "https"
$ npx wdio run wdio.conf.js      # runs from CI against the cloud device