Environment

SDK Detection

Android Pilot MCP searches for the Android SDK in this order:

1. ANDROID_HOME environment variable
2. ANDROID_SDK_ROOT environment variable
3. The platform default install location, checked in an order tailored to the current OS:
   • macOS: ~/Library/Android/sdk, then ~/Android/Sdk, then %LOCALAPPDATA%\Android\Sdk
   • Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Android\Sdk, then ~/Library/Android/sdk, then ~/Android/Sdk
   • Linux: ~/Android/Sdk, then ~/Library/Android/sdk, then %LOCALAPPDATA%\Android\Sdk

Note

If none of these resolve to a directory that exists, the server still starts. Every tool that needs the SDK returns a clean error asking you to set ANDROID_HOME, instead of the server crashing at startup.

Tool Paths

The following tools are resolved from the SDK. sdkmanager and avdmanager are looked up across the common cmdline-tools layouts (cmdline-tools/latest/bin, cmdline-tools/bin, and the legacy tools/bin), since the exact path depends on how the command-line tools package was installed.

Tool	Path
adb	$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/adb
emulator	$ANDROID_HOME/emulator/emulator
sdkmanager	$ANDROID_HOME/cmdline-tools/latest/bin/sdkmanager (falls back to cmdline-tools/bin or tools/bin)
avdmanager	$ANDROID_HOME/cmdline-tools/latest/bin/avdmanager (falls back to cmdline-tools/bin or tools/bin)
apkanalyzer	Resolved the same way as sdkmanager/avdmanager, across the known cmdline-tools locations

Environment Variables

Variable	Purpose
ANDROID_HOME	Primary SDK location
ANDROID_SDK_ROOT	Fallback SDK location (deprecated)
JAVA_HOME	JDK location for Gradle builds

Caution

If JAVA_HOME is not set, Gradle will use the system default Java. Ensure this is JDK 17 or later.

Troubleshooting

“Android SDK not found. Set ANDROID_HOME…”

None of ANDROID_HOME, ANDROID_SDK_ROOT, or the platform default paths pointed at a real directory. The server itself still starts, but every tool that touches the SDK will return this error until you set ANDROID_HOME:

export ANDROID_HOME=~/Library/Android/sdk   # macOS
export ANDROID_HOME=~/Android/Sdk           # Linux

“adb not found”

Ensure ANDROID_HOME is set and platform-tools is installed:

export ANDROID_HOME=~/Library/Android/sdk
$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/adb version

“emulator not found”

Install the emulator package:

$ANDROID_HOME/cmdline-tools/latest/bin/sdkmanager "emulator"

Gradle build fails with “No JDK found”

Set JAVA_HOME to your JDK 17+ installation:

export JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v 17)