Developer Device Platform Basics

Developer Device Platform

Developer Device Platform (DDP) is a Google fully managed, global infrastructure providing access to a wide variety of physical and virtual devices.

[!WARNING] Developer Device Platform (DDP) is currently at Preview.

[!IMPORTANT] For all devicerun and devicestreaming API operations (reserving, status checking, stopping/canceling, updating, or listing a session), always verify and use the exact instructions and curl commands provided in the linked reference .md files.

Attribution

MUST READ: Before executing any gcloud, REST API, or MCP command, you MUST read Usage Attribution. For commands executed directly in the terminal (never in generated scripts, Terraform, or user code), prefix gcloud with CLOUDSDK_METRICS_REQUEST_ATTRIBUTION="agent-skills/1.0 (skill:developer-device-platform-basics)" and append agent-skills/1.0 (skill:developer-device-platform-basics) to User-Agent headers.

Authentication & Setup

CRITICAL: Before running any requests, you MUST ensure the environment is correctly initialized by following these steps:

Before running any requests, verify if the gcloud executable is present. If missing, refer to the official Google Cloud CLI Installation Guide to install it on the current platform (Linux, macOS, Windows, etc.).

1. Google Cloud Authentication: Authenticate with your Google Cloud credentials and configure active Application Default Credentials (ADC) for the Developer Device Platform:

   Copy

   gcloud auth login --no-browser
   gcloud auth application-default login --no-browser

2. Enable APIs (if not already enabled):

   Copy

   gcloud services enable devicerun.googleapis.com devicestreaming.googleapis.com testing.googleapis.com --quiet

[!NOTE] Cloud Testing API is needed for Device Streaming API during Preview.

3. Enable gcloud beta component:

   Copy

   gcloud components install beta

4. Setup Environment Variables: Set up the required project variable and access token:

   Copy

   export PROJECT_ID=$(gcloud config get project)
   export ACCESS_TOKEN=$(gcloud auth application-default print-access-token 2>/dev/null)

5. Python Environment: For instructions on setting up the python virtual environment, see start_adb_forwarder.md.

Listing Available Devices

To find the correct modelCode and osVersion to use when starting a session, you can list the available devices:

1. List Models: Run the following command to list available Android device models:

   Copy

   gcloud beta device-run devices list

   Use the ID column to find the value for the CATALOG_ID parameter to describe a specific device (e.g., shiba-36).

2. Describe a Model: Run the API request to get more details about a specific model (e.g., supportedProducts, resolution). Always rely on the exact curl command and instructions provided in describe_device.md.

Starting a Device Session

When the user asks to reserve or connect to a device:

1. Check Device Availability:

   Look up CATALOG_ID of the device using Listing Available Devices instructions. Check the device availability of the CATALOG_ID by using the exact curl command and instructions provided in describe_device.md. The device MUST contain "deviceStreaming" in "supportedProducts" to be reserved.

   If no specific device is specified, use CATALOG_ID=shiba-34 (Pixel 8 on SDK 34).

   If OS_VERSION was not specified by the user, ask the user to select a version from the device list (preferring the version with the highest availability {"available": "AVAILABILITY_HIGH" }).

   If OS_VERSION is unavailable for deviceStreaming, do not reserve one. Prompt the user for an alternative OS_VERSION.

2. Extract Parameters:

   • model_id: modelCode from device details. Required.

   • version_id: osVersion from device details. Required.

3. Reserve Device:

   Rule: Explicit User Confirmation Required. Reserving a device incurs billing charges and creates cloud resources. The agent MUST ALWAYS warn the user explicitly about the billing costs that will be incurred on the active Google Cloud project (e.g., ${PROJECT_ID}). You MUST STOP and ask for explicit approval before proceeding with any session creation commands.

   Then, run the API request with model_id and version_id to reserve the device. Always rely on the exact curl command and instructions provided in reserve_device.md.

   Parse the response to get session_name (the session name, e.g., projects/${PROJECT_ID}/deviceSessions/session-xxxxxx). If reservation fails, report the error.

4. Wait for Session to be Active:

   While waiting for the device session to be provisioned, poll the session status until "state" is "ACTIVE". See session_status.md for the exact curl command.

   Repeat this check every 5 seconds to prevent hitting API rate limit. If it does not become active within 2 minutes (typically under 1 minute), report failure and cancel the session. Once active, extract expireTime from the session JSON response and convert it to the user's local time in a human-readable format (e.g., "June 9, 2026 at 2:44 PM PDT").

5. Start Connection Forwarder: Start the ADB forwarder script to forward connection to the remote device. Always rely on the exact command and instructions provided in start_adb_forwarder.md. Ensure you record the Command ID.

6. Wait for Online and Parse Port: Wait for the forwarder to be online and extract the listening port. Always rely on the exact logic and instructions provided in start_adb_forwarder.md.

7. Provide Instructions to User:

   Once online, run adb -s localhost:{port} shell getprop ro.product.model to retrieve the device model name. Then, print a message directly to the user in the chat (do NOT create any artifact file) with the following instructions:

   Device is ready!

   Copy

   Device Model: {device_model}
   OS Version: {version_id}
   ADB Address: localhost:{port}
   Session Expiration: {expire_time_human_readable_local}

8. Save Session State: Save the {session_name} and {command_id} in your conversation memory/context so you can clean it up later.

Viewing the Device Screen of a Reserved Device

The coding agent can directly interact with the remote device using adb. Users may use a utility to display the screen and manually control the reserved device in DDP. See view_device.md for an example utility.

Stopping a Device Session

When the user asks to stop, cleanup, or release the device:

1. Identify Session: Retrieve the active {session_name} and {command_id} from your context. If you don't have them, list active sessions first (see helper command below) to find the session name.

2. Cancel Session via API: Cancel the session via the API. Always rely on the exact curl command and instructions provided in cancel_session.md.

3. Terminate Connection Forwarder: Terminate the background process matching {command_id} using your environment's process management capability.

4. Confirm: Confirm to the user that the session has been cancelled and resources released.

Change Device Session Expiration Time

When the user asks to change the expiration time of an active device session:

Rule: Explicit User Confirmation Required. Extending a device session incurs additional billing charges and creates cloud resources. The agent MUST ALWAYS warn the user explicitly about the extra billing costs that will be incurred on the active Google Cloud project (e.g., ${PROJECT_ID}). You MUST STOP and ask for explicit approval before proceeding with any session extension commands.

1. Extract Parameters:

   • session_name: The active session name.

   • ttl: The new remaining duration (e.g., 3600s). Derive the ttl if it's provided in another format.

2. Change Session via API: Change the session via the API using updateMask=ttl. Always rely on the exact curl commands and instructions provided in update_session_expiration.md.

3. Restart Connection Forwarder:

   • Run adb disconnect localhost:{port} to ensure the old forwarder connection is closed.

   • Stop the old connection forwarder corresponding to {command_id}.

   • Start a new connection forwarder by following Step 5 in "Starting a Device Session" (calculating the new --ttl duration in seconds and storing the newly returned Command ID).

4. Confirm: Confirm to the user that the session duration has been updated and the connection forwarder has been restarted with the new TTL.

Helper: List Active Sessions

To find active sessions if you lost context, always rely on the curl command and instructions provided in list_sessions.md.

References

• gcloud device-run CLI

• Device Streaming API

• describe_device.md

• reserve_device.md

• session_status.md

• start_adb_forwarder.md

• view_device.md

• cancel_session.md

• update_session_expiration.md

• list_sessions.md