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mobile-device-mcp

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MCP server for AI-powered mobile device control — 26 tools for screenshots, UI inspection, touch interaction, and AI visual analysis. Supports Anthropic Claude & Google Gemini.

3 stars TypeScriptOthers Updated Jul 16, 2026

Documentation

mobile-device-mcp

MCP server that gives AI coding assistants (Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf) the ability to see and interact with mobile devices. 49 tools for screenshots, UI inspection, touch interaction, AI-powered visual analysis, Flutter widget tree inspection, video recording, and test generation.

> AI assistants can read your code but can't see your phone. This fixes that.

Why This One?

Featuremobile-device-mcpmobile-next/mobile-mcpappium/appium-mcp
Total tools4920~15
Setup`npx` (30 sec)`npx`Requires Appium server
AI visual analysis12 tools (Claude + Gemini)NoneVision-based finding
Flutter widget tree10 tools (Dart VM Service)NoneNone
Smart element finding4-tier (28KB)None50-80%
Multi-provider AIClaude + GeminiN/ASingle provider
PriceFree + Pro (₹499/mo)FreeFree

The Problem

Web developers have browser DevTools, Playwright, and Puppeteer -- AI assistants can click around, take screenshots, and verify fixes. Mobile developers? They're stuck manually screenshotting, copying logs, and describing what's on screen. They're human middleware between the AI and the device.

What This Does

code
Developer: "The login button doesn't work"

Without this tool:                    With this tool:
  1. Manually screenshot              1. AI calls take_screenshot -> sees the screen
  2. Paste into AI chat               2. AI calls smart_tap("login button") -> taps it
  3. AI guesses what's wrong          3. AI calls verify_screen("error message shown") -> sees result
  4. Apply fix, rebuild               4. AI calls visual_diff -> confirms fix worked
  5. Repeat 4-5 times                 5. Done.

Quick Start

Install

bash
npx mobile-device-mcp

No global install needed. Runs directly via npx.

Prerequisites

Setup (One-time, 30 seconds)

1. Get a Google AI key (free tier available): aistudio.google.com/apikey

2. Add `.mcp.json` to your project root:

macOS / Linux:

json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mobile-device": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mobile-device-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "GOOGLE_API_KEY": "your-google-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Windows:

json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mobile-device": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "cmd",
      "args": ["/c", "npx", "-y", "mobile-device-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "GOOGLE_API_KEY": "your-google-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

With Pro license key (after purchasing Pro):

macOS / Linux (Pro)

json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mobile-device": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mobile-device-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "GOOGLE_API_KEY": "your-google-api-key",
        "MOBILE_MCP_LICENSE_KEY": "MDMCP-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX"
      }
    }
  }
}

Windows (Pro)

json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mobile-device": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "cmd",
      "args": ["/c", "npx", "-y", "mobile-device-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "GOOGLE_API_KEY": "your-google-api-key",
        "MOBILE_MCP_LICENSE_KEY": "MDMCP-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX"
      }
    }
  }
}

3. Open your AI coding assistant from that directory. That's it.

The server starts and stops automatically -- you never run it manually. Your AI assistant manages it as a background process via the MCP protocol.

Verify It Works

Claude Code: type `/mcp` -- you should see `mobile-device: Connected`

Cursor: check MCP panel in settings

Then just talk to your phone:

code
You: "Open my app, tap the login button, type test@email.com in the email field"
AI:  [takes screenshot -> sees the screen -> smart_tap("login button") -> smart_type("email field", "test@email.com")]

You: "Find all the bugs on this screen"
AI:  [analyze_screen -> inspects layout, checks for overflow, missing labels, broken states]

You: "Navigate to settings and verify dark mode works"
AI:  [smart_tap("settings") -> take_screenshot -> smart_tap("dark mode toggle") -> visual_diff -> reports result]

No test scripts. No manual screenshots. Just describe what you want in plain English.

Works with Any AI Coding Assistant

ToolConfig fileDocs
Claude Code`.mcp.json` in project rootclaude.ai/docs
Cursor`.cursor/mcp.json`cursor.com/docs
VS Code + CopilotMCP settingscode.visualstudio.com
WindsurfMCP settingswindsurf.com

All use the same JSON config -- just put it in the right file for your editor.

Drop Into Any Project

Copy `.mcp.json` into any mobile project -- Flutter, React Native, Kotlin, Swift -- and your AI assistant gets device superpowers in that directory. No global install needed.

Free vs Pro

Free (14 tools) -- no license key needed

ToolWhat it does
`list_devices`List all connected Android devices/emulators
`get_device_info`Model, manufacturer, Android version, SDK level
`get_screen_size`Screen resolution in pixels
`take_screenshot`Capture screenshot (PNG or JPEG, configurable quality & resize)
`get_ui_elements`Get the accessibility/UI element tree as structured JSON
`tap`Tap at coordinates
`double_tap`Double tap at coordinates
`long_press`Long press at coordinates
`swipe`Swipe between two points
`type_text`Type text into the focused field
`press_key`Press a key (home, back, enter, volume, etc.)
`list_apps`List installed apps
`get_current_app`Get the foreground app
`get_logs`Get logcat entries with filtering

Pro (35 additional tools) -- ₹499/mo

**Get Pro License** -- unlock all 49 tools. After payment, you'll receive your license key via email within 1 hour. Add it to your `.mcp.json`:

json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mobile-device": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mobile-device-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "GOOGLE_API_KEY": "your-google-api-key",
        "MOBILE_MCP_LICENSE_KEY": "your-license-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

AI Visual Analysis (12 tools)

Use AI vision (Claude or Gemini) to understand what's on screen.

ToolWhat it does
`analyze_screen`AI describes the screen: app name, screen type, interactive elements, visible text, suggestions
`find_element`Find a UI element by description: *"the login button"*, *"email input field"*
`smart_tap`Find an element by description and tap it in one step
`smart_type`Find an input field by description, focus it, and type text
`suggest_actions`Plan actions to achieve a goal: *"log into the app"*, *"add item to cart"*
`visual_diff`Compare current screen with a previous screenshot -- what changed?
`extract_text`Extract all visible text from the screen (AI-powered OCR)
`verify_screen`Verify an assertion: *"the login was successful"*, *"error message is showing"*
`wait_for_settle`Wait until the screen stops changing
`wait_for_element`Wait for a specific element to appear on screen
`handle_popup`Detect and dismiss popups, dialogs, permission prompts
`fill_form`Fill multiple form fields in one step

Flutter Widget Tree (10 tools)

Connect to running Flutter apps via Dart VM Service Protocol. Maps every widget to its source code location (`file:line`).

ToolWhat it does
`flutter_connect`Discover and connect to a running Flutter app on the device
`flutter_disconnect`Disconnect from the Flutter app and clean up resources
`flutter_get_widget_tree`Get the full widget tree (summary or detailed)
`flutter_get_widget_details`Get detailed properties of a specific widget by ID
`flutter_find_widget`Search the widget tree by type, text, or description
`flutter_get_source_map`Map every widget to its source code location (file:line:column)
`flutter_screenshot_widget`Screenshot a specific widget in isolation
`flutter_debug_paint`Toggle debug paint overlay (shows widget boundaries & padding)
`flutter_hot_reload`Hot reload Flutter app (preserves state)
`flutter_hot_restart`Hot restart Flutter app (resets state)

iOS Simulator (4 tools)

macOS only. Control iOS simulators via `xcrun simctl`.

ToolWhat it does
`ios_list_simulators`List available iOS simulators
`ios_boot_simulator`Boot a simulator by name or UDID
`ios_shutdown_simulator`Shut down a running simulator
`ios_screenshot`Take a screenshot of a simulator

Video Recording (2 tools)

ToolWhat it does
`record_screen`Start recording the device screen
`stop_recording`Stop recording and save the video

Test Generation (3 tools)

ToolWhat it does
`start_test_recording`Start recording your MCP tool calls
`stop_test_recording`Stop recording and generate a test script
`get_recorded_actions`Get recorded actions as TypeScript, Python, or JSON

App Management (4 tools)

ToolWhat it does
`launch_app`Launch an app by package name
`stop_app`Force stop an app
`install_app`Install an APK
`uninstall_app`Uninstall an app

Performance

The server is optimized to minimize latency and AI token costs:

  • 4-tier element search: companion app (instant) -> local text match ( cached AI -> fresh AI. `smart_tap` is 35x faster than naive AI calls (205ms vs 7.6s).
  • Companion app: AccessibilityService-based Android app provides UI tree in 105ms (23x faster than UIAutomator's 2448ms). Auto-installs on first use.
  • Screenshot compression: AI tools auto-compress to JPEG q=60, 400w -- 89% smaller (251KB -> 28KB) with zero AI quality loss.
  • Parallel capture: Screenshot + UI tree fetched simultaneously via `Promise.all()`.
  • TTL caching: 5-second cache avoids redundant ADB calls for rapid-fire tool usage.

Environment Variables

VariableDescriptionDefault
`GOOGLE_API_KEY` or `GEMINI_API_KEY`Google API key for Gemini vision (recommended)--
`ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`Anthropic API key for Claude vision--
`MOBILE_MCP_LICENSE_KEY`License key to unlock Pro tools--
`MCP_AI_PROVIDER`Force AI provider: `"anthropic"` or `"google"`Auto-detected
`MCP_AI_MODEL`Override AI model`gemini-2.5-flash` / `claude-sonnet-4-20250514`
`MCP_ADB_PATH`Custom ADB binary pathAuto-discovered
`MCP_DEFAULT_DEVICE`Default device serialAuto-discovered
`MCP_SCREENSHOT_FORMAT``"png"` or `"jpeg"``jpeg`
`MCP_SCREENSHOT_QUALITY`JPEG quality (1-100)`80`
`MCP_SCREENSHOT_MAX_WIDTH`Resize screenshots to this max width`720`

Architecture

code
src/
|-- index.ts              # CLI entry point (auto-discovery, env config)
|-- server.ts             # MCP server factory
|-- license.ts            # License validation and tier gating
|-- types.ts              # Shared interfaces
|-- drivers/android/      # ADB driver (DeviceDriver implementation)
|   |-- adb.ts            # Low-level ADB command wrapper
|   |-- companion-client.ts # TCP client for companion app
|   +-- index.ts          # AndroidDriver class (4-strategy UI element retrieval)
|-- drivers/flutter/      # Dart VM Service driver
|   |-- index.ts          # FlutterDriver (discovery, inspection, source mapping, hot reload)
|   +-- vm-service.ts     # JSON-RPC 2.0 WebSocket client (DDS redirect handling)
|-- drivers/ios/          # iOS Simulator driver (macOS only)
|   |-- index.ts          # IOSSimulatorDriver via xcrun simctl
|   +-- simctl.ts         # Low-level simctl command wrapper
|-- tools/                # MCP tool registrations (free + pro gating)
|   |-- device-tools.ts   # Device management
|   |-- screen-tools.ts   # Screenshots & UI inspection
|   |-- interaction-tools.ts # Touch, type, keys
|   |-- app-tools.ts      # App management
|   |-- log-tools.ts      # Logcat
|   |-- ai-tools.ts       # AI-powered tools
|   |-- flutter-tools.ts  # Flutter widget inspection
|   |-- ios-tools.ts      # iOS simulator tools
|   |-- video-tools.ts    # Screen recording
|   +-- recording-tools.ts # Test generation
|-- recording/            # Test script generation
|   |-- recorder.ts       # ActionRecorder (records MCP tool calls)
|   +-- generator.ts      # TestGenerator (TypeScript/Python/JSON output)
|-- ai/                   # AI visual analysis engine
|   |-- client.ts         # Multi-provider client (Anthropic + Google)
|   |-- prompts.ts        # System prompts & UI element summarizer
|   |-- analyzer.ts       # ScreenAnalyzer orchestrator (caching, parallel capture)
|   +-- element-search.ts # Local element search (text/alias matching, no AI needed)
+-- utils/
    |-- discovery.ts      # ADB auto-discovery
    +-- image.ts          # PNG parsing, JPEG compression, bilinear resize

companion-app/            # Android companion app (Kotlin)
                          # AccessibilityService + TCP JSON-RPC for fast UI tree

Roadmap

  • [ ] iOS physical device support
  • [ ] Multi-device orchestration
  • [ ] CI/CD integration
  • [ ] Cloud device farm support

Tested On

  • Devices: Pixel 8 (Android 16), Samsung Galaxy series, Android emulators
  • Apps: Telegram, Instagram, Spotify, WhatsApp, YouTube, Chrome, Settings, and Flutter apps
  • AI Providers: Google Gemini 2.5 Flash, Anthropic Claude
  • Platforms: Windows 11, macOS (iOS simulators)
  • Connection: USB and wireless ADB

License

Business Source License 1.1

  • Free for individuals and non-commercial use
  • Commercial use requires a paid license
  • Converts to Apache 2.0 on March 23, 2030

See LICENSE for full terms.

Frequently asked questions

What is mobile-device-mcp?

mobile-device-mcp is MCP server for AI-powered mobile device control — 26 tools for screenshots, UI inspection, touch interaction, and AI visual analysis. Supports Anthropic Claude & Google Gemini.

How do I install mobile-device-mcp?

Open the GitHub repository and follow its README. Most MCP servers are added to your client's MCP config, then called by your agent.

Is mobile-device-mcp open source?

Yes — it is hosted on GitHub at https://github.com/saranshbamania/mobile-device-mcp and has 3 stars.

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