turboadb 1.0.0

TurboADB — Android ADB + scrcpy device toolkit for automotive/embedded (Android Automotive OS / IVI) & general Android: Python API, CLI, and a full PyQt5 GUI.

TurboADB

One pip package for driving Android over ADB + scrcpy — a Python API, a full CLI, and a desktop GUI. Built for Android Automotive / IVI head units and regular phones alike.

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TurboADB wraps adb and scrcpy so you don't have to remember their flags. The same engine powers all three front-ends, so anything you can click in the GUI you can also script in Python or run as a one-line CLI command. It bundles its own adb/scrcpy (downloaded on first run), works against devices on another machine's adb server (handy over RDP / in a lab), and knows the quirks of Android Automotive head units.

Contents

• What you get
• Install
• Three ways to use it
• Features
  • Interactive shell · Live logcat · File browser · App manager
  • Device controls · Screen mirroring (scrcpy) · Screenshots & recording
  • Phone / telephony · Root & mount
  • Remote devices over the network · Share this PC's devices (serve) · Deploy serve to remote hosts
  • Auto-update
• CLI reference
• Python API
• Notes for Android Automotive / IVI
• Building from source
• License

What you get

Interactive shell	A real adb shell terminal with history, tab-completion, copy/paste, and a Stop button that actually kills a runaway command.
Live logcat	Level/tag/regex filtering, pause, and a complete save — never drops lines under a flood, even over RDP.
File browser	Browse the device filesystem, push/pull files.
App manager	List, install (incl. split APKs), uninstall, clear data, start/stop.
Device controls	Keys, media, Wi-Fi/BT/airplane/hotspot, screen on/off, brightness, app launchers, an on-screen keyboard.
Mirroring	scrcpy in a separate window or embedded, with a compatibility mode for IVI units.
Capture	Screenshots and screen recording.
Telephony	Dial, call, answer/end, call log, SMS.
Root / mount	root/unroot, remount, mount rw, disable/enable verity.
Remote	Drive devices plugged into another PC over its adb server.
Serve + deploy	Share this PC's devices, or push serve onto remote Windows hosts over WinRM.

Install

pip install turboadb

That's everything — the CLI, the Python API, and the bundled GUI executable. On first run TurboADB downloads adb and scrcpy into ~/.turboadb/tools for you.

If you want to run the GUI from source instead of the bundled exe (e.g. on an ARM host where there's no exe), add PyQt5:

pip install "turboadb[gui]"      # GUI from source
pip install "turboadb[winrm]"    # remote 'serve' deploy over WinRM
pip install "turboadb[all]"      # both

No Python? Grab the standalone Windows GUI from the GitHub Releases page and double-click it.

Three ways to use it

GUI — turboadb-gui (a desktop shortcut is created on first launch):

turboadb-gui

CLI — fully argument-driven, one device action per command:

turboadb devices
turboadb -s SERIAL shell -- getprop ro.build.version.release
turboadb -s SERIAL install app.apk --grant
turboadb -s SERIAL screenshot shot.png

Python — the same engine, for test frameworks and scripts:

from turboadb import ADBHandler, ADBConfig

dev = ADBHandler(ADBConfig(serial="SERIAL"))
dev.connect()
print(dev.shell("getprop ro.product.model").stdout)
dev.install("app.apk", grant_perms=True)
dev.screenshot("shot.png")

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Interactive shell

A proper terminal, not a one-shot. You type into it, history works, Tab completes commands and paths, and selection/copy/paste behave like any console. Because it runs without a pseudo-terminal (which keeps typing reliable on Windows), a flooding command like logcat can't be stopped with Ctrl+C alone — so there's a Stop button (and a smart Ctrl+C) that tears the shell down, kills the device-side process, and reopens instantly, keeping your working directory. A bare ls is shown in columns like a real terminal would.

CLI equivalent: turboadb -s SERIAL shell -- <command>.

Live logcat

Filter by level, tag, or live regex; pause and resume; clear. Under a flood (especially over a slow/RDP link) the on-screen view drops lines to stay responsive, but every line is archived to disk so a Save writes the complete log, not just what's on screen. Saved files are timestamped .log files.

CLI: turboadb -s SERIAL logcat --tag ActivityManager --match "ANR|FATAL" --save boot.log.

File browser

Browse the device filesystem in a tree, and push/pull files. CLI: turboadb -s SERIAL push local.apk /data/local/tmp/ and turboadb -s SERIAL pull /sdcard/log.txt ..

App manager

List installed packages (filter third-party/system), install single or split APKs (with --grant to grant all permissions), uninstall, clear app data, and force-start/stop. CLI: packages, install, uninstall, clear, start, stop.

Device controls

A panel of one-click actions, every one of which is also a CLI command:

• System keys — back, home, recents, power, notifications
• Media — volume up/down/mute, prev/play-pause/next
• Connectivity — Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, airplane, hotspot (on/off)
• Screen & power — screen on/off, open Settings, reboot
• Apps & web — open a URL, web search, browser/YouTube/Maps/Store/Gallery/Camera/Calculator
• Keyboard — type text into the focused field, plus Enter/Backspace/Tab/Esc/Search

Screen mirroring (scrcpy)

Mirror in a separate window or embedded in the tab. A compatibility mode (software decode, forced tunnel host/port, UHID keyboard) handles IVI units that choke on the defaults, and it works through a remote adb server too. Pick a specific display on multi-display head units. CLI: turboadb -s SERIAL scrcpy --max-size 1280 --bit-rate 8M.

Screenshots & recording

One-click PNG screenshot and screen recording (device-side screenrecord, pulled back when you stop — works over RDP without a video tunnel). CLI: turboadb -s SERIAL screenshot shot.png and turboadb -s SERIAL record clip.mp4 --time-limit 20.

Phone / telephony

Open the dialer, place/answer/end calls, read the call log, list SMS, and compose a message. Useful on IVI units with telephony. CLI: dial, call, end-call, answer, call-log, sms, send-sms.

Root & mount

For rooted/engineering builds: root / unroot, remount, mount-rw (mount -o remount,rw /), and disable-verity / enable-verity (which sync and offer the required reboot).

Remote devices over the network

You don't need the device plugged into your own machine. Point TurboADB at another PC's adb server and drive whatever is connected there — exactly what you want when the unit lives in a lab and you reach it over RDP.

# list and drive devices on another machine's adb server
turboadb --adb-host lab-pc-01 --adb-port 5037 devices
turboadb --adb-host lab-pc-01 -s DEVICE shell -- pm list packages

dev = ADBHandler(ADBConfig(adb_server_host="lab-pc-01", adb_server_port=5037,
                           serial="DEVICE"))

For that to work, the machine with the device has to share its adb server — see next.

Share this PC's devices (serve)

Turn the machine a device is plugged into a host that others can reach:

turboadb serve --startup-task

This starts an adb server on all interfaces, opens the firewall (5037 + scrcpy's 27184), and registers a SYSTEM startup task so it keeps sharing headlessly across reboots. In the GUI it's the ADB Server ▸ Share this PC's devices option.

Deploy serve to remote hosts

You can also push serve onto remote Windows hosts from your machine, without logging into each one, over WinRM:

turboadb deploy-serve lab-pc-01 lab-pc-02 -u "DOMAIN\user"
turboadb deploy-serve lab-pc-01 -u "DOMAIN\user" --test   # just check WinRM first

In the GUI this is the ADB Server button: enter the host(s) + admin credentials, Test connection, Deploy. It uses pywinrm with NTLM, so it works with domain credentials over plain WinRM. Each target needs WinRM enabled (Enable-PSRemoting -Force once), Python + turboadb installed, and your account a local admin.

Auto-update

The GUI's Upgrade button checks PyPI for a newer TurboADB; if there is one it updates via pip, refreshes adb/scrcpy, and restarts into the new version. From the CLI: turboadb self-update. Tools-only refresh: turboadb upgrade-tools.

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CLI reference

turboadb -h lists everything; turboadb <command> -h details one. Most read commands take --json for machine-readable output. Target a device with -s SERIAL (or -s host:port); add --adb-host HOST to use a remote adb server.

devices  info  shell  logcat  logcat-clear  push  pull  install  uninstall
packages  clear  start  stop  screenshot  record  forward  reverse  scrcpy
connect  disconnect  pair  tcpip  reboot  root  unroot  remount  mount-rw
disable-verity  enable-verity  key  text  scroll  tap  media  brightness
wifi  bluetooth  airplane  hotspot  screen  settings  open  search  camera
gallery  calculator  close-apps  battery  build-info  dial  call  end-call
answer  call-log  sms  send-sms  serve  deploy-serve  doctor  fetch-tools
upgrade-tools  self-update  shortcut  gui

Python API

from turboadb import ADBHandler, ADBConfig

dev = ADBHandler(ADBConfig(serial="SERIAL"))
dev.connect()

dev.set_wifi(True)
dev.keyevent("home")
dev.media("play-pause")
dev.set_hotspot(True)
dev.screen_off()
info = dev.device_info()          # manufacturer, model, android_version, automotive…
for line in dev.logcat(tag="ActivityManager", match="ANR"):
    print(line)
dev.reboot()

Results are small dataclasses (CommandResult, TransferResult, …) with .ok, .stdout, .exit_code, etc. In "safe" mode (used by the GUI) calls return an OperationResult instead of raising. See examples/examples.py and ARCHITECTURE.md.

Notes for Android Automotive / IVI

• device_info() flags automotive so the GUI adapts (e.g. the mirror label).
• Mirroring: use compatibility mode if the default scrcpy fails.
• bootloader / sideload reboots are gated behind an extra warning — many head units have no on-screen recovery UI and can get stuck.
• Apps like Calculator/Camera/Play Store are often absent; launchers fall back gracefully and the log says when nothing happened.
• Hotspot can't always be toggled purely via adb (uid permissions) — TurboADB tries cmd wifi, then falls back to opening the tethering settings.

Building from source

git clone <your-repo-url> turboadb && cd turboadb
pip install -r requirements.txt
python -m turboadb.gui            # run the GUI from source
python scripts/build_exe.py       # rebuild the bundled Windows exe
python tests/test_offline.py      # offline checks

See ARCHITECTURE.md for how the pieces fit together and CHANGELOG.md for release notes.

License

MIT.