Appium Android Setup Proof

Goal

Prove the smallest honest Android browser-mobile setup with local open-source tools.

What Was True Before

• no adb
• no appium
• no working Android browser transport proof
• Playwright _android could see the emulator only after setup, but launchBrowser() still hung

What Landed

• installed adb through Homebrew android-platform-tools
• installed appium
• installed Appium uiautomator2 driver
• used a connected emulator:
  • emulator-5554
  • Android 16
  • Chrome installed
• enabled Appium Chromedriver autodownload with:
  • uiautomator2:chromedriver_autodownload
• proved Android Chrome session creation and navigation to the local Slate placeholder example

Exact Proof

The proof path now works with local open-source tooling:

1. start Appium with:
   • ANDROID_HOME
   • ANDROID_SDK_ROOT
   • uiautomator2:chromedriver_autodownload
2. create Chrome session on emulator
3. navigate to:
   • http://10.0.2.2:3100/examples/placeholder?debug=1
4. read back:
   • page title
   • page source excerpt

Added Operator Surface

In /Users/zbeyens/git/slate-v2:

• pnpm proof:appium:android:local

Required local setup captured by the proof:

• Homebrew android-platform-tools
• global appium
• Appium uiautomator2 driver
• exported ANDROID_HOME and ANDROID_SDK_ROOT
• Appium server flag: uiautomator2:chromedriver_autodownload

Additional packaged behavior probes now exist:

• pnpm proof:appium:android:placeholder-input:local
• pnpm proof:appium:android:inline-edge-input:local
• pnpm proof:appium:android:void-edge-input:local

Current Take

This is enough to say:

• Android browser-mobile setup is real locally
• Appium is a viable Android browser transport here
• it is stronger than the old “manual only” story

It is not yet enough to say:

• full Android IME/browser parity is closed
• Appium assertions are integrated into slate-browser
• Playwright Android is the winner

Comparative Read

• Playwright _android can see the emulator, which is good
• launchBrowser() still hangs here, which is bad
• Appium got to a real Chrome session and local Slate page

So the honest winner for this environment today is:

• Appium for Android browser-mobile setup proof

Next Honest Step

Use this proof to decide whether the next Android tranche should:

1. build a narrow Appium-backed proof lane first
2. keep Playwright Android as a follow-up investigation

Follow-On Finding

The first narrow Appium behavior spike is now possible and reveals a real problem instead of just setup success:

• Appium can click the Slate textbox
• Appium can send text input
• Appium can read the debug overlay back through execute/sync
• but the placeholder path is unstable and not trustworthy yet:
  • one direct shell probe committed: sushiType somethingSlate placeholder IME proof surface
  • the packaged proof path later showed:
    • empty blockTexts
    • no event trail
    • no Slate selection
  • Appium mobile: type also left the debug overlay unchanged
  • adb shell input text sushi after focusing the textbox also left the debug overlay unchanged
  • targeting [data-slate-zero-width="n"] instead of the textbox still produced polluted placeholder text
  • the command now fails loudly on that condition

Rerunning the packaged proof against the current shared proof-core now gives a clean placeholder commit/readback, and the same upgraded runner also closes the next two edge rows:

• blockTexts is sushi
• placeholderShape is null
• slateSelection is 0.0:5|0.0:5
• beforeinput:insertText:* events are present through the full sushi burst

That means Appium is now a green Android proof lane on the emulator Chrome row for:

• placeholder input
• inline-edge input
• void-edge input

The reusable primitive that unlocked inline-edge and void-edge is:

• click the editor root
• execute a DOM-selection collapse onto the leading zero-width text leaf
• then send text input and read back the debug overlay

It does not yet close every broader Android composition/diff/flush concern that the legacy Android manager handled.