Installation | Droidline

Install the droidline server on Windows, macOS or Linux, install the app on the phone and turn on its permissions, then add the SDK for your language.

This page sets up everything once: the server on your PC, the app on your phone, and the library for the language you write in. It takes about fifteen minutes the first time. When you are done, go to the Quick start to pair the phone and send a command.

1. Install the server on your PC

The server is a single program called droidline. The same program is also the command-line tool you will use to pair phones and send commands.

Download the archive for your system from GitHub Releases. File names follow the pattern droidline_<version>_<system>_<cpu>; amd64 is for most PCs, arm64 is for Apple silicon Macs and ARM laptops. Each archive holds three programs:

Program	What it is for
`droidline`	The server and the command-line tool. This is the one you need.
`droidline-fakephone`	A simulated phone for trying Droidline without a real one.
`droidline-relay`	A relay you can run on your own server for phones on mobile data.

Download droidline_<version>_windows_amd64.zip (or windows_arm64 on an ARM laptop).
Right-click the file, choose Extract All, and extract it to a folder you will keep, for example C:\Tools\droidline.

Add that folder to your PATH, so that droidline works in any terminal. Open PowerShell and run:

$dir = "C:\Tools\droidline"
$old = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "User")
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "$old;$dir", "User")

Close the terminal, open a new one, and check:
```
droidline version
```
It prints droidline 0.1.0 or a newer version.

Download droidline_<version>_darwin_arm64.tar.gz for Apple silicon (M1 and later) or darwin_amd64 for Intel Macs.

Open Terminal in your Downloads folder, extract the archive and move the programs into ~/.local/bin:

tar -xzf droidline_*_darwin_arm64.tar.gz
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
mv droidline_*_darwin_arm64/droidline* ~/.local/bin/

The programs are not notarized by Apple yet, so macOS refuses to start them the first time. Clear the download flag once:
```
xattr -c ~/.local/bin/droidline ~/.local/bin/droidline-fakephone ~/.local/bin/droidline-relay
```
If ~/.local/bin is not on your PATH yet, add it and open a new Terminal window:
```
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc
```
Check:
```
droidline version
```

Download droidline_<version>_linux_amd64.tar.gz (or linux_arm64 on ARM boards and servers).

Extract it and move the programs into ~/.local/bin:

tar -xzf droidline_*_linux_amd64.tar.gz
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
mv droidline_*_linux_amd64/droidline* ~/.local/bin/

Most distributions already have ~/.local/bin on the PATH. If droidline version says "command not found", add it to your shell profile and open a new terminal:
```
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
```
Check:
```
droidline version
```

With Go 1.26 or later installed on any system:

go install github.com/KnifeLemon/Droidline/server/cmd/droidline@latest
go install github.com/KnifeLemon/Droidline/server/cmd/droidline-fakephone@latest

The programs land in Go's bin folder (go env GOPATH shows where it is, with /bin added). Make sure that folder is on your PATH, then check with droidline version.

2. Start the server

Open a terminal and run:

droidline serve

It prints where phones and your code connect, then waits:

Droidline 0.1.0 on MY-PC
  phones connect to   :8779 (TCP, TLS and WebSocket)
  your code connects  127.0.0.1:8780
  settings            C:\Users\you\AppData\Roaming\Droidline

No phone paired yet. In another terminal run: droidline pair

Leave this window open. The server only runs while it is open; to stop it, press Ctrl+C. To start it automatically, see Configuration.

3. Install the app on the phone

The app is not on Google Play. It is published as an APK file on the same release page, signed by the project.

On the phone, open GitHub Releases in the browser and download droidline-agent.apk.
Open the downloaded file. Android asks whether your browser may install apps; allow it for this install. After the app is installed you can turn that permission off again.
Open Droidline. It starts on the Setup tab, which lists every permission and shows which ones are still off.

4. Turn on the permissions

Each row on the Setup tab has a button that opens the right Android settings screen. Turn them on from top to bottom.

Permission	Needed for	Required
Accessibility service	Reading the screen, tapping, swiping and typing	Yes
Droidline keyboard	Key codes, typing into stubborn fields, reading the clipboard	Yes
Notifications	Showing the connection status	Yes
Battery optimization: Not restricted	Staying connected while the screen is off	Yes
Notification access	Notification events on the PC	Only if you use them
VPN permission	The per-app proxy	Only if you use it

The Droidline app on Android 13: the Setup tab with every permission on, the Pair tab after pairing, and the Status tab of a connected phone

Accessibility service

This is the permission that lets Droidline see the screen and act on it. Tap Open settings, find Droidline in the list (it may be under Installed apps or Downloaded apps), and turn it on.

Droidline keyboard

Droidline ships its own keyboard. It is used when a command sends a key such as Enter, when a text field ignores normal text input, and to read the clipboard. Tap Enable, turn on Droidline keyboard, then tap Select and choose it as the current keyboard.

You can still type yourself: the Droidline keyboard shows a Switch keyboard button that goes back to your usual keyboard. Commands that need it switch to it on their own.

Notifications and battery

Allow notifications so the app can show its connection status, and set battery optimization to Not restricted. Without the second one, many phones stop the connection a few minutes after the screen turns off.

When every required row says On, the phone is ready to pair.

5. Install the library for your language

Skip this step if you only want to use the command line. The droidline program you installed in step 1 already sends commands.

pip install droidline

npm install droidline

The Python package needs Python 3.9 or later and has no dependencies. The Node.js package needs Node.js 18 or later, ships ES modules and includes TypeScript types.

Use a virtual environment for Python

Installing into a project folder keeps Droidline apart from other Python projects:

python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\activate
pip install droidline

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install droidline

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install droidline

Other languages need no library: they talk to the server over HTTP or a plain socket.

6. Check the setup

With droidline serve still running, open a second terminal and run:

droidline doctor

settings: C:\Users\you\AppData\Roaming\Droidline
secrets:  Windows DPAPI (current user)

[ok  ] server answers on 127.0.0.1:8780
       version 0.1.0, agent port 8779, language en
[FAIL] 0 paired phone(s)
       pair one with: droidline pair
[ok  ] this PC has a private network address

The paired phone check fails until you pair one, which is the next step: Quick start.

Updating and removing

Server: download the new archive and replace the programs. Your settings and paired phones live in a separate folder and are kept.
App: install the new APK over the old one.
Libraries: pip install -U droidline or npm install droidline@latest.

To remove Droidline completely, delete the programs, uninstall the app, and delete the settings folder listed by droidline doctor.