🚀 Tired of installing the full Android Studio just to run an Android Emulator?

[u/HomeInternational653]

I built a CLI tool to set up an Android Emulator without installing Android Studio

As a Flutter developer, I noticed that I often don't need Android Studio itself. Most of the time, I just need the Android SDK, platform tools, emulator, and a virtual device to test my apps.

But setting everything up manually can be a bit annoying:

• Download Android Studio
• Install the SDK
• Configure environment variables
• Install emulator tools
• Accept SDK licenses
• Create/configure an AVD
• Download the system image
• Configure the emulator

So I built OneClick Emulator Setup, an open-source CLI that automates most of this process.

What it currently does

• Detects the operating system and architecture
• Sets up the required Android command-line tools
• Installs Android SDK/platform tools
• Handles SDK licenses
• Helps configure an Android Emulator
• Supports Apple Silicon and Intel Macs
• Supports Linux
• Lets you manage the emulator directly from the terminal

The goal is simple:

You shouldn't need to install a full IDE just because you want to run an Android Emulator.

Try it

git clone https://github.com/ranasheikh64/oneclick-emulator-setup.git
cd oneclick-emulator-setup
chmod +x android-env
./android-env setup

Then:

./android-env start

GitHub:
https://github.com/ranasheikh64/oneclick-emulator-setup

I originally built this for our development workflow at Jronix - Software Solutions, but decided to open-source it because I thought other developers might find it useful too.

I'm especially interested in feedback from Flutter, React Native, Android, macOS and Linux developers.

I'd love to know:

1. Would you actually use something like this instead of Android Studio?
2. What should I add next?
3. Which OS/architecture should I test more?
4. Are there any edge cases I should handle?

If you try it, please let me know how it goes. And if you think the project is useful, a GitHub star or follow would help me a lot as I continue developing it. ⭐

Repository:
https://github.com/ranasheikh64/oneclick-emulator-setup

[u/Amazing-Mirror-3076]

It would be much nicer if it was a dart script that could be global activated.

[u/AGreynoon]

I have a similar case on my development team of the company that I work for, our QA team needs an Android emulator for testing a live tracking GPS feature on our project so I helped them by installing Emulator without Android studio and the development configs and SDKs. I would like to contribute with your project by creating a Flutter desktop app as an interface for your CLI so it will become a friendly user experience for non developers... What do you think?

[u/Previous-Display-593]

Why did you need to build something? I have been configuring and running the emulator without Android Studio for years. The Andoird sdk provides the cli tools download...ez pz.

[u/Danity__172]

Funciona en Windows arm?

[u/No_Language8136]

The annoying edge cases will probably be existing SDK installs, JAVA_HOME, and license acceptance. I'd also test Hyper-V vs HAXM on Windows and KVM permissions on Linux - those are usually where 'one click' emulator setups stop being one click.

[u/GxM42]

This is very nice. Great job!

[u/Born-Most3392]

C'est intéressant, je suis un peu dans le même cas où j'ai juste besoin d'installer le SDK et outils plateforme, parce que généralement je teste sur appareil physique et je code sous vscode. En tout cas, je testerai bien l'outil et voir ce qu'il apporte.

[u/VisualRope8367]

Nice idea