🚀 sadb (Smart ADB)

sadb is a powerful wrapper for Android Debug Bridge (adb) that simplifies multi-device management and command automation.

✨ Key Features

• 📱 Smart Device Selection: Automatically prompts for device selection when multiple devices are connected. Supports fzf for fuzzy searching.
• ⚡ Batch Execution: Run a single command on ALL connected devices simultaneously.
• 🔗 Command Aliases: Define short aliases for complex adb commands (e.g., sadb alias log "logcat -v time").
• 🛠️ Custom Methods: Create powerful multi-line scripts combining adb and local shell commands with automatic device targeting.
• 🎯 Active Device Lock: Lock onto a specific device serial for the current session to skip selection prompts.
• 🎨 Modern UI: Beautifully formatted tables with status-based coloring and clear execution headers.

🚀 Installation

Manual Installation

1. Install the Script

Download the sadb script and set the execution permission:

# For system-wide install (requires sudo):
sudo curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/UncleBrook/sadb/main/sadb -o /usr/local/bin/sadb
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/sadb

# For user-only install (ensure ~/.local/bin is in your PATH):
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/UncleBrook/sadb/main/sadb -o ~/.local/bin/sadb
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/sadb

2. Install Shell Completion

Download the completion script and load it in your shell configuration:

For Bash:

1. Download the script:

   mkdir -p ~/.config/sadb
   curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/UncleBrook/sadb/main/sadb-completion.bash -o ~/.config/sadb/sadb-completion.bash

2. Add the following to your ~/.bashrc:

   [[ -f ~/.config/sadb/sadb-completion.bash ]] && source ~/.config/sadb/sadb-completion.bash

For Zsh:

1. Download the script:

   mkdir -p ~/.config/sadb
   curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/UncleBrook/sadb/main/sadb-completion.bash -o ~/.config/sadb/sadb-completion.bash

2. Add the following to your ~/.zshrc:

   autoload -Uz bashcompinit && bashcompinit
   source ~/.config/sadb/sadb-completion.bash

3. Add Alias (Recommended)

Add an alias to your shell configuration (~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc) to use sadb as a drop-in replacement for adb:

alias adb="sadb"

Quick Install (Automated)

If you prefer an automated setup, use the installation script which handles everything above for you:

curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/UncleBrook/sadb/main/install.sh | bash

🪟 Windows (WSL) Usage

sadb has been verified to work on WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) with the Windows adb.exe — you don't need a separate Linux build of adb inside WSL.

Prerequisites

• Windows 10/11 with WSL installed (WSL 1 or WSL 2)
• Windows Platform Tools (contains adb.exe)

Setup

1. Get Windows adb

Download Platform Tools for Windows and extract it to a folder such as C:\platform-tools.

2. Add adb.exe to the WSL PATH

Add the following line to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc inside WSL:

export PATH="$PATH:/mnt/c/platform-tools"

Adjust /mnt/c/platform-tools to match the actual location where you extracted Platform Tools (e.g. /mnt/d/tools/platform-tools).

Then reload your shell:

source ~/.bashrc    # or: source ~/.zshrc

3. Install sadb

Install sadb inside WSL using any Linux method above:

curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/UncleBrook/sadb/main/install.sh | bash

4. Verify

which adb       # should point to /mnt/c/platform-tools/adb.exe
sadb devices    # lists the devices connected through Windows

How It Works

• sadb invokes the Windows adb.exe, which talks to the adb server running on Windows, so USB devices are managed by Windows — no extra setup (usbipd, etc.) is needed inside WSL.
• sadb automatically strips the Windows CRLF line endings from adb.exe output, so device lists and serial numbers are always parsed correctly.

Tips

• Keep WSL and Windows on the same Platform Tools version.
• If the adb server is not running yet, run sadb start-server once to launch the Windows adb server.
• Instead of editing PATH, you can symlink adb.exe into your Linux PATH:

  sudo ln -s /mnt/c/platform-tools/adb.exe /usr/local/bin/adb

📖 Commands Reference

sadb supports all standard adb commands and adds several powerful management features.

🧩 Alias Management

The alias command allows you to manage short commands and complex methods.

Command	Description
sadb alias -l -s [mode]	List and sort aliases/methods (a|alpha, r|reverse, l|length)
sadb alias -r <key>	Remove a specific alias or method
sadb alias -h, --help	Display detailed help for the alias command
sadb alias <key> <value>	Add or update a command alias
sadb alias.<key> <value>	Shorthand to add a command alias
sadb alias <key>	Show the definition of a specific alias

🎯 Active Device Control

Set an active device for the current terminal session only. This avoids selection prompts without affecting other windows.

Command	Description
sadb active	Trigger interactive selection (or auto-select if only one device is connected)
sadb active <serial>	Lock the current session to a specific device serial
sadb active -d	Unlock and return to interactive selection mode
sadb active -h	Display detailed help for the active command

📱 Beautified Device List

sadb provides a modern, color-coded table for listing devices. Active devices for the current session are highlighted in yellow.

Command	Description
sadb devices	List connected devices in a beautified table and highlight the active device

⚙️ Standard ADB Passthrough

Commands like start-server, kill-server, connect, pair, version, etc., are passed directly to the original adb binary.

💡 Usage Examples

Interactive Selection

If multiple devices are connected, simply run any adb command:

sadb shell

If fzf is installed, you can search and select your device instantly.

Active Device Management

sadb active          # Select a device to lock onto for this terminal session
sadb devices         # See the list with the active device highlighted
sadb active -d       # Unlock and return to interactive selection mode

Aliases

# Create an alias
sadb alias ws "wm size"

# Use it
sadb ws

Methods (Automation)

Define complex workflows in ~/.config/sadb/.alias:

# Example Method
my_workflow() {
    local scale=$1
    echo "Starting workflow..."
    adb shell settings put global window_animation_scale $scale
    adb shell settings put global transition_animation_scale $scale
    adb shell settings put global animator_duration_scale $scale
    echo "Workflow complete!"
}

sadb automatically injects ANDROID_SERIAL, so you don't need -s inside methods.

📋 Requirements

• Bash v4.0+ (Required for associative arrays)
• adb (Android SDK Platform-Tools)
• fzf (Optional, for better interactive experience)
• WSL + adb.exe (Optional, on Windows — see Windows (WSL) Usage)

🎥 Demo

📱 Smart Device Selection & Beautified List

🔗 Command Aliases & Methods

⚡ Interactive Usage & Execution

📄 License

This project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0.