wadb

Connect an Android 11+ device over ADB Wi-Fi by scanning a QR code from your terminal.

Same protocol as Android Studio's Pair device using Wi-Fi, but without launching the IDE — just run wadb, scan, done.

Install

Requires Go (see go.mod for the minimum version) and adb from Android platform-tools.

go install github.com/lindevhard/wadb@latest

Homebrew:

brew tap LinDevHard/tap
brew install wadb

Or build from a clone:

git clone https://github.com/LinDevHard/wadb && cd wadb
go build -o wadb .

Usage

wadb

A QR code prints in the terminal. On your phone open Settings → Developer options → Wireless debugging → Pair device with QR code and scan it. wadb will pair and connect automatically, then exit.

Both the phone and the host must be on the same Wi-Fi network (no AP isolation between clients), and Wireless debugging must be enabled in Developer options.

Useful diagnostics:

wadb doctor
wadb --verbose
wadb --pair-timeout 3m --connect-timeout 45s
wadb --adb /path/to/adb
wadb --pair-only
wadb --qr-ascii
WADB_ADB=/path/to/adb WADB_PAIR_ONLY=true wadb

doctor checks the local adb, starts the server, and prints mDNS services reported by adb mdns services. --verbose prints discovered mDNS entries during pairing.

Use --adb when you want to force a specific Android platform-tools install. Use --pair-only when pairing works but your device delays or hides the _adb-tls-connect._tcp announce; after it exits, connect manually with the host and port shown in Android's Wireless debugging screen. Use --qr-ascii if your terminal font or emulator renders the default compact QR poorly.

The same options can be set with environment variables: WADB_ADB, WADB_PAIR_ONLY, WADB_QR_ASCII, WADB_VERBOSE, WADB_PAIR_TIMEOUT, and WADB_CONNECT_TIMEOUT. CLI flags override environment values. Boolean variables accept values like true, false, 1, or 0; timeout variables use durations like 30s or 3m.

How it works

1. wadb locates the local adb binary.
2. It generates a single-use service name (studio-<random>) and password, then renders them as a QR code with payload WIFI:T:ADB;S:...;P:...;; — the same format Android Studio uses.
3. When the phone scans the QR, it advertises _adb-tls-pairing._tcp via mDNS. wadb matches the announce by instance name and runs adb pair.
4. After pairing succeeds, the phone advertises _adb-tls-connect._tcp. wadb tries connect endpoints from the same IP as the pairing announce first, then falls back to other discovered endpoints.
5. After a successful adb connect, wadb prints the result and, when available, the device name from Android system properties.

The actual TLS pairing handshake is handled by adb pair; wadb only orchestrates discovery and credential generation.

Background

For a deeper explanation of the ADB Wi-Fi pairing flow, mDNS discovery, and newer reconnect improvements, see the Android Makers/droidCon 2026 talk How ADB Wifi 2.0 works.

adb discovery

wadb searches for adb in this order and uses the first match:

1. $ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/adb
2. $ANDROID_SDK_ROOT/platform-tools/adb
3. ~/Library/Android/sdk/platform-tools/adb (macOS Android Studio default)
4. ~/Android/Sdk/platform-tools/adb (Linux default)
5. adb on $PATH (e.g. Homebrew android-platform-tools)
6. /opt/homebrew/share/android-commandlinetools/platform-tools/adb

If none match, set ANDROID_HOME or install platform-tools.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause
"did not see device announce within 2m"	Phone could not reach the host over mDNS. Check same Wi-Fi subnet, no AP isolation, firewall not blocking UDP 5353.
adb pair fails immediately	Stale daemon. Run adb kill-server and retry.
Connect timeout after a successful pair	Some Android builds delay the connect announce. Re-run wadb, or run adb connect <ip>:<port> manually once Wireless debugging shows the device's port.

Platform support

Platform	Status
macOS	Supported and tested.
Linux	Supported, expected to work as-is.
Windows	Experimental. adb discovery is partially implemented and unverified; use --adb or WADB_ADB to point at a known platform-tools install.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md and the Code of Conduct.

License

MIT