Builds native binaries (APK for Android, .app bundle for iOS simulator) for the current Mob project.
Reads paths from mob.exs in the project root. If mob.exs is missing
or paths haven't been configured, prints instructions and exits.
OTP runtimes for Android and iOS are downloaded automatically from GitHub
and cached at ~/.mob/cache/ by MobDev.OtpDownloader.
mob.exs keys
:mob_dir— mob library repo (native C/ObjC/Swift source);must be the `:mob` dependency's directory:elixir_lib— Elixir stdlib lib dir:project_swift_sources— optional extra Swift sources compiled intothe iOS app module
Summary
Functions
Returns true when the Android build toolchain looks usable from the given project directory. Three signals must all be present
Builds native binaries for all platforms present in the project.
Runs Android Gradle build if android/ dir exists.
Runs the Mix-driven iOS pipeline (delegating native compile + link
to ios/build.zig for sim, ios/build_device.zig for device) when
ios/build.zig exists. devices: supplies the frozen target snapshot used
by mix mob.deploy; older direct callers may still use device:.
Everything the Android build does before Gradle runs: fetch the OTP runtime
per ABI, stage the ERTS helpers into jniLibs/, compile the app's native
library (jniLibs/<abi>/lib<app>.so, with every activated plugin's JNI and
NIF code linked in) and merge the plugins' manifest, Gradle, Kotlin, resource
and font contributions into android/. Needs no device.
Whether a native build run succeeded, given what it produced and what the user explicitly asked for.
iOS-flavoured counterpart to copy_project_python_wheels/1. Same
priv/python_wheels/ convention, same site-packages destination,
but skips any wheel directory containing a .so file at any depth.
Copy the TFLite frameworks (Core + CoreML + Metal) into the iOS app's
Frameworks/ dir so the .app bundle ships them. Called during iOS
app assembly when TFLite is enabled.
Copy the TFLite runtime library (libtensorflowlite_jni.so) into the
Android app's jniLibs/<abi>/ so the APK packager includes it. Called
during the Android assemble step when TFLite is enabled.
Returns the UDID of the sole connected physical iOS device, or nil. When exactly one physical device is connected, it can be used automatically. With zero or 2+ physical devices, returns nil.
True when the current project has :emlx in its dependency tree.
Mirrors pythonx_in_project?/1 — the trigger for downloading the MLX
bundle and adding -Dmlx_static=true to the iOS Zig build.
Generates the fallback entitlements plist that build_device.sh writes when
no ios/*.entitlements file is found in the project.
Decides what to do for the exqlite install step.
The project's directory for the sources mob_dev generates for an iOS
zig build (enif_keepalive.c, erl_errno_id_compat.c,
mob_plugin_bootstrap.swift): <Mix.Project.build_path/0>/mob_ios/<target>,
created if missing.
The bundle id every iOS build path stamps and signs with: mob.exs's
:ios_bundle_id when set, else :bundle_id.
Returns true when an iOS build is feasible: macOS host with xcrun
installed. Linux/Windows always returns false. Pure of side effects.
When --device <id> is given, narrow platforms to just the platform
the device lives on. Drops Android when the id resolves to an iOS
device (sim or physical), drops iOS otherwise.
Variant that takes an iOS-discovery function so tests (and other
callers that already have the device list in hand) can avoid the
network-bound IOS.list_devices/0 LAN scan.
Decide whether an adb install -r result forces a clean (uninstall + install)
reinstall.
Returns the OTP directory for the given Android ABI string.
Returns the OTP directory for the given Android ABI string.
Prepare otp_root/lib/<app>-<vsn>, removing every OTHER version of app
first, and return the path.
Regenerates every file derived from the activated plugins and checks them,
before anything is compiled or bundled. Shared by build_all/1 and the
release pipelines (MobDev.ReleaseAndroid.build_aab/1,
MobDev.Release.build_ipa/1), so a release never ships the plugin set of
whatever dev build last ran in the checkout (MOB-404).
Returns the PYTHON_APPLE_SUPPORT env entry list when Pythonx is in the
project, otherwise []. Kept public — mob.release and other release
paths still call into this when constructing distribution-mode envs.
Returns true when the user's project has a built :pythonx dependency.
The ABIs mix mob.release --android must build: every entry of the app's
Gradle abiFilters (all ABIs mob supports when unset), since Gradle packages
jniLibs/<abi>/lib<app>.so for each of them and an ABI left unbuilt would
ship a stale library. Errors when a filter names an ABI mob can't build.
Given the JSON-decoded xcrun simctl list devices booted -j result
and an optional device_id (full UDID or any case-insensitive
prefix of one), return the matching booted simulator's full UDID
or nil.
True if wheel_dir contains at least one .so file at any depth.
Used by copy_ios_safe_project_python_wheels/2 to detect
Android-only wheels.
Runs fun with a fresh output directory,
<System.tmp_dir!/0>/mob_<label>_<os pid>_<n>, and deletes it when fun
returns, raises, throws or exits. Returns what fun returns.
Writes a generated build source. Leaves the file alone when it already holds
content; otherwise writes a sibling temp file and renames it over path,
so a concurrent build sees the old file or the new one, never a partial one.
Functions
Returns true when the Android build toolchain looks usable from the given project directory. Three signals must all be present:
adbis on PATH (build needs it to install the APK after Gradle)<project_dir>/android/local.propertiesexists and setssdk.dir- The directory
sdk.dirpoints at exists on disk
Returns false otherwise so the deploy can skip Android cleanly instead of failing late inside Gradle. Pure of side effects.
Builds native binaries for all platforms present in the project.
Runs Android Gradle build if android/ dir exists.
Runs the Mix-driven iOS pipeline (delegating native compile + link
to ios/build.zig for sim, ios/build_device.zig for device) when
ios/build.zig exists. devices: supplies the frozen target snapshot used
by mix mob.deploy; older direct callers may still use device:.
@spec build_android_native(keyword(), keyword()) :: {:ok, %{required(String.t()) => Path.t()}} | {:error, String.t()}
Everything the Android build does before Gradle runs: fetch the OTP runtime
per ABI, stage the ERTS helpers into jniLibs/, compile the app's native
library (jniLibs/<abi>/lib<app>.so, with every activated plugin's JNI and
NIF code linked in) and merge the plugins' manifest, Gradle, Kotlin, resource
and font contributions into android/. Needs no device.
mix mob.deploy --native and mix mob.release --android both run it, so a
release links the same native code a dev build would instead of whatever
.so the last deploy left in jniLibs/ (MOB-404).
Options:
:abis— the ABIs to build, all of which must succeed (the release passes Gradle'sabiFilters, seerelease_android_abis/1). Without it, every ABI mob supports is built and one the app'sbuild.zigpredates is skipped with a warning (dev builds).
Returns {:ok, %{abi => otp_dir}} for the ABIs built.
@spec build_outcome([{:ok, String.t()} | {:error, String.t(), term()}], [atom()]) :: :ok | {:error, String.t()}
Whether a native build run succeeded, given what it produced and what the user explicitly asked for.
results entries are {:ok, label} / {:error, label, reason} where label
is the display name ("Android", "iOS", "iOS (device)").
requested is the platforms required by an explicit --android / --ios
flag, broad target scope, or named --device under --native — NOT the
complete resolved platform list, which collapses "no flag given" into every
platform and would make an ordinary skip fatal.
The rule this exists for: ok_count == length(results) is 0 == 0 for a run
that built nothing, so mix mob.deploy --android --native with no sdk.dir
printed a warning, built nothing, and reported success. The same failure
occurred for --native --device <android-id> because the device-resolved
platform was not considered requested. A skip is fine when nobody asked for
that platform; it is a failure when they did.
@spec classify_project_nif(MobDev.StaticNifs.nif_entry()) :: {:c, Path.t()} | {:rust, Path.t()} | {:zig, atom()} | :elixir_only
iOS-flavoured counterpart to copy_project_python_wheels/1. Same
priv/python_wheels/ convention, same site-packages destination,
but skips any wheel directory containing a .so file at any depth.
Today's wheel set ships Android-built binaries (Chaquopy-compatible)
under names like _cffi_backend.so and _rust.so — no "android"
in the filename — so a name-based heuristic misses them. Until the
wheels directory holds platform-tagged subdirs (or an iOS-specific
source), treating "has any .so" as "Android-only, skip on iOS"
matches the current reality: pure-Python wheels (rns, lxmf,
pyserial, pycparser) are the only iOS-safe ones. RNS falls back to
its internal crypto provider when cryptography isn't importable,
so this is enough to bring the Reticulum stack up on iOS device
builds.
Public so the iOS-specific filter can be tested independently of the rest of the bundle pipeline.
Copy the TFLite frameworks (Core + CoreML + Metal) into the iOS app's
Frameworks/ dir so the .app bundle ships them. Called during iOS
app assembly when TFLite is enabled.
Same pattern as Python.framework embedding. Codesigning happens at
the app-bundle level — the frameworks just need to be present in the
bundle when the codesign step runs.
slice is either "ios-arm64" (device) or
"ios-arm64_x86_64-simulator" (sim).
No-op when tflite_build is nil.
Copy the TFLite runtime library (libtensorflowlite_jni.so) into the
Android app's jniLibs/<abi>/ so the APK packager includes it. Called
during the Android assemble step when TFLite is enabled.
project_root defaults to the current working directory — that's the
Mob-app project root in normal mix mob.deploy invocations. Tests
pass an explicit path to avoid cd'ing into a temp dir (which would
race other tests' parallel compilation).
No-op when tflite_build is nil (TFLite not enabled in this project).
@spec detect_physical_ios() :: String.t() | nil
Returns the UDID of the sole connected physical iOS device, or nil. When exactly one physical device is connected, it can be used automatically. With zero or 2+ physical devices, returns nil.
True when the current project has :emlx in its dependency tree.
Mirrors pythonx_in_project?/1 — the trigger for downloading the MLX
bundle and adding -Dmlx_static=true to the iOS Zig build.
Generates the fallback entitlements plist that build_device.sh writes when
no ios/*.entitlements file is found in the project.
aps_env should be "development", "production", or nil. When non-nil
the aps-environment key is included, allowing APNs push token registration
to succeed. When nil the key is omitted (the historic default, suitable for
apps that do not use push notifications).
This function is public so it can be unit-tested independently of the shell script that actually writes the file on device builds.
@spec generate_erl_errno_compat_stub(Path.t()) :: :ok
@spec install_exqlite_decision(String.t() | nil, String.t()) :: :noop | :stale | {:install, String.t()}
Decides what to do for the exqlite install step.
:noop— no exqlite lock entry; project doesn't use it.:stale— lock entry exists but the dep isn't compiled in_build/dev/lib/exqlite/. Common cause:ecto_sqlite3was once a dep, was removed, and the transitiveexqlitelock entry stayed behind (mix.lock isn't auto-pruned). Returning:stalemakes the caller skip cleanly instead of crashing on a missing-sourceFile.cp!.{:install, vsn}— version is locked and the.appfile is present; safe to install.
Public so the stale-lock guard can be regression-tested without setting up an end-to-end build.
@spec ios_build_inputs_dir(:ios_sim | :ios_device) :: Path.t()
The project's directory for the sources mob_dev generates for an iOS
zig build (enif_keepalive.c, erl_errno_id_compat.c,
mob_plugin_bootstrap.swift): <Mix.Project.build_path/0>/mob_ios/<target>,
created if missing.
zig keys its cache on these files' paths as well as their contents, and one
swiftc step compiles the bootstrap together with every Swift source, so a
path that changed each build recompiled all the Swift and relinked every
time. Kept per target and shared by every device of that target; write into
it with write_build_input!/2 so concurrent builds never read a half-written
file.
Public for testing.
The bundle id every iOS build path stamps and signs with: mob.exs's
:ios_bundle_id when set, else :bundle_id.
Single source of truth for the sim bundle, the device bundle, and code
signing — those three disagreeing is how a project ends up installed
under one id and addressed by another. Mirrors
MobDev.Config.ios_bundle_id/0, which is what the deploy/connect side
resolves (cfg[:bundle_id] is already Config.bundle_id/0 by the time
load_config/0 is done with it).
Public for testing.
@spec ios_toolchain_available?() :: boolean()
Returns true when an iOS build is feasible: macOS host with xcrun
installed. Linux/Windows always returns false. Pure of side effects.
When --device <id> is given, narrow platforms to just the platform
the device lives on. Drops Android when the id resolves to an iOS
device (sim or physical), drops iOS otherwise.
Public so mix mob.deploy can apply the same narrowing before calling
MobDev.Deployer.deploy_all/1 — otherwise the deployer's per-platform
filter_by_device_id complains "No device matched" against the
irrelevant platform even though the build itself was correctly
targeted.
Returns platforms unchanged when device_id is nil.
@spec narrow_platforms_for_device([atom()], String.t() | nil, (-> [MobDev.Device.t()])) :: [atom()]
Variant that takes an iOS-discovery function so tests (and other
callers that already have the device list in hand) can avoid the
network-bound IOS.list_devices/0 LAN scan.
The lister is called at most once per invocation; both ios_device?
and the physical-UDID format fallback consume the same result.
Decide whether an adb install -r result forces a clean (uninstall + install)
reinstall.
True when the in-place update was rejected — a non-zero exit or an
INSTALL_FAILED_* line (signature mismatch, version downgrade, etc.). A clean
reinstall wipes app data (on-device identity, screen stores), so the caller
only falls back to it when the in-place update genuinely cannot apply.
Returns the OTP directory for the given Android ABI string.
Returns the OTP directory for the given Android ABI string.
Prepare otp_root/lib/<app>-<vsn>, removing every OTHER version of app
first, and return the path.
Public so the stale-version sweep can be regression-tested without running an
end-to-end native build, matching install_exqlite_decision/2.
@spec prepare_plugin_build_state!() :: :ok
Regenerates every file derived from the activated plugins and checks them,
before anything is compiled or bundled. Shared by build_all/1 and the
release pipelines (MobDev.ReleaseAndroid.build_aab/1,
MobDev.Release.build_ipa/1), so a release never ships the plugin set of
whatever dev build last ran in the checkout (MOB-404).
Returns the PYTHON_APPLE_SUPPORT env entry list when Pythonx is in the
project, otherwise []. Kept public — mob.release and other release
paths still call into this when constructing distribution-mode envs.
Returns true when the user's project has a built :pythonx dependency.
Detection is via _build/dev/lib/pythonx/ rather than scanning mix.exs
so users get the same behavior whether they mix mob.enable python and
rely on the dep being added, or vendor pythonx some other way.
The ABIs mix mob.release --android must build: every entry of the app's
Gradle abiFilters (all ABIs mob supports when unset), since Gradle packages
jniLibs/<abi>/lib<app>.so for each of them and an ABI left unbuilt would
ship a stale library. Errors when a filter names an ABI mob can't build.
Given the JSON-decoded xcrun simctl list devices booted -j result
and an optional device_id (full UDID or any case-insensitive
prefix of one), return the matching booted simulator's full UDID
or nil.
When device_id is nil → first booted sim wins.
When device_id is a string → case-insensitive prefix match
against booted UDIDs. A full UDID matches itself; an 8-char
prefix matches the corresponding device. Public for testing —
JSON shape is the contract.
True if wheel_dir contains at least one .so file at any depth.
Used by copy_ios_safe_project_python_wheels/2 to detect
Android-only wheels.
Runs fun with a fresh output directory,
<System.tmp_dir!/0>/mob_<label>_<os pid>_<n>, and deletes it when fun
returns, raises, throws or exits. Returns what fun returns.
The iOS builds bundle the .app and write codesign scratch here; none of it
is read after install. The OS pid keeps concurrent deploys apart:
System.unique_integer/1 restarts low in every VM, so two mix mob.deploy
runs could otherwise pick the same name and the first to finish would
delete the other's bundle. The sources zig compiles go in
ios_build_inputs_dir/1 instead, where their paths stay stable. See
decisions/2026-10-01-ios-build-sources-stable-app-dir-removed.md (MOB-313).
Public for testing.
Writes a generated build source. Leaves the file alone when it already holds
content; otherwise writes a sibling temp file and renames it over path,
so a concurrent build sees the old file or the new one, never a partial one.
Public for testing.