> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://phone-harness.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Connect with ADB

> Provision a phone, connect in two lines, drive it with phone-harness or any ADB tool.

Every ready phone comes with an ADB endpoint and an unlock code. Connect with stock [Android Platform Tools](https://developer.android.com/tools/releases/platform-tools), unlock once, and it behaves like any Android device — `adb shell`, `adb install`, Appium, uiautomator2, scrcpy. No tunnel, no key setup. Anyone you give the two lines to can use the phone.

## The whole workflow

```bash theme={null}
export API=https://api.phone-harness.com
export KEY=YOUR_API_KEY

# 1. Provision a phone for 15 minutes. 202 = accepted; it boots in about 80 seconds.
curl -sS -X POST $API/sessions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"timeout_seconds": 900}'
# → {"id":"abc123def456","state":"provisioning","watch_url":"https://…","expires_at":…}
export SID=abc123def456

# 2. Wait for ready. The ADB block arrives with it.
until [ "$(curl -sS $API/sessions/$SID -H "Authorization: Bearer $KEY" | jq -r .state)" = ready ]; do sleep 5; done
curl -sS $API/sessions/$SID -H "Authorization: Bearer $KEY" | jq .adb
# → {"host":"live.phone-harness.com","port":22220,"code":"ph_mfwcc5nknqaod034nwojzw0lzq","expires_at":…}

# 3. Connect and unlock.
adb connect live.phone-harness.com:22220
adb -s live.phone-harness.com:22220 shell unlock ph_mfwcc5nknqaod034nwojzw0lzq
# → unlocked

# 4. It is a phone now. phone-harness (pip install phone-harness) is the way in:
export ANDROID_SERIAL=live.phone-harness.com:22220
phone-harness <<'PY'
open_app("Settings")
tap_text("Network & internet")
print([o["text"] for o in ocr()][:10])
PY
#    …and anything else that speaks ADB works unchanged:
adb install ./myapp.apk
adb exec-out screencap -p > screen.png

# 5. End the session. ADB closes and billing stops.
curl -sS -X DELETE $API/sessions/$SID -H "Authorization: Bearer $KEY"
```

The 15 minutes include boot. `watch_url` is a live, view-only look at the same phone. Open it to watch your commands land.

## Details

**Locked until unlock.** Before `unlock`, `adb devices` lists the phone but every command answers `locked` (shells) or is refused (push, pull, port forwarding). Five wrong codes drop the connection. Every `adb connect` is a new connection: reconnect and run `unlock` again.

**Sharing.** The code is the credential. Paste the two lines to a teammate, into a coding agent's prompt, or into CI — nothing else is needed on their side. It works until the session ends.

**Reset the code** when it has gone further than you meant. Existing connections are closed; host and port stay the same:

```bash theme={null}
curl -sS -X POST $API/sessions/$SID/adb/reset -H "Authorization: Bearer $KEY"
```

**Turn ADB off** without ending the phone, and back on:

```bash theme={null}
curl -sS -X DELETE $API/sessions/$SID/adb -H "Authorization: Bearer $KEY"
curl -sS -X POST   $API/sessions/$SID/adb -H "Authorization: Bearer $KEY"
```

**Appium** and anything else that takes a serial: use `live.phone-harness.com:22220` (for Appium, `appium:udid`) after the unlock.

**Plaintext.** ADB over TCP is not encrypted. Do not pass secrets through `adb shell` that you would not send in the clear.

**Serial reuse.** A port belongs to a phone only while its session lives; the session id is the stable identity, not the address.