Quick Start Guide

Build your first APK in 5 minutes

Prerequisite: Ensure mkapk is installed. See the Installation Guide if you haven't done so yet.

Step 1: Initialize a New Project

Create a new directory and initialize mkapk project structure:

$ mkdir my-first-app
$ cd my-first-app
$ mkapk init

This creates the following structure:

my-first-app/         
├── AndroidManifest.xml
├── andresguard-config.xml
├── assets
├── bin
│   ├── classes
│   │   ├── java_classes
│   │   └── kotlin_classes
│   └── debug.keystore
├── config.json
├── proguard-rules.pro
├── releases
├── res
│   ├── anim
│   ├── animator
│   ├── drawable
│   ├── drawable-night
│   ├── font
│   ├── layout
│   │   └── activity_main.xml
│   ├── layout-land
│   ├── menu
│   ├── mipmap
│   ├── values
│   ├── values-night
│   └── xml
└── src
    ├── C
    │   └── core_logic.c
    ├── C++
    │   └── native_bridge.cpp
    └── com
        └── example
            └── polyglot
                ├── JavaBridge.java              
                └── MainActivity.kt

Step 2: Configure Your Project

Edit config.json to match your project. Here's a basic example:

{
  "NAME": "MyApp",
  "BIN_DIR": "./bin",
  "SRC_DIR": "./src/main",
  "RES_DIR": "./src/res",
  "ASSETS_DIR": "./assets",
  "MANIFEST": "./src/main/AndroidManifest.xml",
  "SDK_ROOT": "~/android-sdk",
  "TARGET_SDK": "34",
  "JAVA_VERSION": "17",
  "KEYSTORE": "~/.android/debug.keystore",
  "KEYSTORE_ALIAS": "androiddebugkey",
  "NDK_BIN": "~/android-ndk/toolchains/llvm/prebuilt/linux-aarch64/bin"
}
Important: Update the SDK_ROOT and NDK_BIN paths to match your Android SDK installation.

Step 3: Add Source Code

Create your first Java file. Open src/main/java/com/example/MainActivity.java:

package com.example;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;

public class MainActivity extends Activity {
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
    }
}

Step 4: Create AndroidManifest.xml

Create src/main/AndroidManifest.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.example">

    <application
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher">

        <activity android:name=".MainActivity"
            android:exported="true">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
    </application>

</manifest>

Step 5: Build Your APK

Run a debug build:

$ mkapk build

For a release build with optimizations:

$ mkapk build -release

For multi-ABI universal APK:

$ mkapk build -ndk-all
Success! Your APK is ready. Find it in the bin/ directory.

Step 6: Install and Test

Install the APK on your device using adb or direct installation:

$ adb install bin/MyApp.debug.apk

Common Build Flags

Flag Description Example
-release Production build with optimizations mkapk build -release
-all Force full rebuild (ignore cache) mkapk build -all
-ndk-all Build for all supported architectures mkapk build -ndk-all
-arch Build for specific architecture mkapk build -arch aarch64
-no-obs Disable obfuscation in release build mkapk build -release -no-obs

Next Steps