When Luotsi Fits

Use this page when the main question is not how Luotsi works, but whether it is the right kind of tool for the job.

Luotsi is usually a good fit when

• The workflow is built around real Android devices over adb rather than a browser DOM.
• You want live view, structured inspection, repeatable scenario runs, and replay artifacts in one stack.
• Engineers, agents, and CI need to share the same command surface and output contracts.
• Post-run evidence matters. Screenshots, hierarchy dumps, logcat, telemetry, and replay summaries need to survive the session.
• The same workflow should make sense on a laptop, a shared lab host, and a CI runner.

Luotsi is usually a weak fit when

• The real problem is browser automation, not Android device automation.
• You want a managed cloud platform to own both the devices and the orchestration model.
• The team expects recorder-first authoring instead of explicit JSON playbooks and command-driven flows.
• You need immediate cross-platform coverage, especially iOS, from the same tool.

Quick self-check

If most of these are true, Luotsi likely fits:

1. You already have or can get adb access to the devices that matter.
2. You want machine-readable JSON or JSONL rather than a UI-only control path.
3. You want failure triage to continue after the live device session ends.
4. You want one workflow that can move from local exploration into CI or a shared lab.

Choose the next page by the job

• Use Android Automation For Engineering Leads if the decision is about team architecture, rollout, or evaluation scope.
• Use Luotsi Alternatives And Comparison if the decision is really about tradeoffs versus browser automation, device farms, or recorder-style tools.
• Use AI Agent Android Automation if the main question is whether an agent loop can drive the workflow.
• Use Android CI Device Lab Workflows if the pressure comes from shared infrastructure and pipeline reliability.
• Use Replay-Driven Triage if the real bottleneck is what happens after a failed run.

Recommended first commands

luotsi doctor --device <serial>
luotsi inspect --device <serial>
luotsi scenario-validate --path scenarios
luotsi run --path scenarios --device <serial>

Those commands cover the shortest path from device readiness to exploration and then into repeatable automation.