Build
Android app development for teams that work away from a desk
Warehouses, depots and service crews run on cheap Android handsets and a clipboard. Describe what the clipboard asks for and where the numbers end up, and the agent builds the Android app that takes over the job.
You describe the work · the agent writes the code · your team reviews before anything goes live
In short
Android app development on AgentCode starts with the work rather than the phone. You describe who holds the device, what they count, scan or record, and what the office needs from it. The agent writes the app and the service behind it, runs the tests and hands the result over for a person to approve. The code stays in your repository, the build goes out through your own developer account or your device management, and the data stays in the systems your company already runs.
What the agent builds into the app
- A barcode scan that replaces typing a code into a box
- Counting and picking screens laid out for one hand
- A sign in that ties each entry to the person on shift
- Offline entries that sync the moment the handset finds the network
- Photos of damage attached to the record they belong to
- A back office list showing what each shift recorded today
A process from Operations
The problem
Stock counts are written on a printed sheet, typed into a spreadsheet in the evening, and the difference between the sheet and the system is discovered a week later.
What the agent builds
The agent builds an Android app where a counter scans a location, enters the quantity and sees immediately when the number differs from the expected one. Differences over a threshold ask for a photo and a short note.
What you end up with
Counts land in the system as they happen, the evening typing disappears, and every difference carries the name, the time and a photo.
Built for the device your company hands out
Field handsets are not the newest phones on the market, and the app has to accept that. The agent asks about the devices before it asks about anything pretty.
- Large targets and short screens, usable with gloves and in poor light.
- Scanning through the camera or through the scanner the device already has.
- Work saved locally, so a cold store with no coverage does not cost a shift.
- Battery friendly behaviour, because a handset is charged once a day at best.
- A layout that survives an older Android version rather than requiring the latest one.
The same conversation produces the office side, usually a small web app where a supervisor sees what each shift recorded. Both talk to the same records, so nobody reconciles two lists at the end of the week.
How the app reaches the handsets
Getting the app onto devices is part of the plan, not an afterthought discovered at the end.
- You say how your handsets are managed: a store listing, device management, or a file installed by IT.
- The agent prepares the build for that route and writes down the steps for your side.
- A person on your side approves and publishes, so the account and the keys stay yours.
- The next version follows the same route, with the tests already written.
Because the code lives in your repository, an update is a conversation rather than a procurement exercise. A crew that asks for one more field on Monday can be using it later in the week, and the record of what changed is in the same history as everything else. The loop is described on how it works.
Android, iPhone, or a browser
The choice follows the hardware your company buys and the conditions the work happens in.
- Android when the handsets are company issued, shared between shifts and expected to be dropped.
- iOS when your people carry iPhones, typically sales and service teams.
- A web app when the work happens at a desk with a stable connection.
- An internal tool when the office side is the whole job and nobody needs a device at all.
Mixed answers are normal. A depot often needs handsets for the floor and a browser for the planners, and both are built against one set of records in the same workspace. What you pay depends on the plan, not on how many of these you build, see pricing.
Questions teams ask
Will it run on the handsets we already own?
That is the first question the agent asks, because it changes what gets built. You name the devices and the Android version they run, and the app is written for that reality rather than for the newest phone on the market. Older devices mean simpler screens, which field teams usually prefer anyway.
How do we install it across the company?
Through the route your IT already uses: a store listing under your own developer account, your device management, or an installation file handed to IT. The agent prepares the build for the route you choose and documents the steps, and a person on your side does the publishing.
What about shifts that share one device?
Each entry is tied to whoever is signed in, and signing out at the end of a shift takes one tap. The office side shows who recorded what and when, which matters when a count is questioned. If your handsets stay with one person, the app can simply stay signed in.
Can it write straight into our warehouse system?
Yes, where that system offers a way in. Many teams start with the app writing into an internal record of their own and a file going to the warehouse system nightly, then replace that with a direct connection later. Both steps are built in the same conversation.
More the agent builds
Replace the clipboard on the floor
Describe one shift, from the first scan to the number the office reads.