Android Monkey Command-Line Tool: Syntax, Parameters, and Usage

Monkey is an Android command‑line tool that can run on an emulator or a real device, sending a stream of random events to stress‑test the application under development.

The basic command syntax is adb shell monkey [options] <event-count> , where options are grouped into five categories.

Basic configuration parameters include -help for usage guidance and -v to set the verbosity level (0‑2, default 0).

Event type parameters let you control the mix of generated events, such as -s <seed> for a deterministic seed, -throttle <ms> for delay between events, and percentage flags like -pct-touch , -pct-motion , -pct-trackball , -pct-nav , -pct-majornav , -pct-syskeys , -pct-appswitch , and -pct-anyevent .

Constraint parameters allow you to limit testing to specific packages ( -p ) or intent categories ( -c ).

Debug parameters include -dbg-no-events (launch only), -hprof (performance report), -ignore-crashes , -ignore-timeouts , -ignore-security-exceptions , -kill-process-after-error , -monitor-native-crashes , and -wait-dbg (wait for debugger).

Hidden parameters provide advanced control, such as -pck-blacklist-file<file> and -pck-whitelist-file<file> for package filtering, and -f<script file> to run a custom script.

To capture Monkey’s output, you can redirect it to a file, e.g., adb shell monkey -p com.example.app -v 300 > D:\log.txt .

The article concludes with a brief note about Qtest, the professional testing team of 360, and a reminder to follow their public account for the latest testing technology updates.