VDA Reference
The VDA command line utility lets you install, test, and debug your Vega app. VDA is a binary located in the Vega SDK at $HOME/vega/sdk/vega-sdk/main/{SDK version}/bin/tools/vda.
To set up your Fire TV Stick with VDA, see Set Up Your Fire TV Stick. VDA works with the Vega Virtual Device (simulator) without additional setup.
VDA global options
Use these VDA global options, and local and shell commands to install, test, and debug your Vega app.
Serial override
To direct commands to your device or emulator with a specific serial number or qualifier, use -s. This option overrides the VEGA_SERIAL environment variable.
Device (USB)
vega exec vda -s <specific device>
Example:
vega exec vda -s G071R20720350DT6 shell
Example output:
* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started successfully *
Device (TCP/IP)
When a device is connected through TCP/IP, use the <ip>:<port> identifier shown in the vega exec vda devices output:
vega exec vda -s <ip>:<port> shell
Example:
vega exec vda -s 192.168.1.100:5555 shell
Example output:
* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started successfully *
Vega Virtual Device
vega exec vda -s emulator-<VVD port> shell
Example:
vega exec vda -s emulator-5554 shell
Example output:
* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started successfully *
VDA local commands
Devices
To list all connected devices, use devices. Add -l to list the device qualifiers.
vega exec vda devices [ -l ]
Example:
vega exec vda devices -l
Example output for a device connected through USB:
List of devices attached
G071R20720350DT6 device usb:14131000
Example output for a device connected through TCP/IP:
List of devices attached
192.168.1.100:5555 device
Example output for the Vega Virtual Device:
List of devices attached
emulator-5554 device
<ip>:<port> identifier instead of the physical serial number in the devices output. Use get-serialno to retrieve the Device Serial Number (DSN) regardless of connection type.Get serial number
To print the Device Serial Number (DSN), use get-serialno. For network-connected devices, this command returns the actual DSN rather than the <ip>:<port> identifier.
vega exec vda get-serialno
Example output for a USB-connected device:
G071R20720350DT6
Example output for a TCP/IP-connected device:
GT533M06507401WA
get-serialno to reliably obtain the DSN for tools such as Appium, regardless of whether the device is connected through USB or TCP/IP.TCP/IP mode
To switch a USB-connected device to TCP/IP mode, use tcpip with a port number. The device restarts its VDA daemon to listen on the specified port. Use port 5555 or any port greater than 1024.
vega exec vda tcpip <port>
Example:
vega exec vda tcpip 5555
Example output:
restarting in TCP mode port: 5555
After switching to TCP/IP mode, disconnect the USB cable and use connect to establish a wireless connection. For the full setup workflow, see Configure VDA Over TCP/IP.
USB mode
To return a device to USB mode, use usb. Reconnect the USB cable before running this command.
vega exec vda usb
vega exec vda usb produces no output. Run vega exec vda devices to confirm the device is listed as a USB connection.Connect
To connect to a device through TCP/IP, use connect. The device must already be configured for TCP/IP mode (see Configure VDA Over TCP/IP).
vega exec vda connect <host>[:<port>]
Port 5555 is used by default if you don't specify a port number.
Example:
vega exec vda connect 192.168.1.100:5555
Example output:
connected to 192.168.1.100:5555
Disconnect
To disconnect from a TCP/IP-connected device, use disconnect. If you run this command without arguments, VDA disconnects from all TCP/IP devices.
vega exec vda disconnect [<host>[:<port>]]
Example:
vega exec vda disconnect 192.168.1.100:5555
Example output:
disconnected 192.168.1.100:5555
To disconnect all TCP/IP devices at once, run the command without arguments:
vega exec vda disconnect
Example output:
disconnected everything
Help
To view the help file, use vega exec vda --help.
vega exec vda --help
Example output:
Vega Device Adapter
Usage: vda [OPTIONS] [SUBCOMMAND]
Options:
-V,--version Display program version information and exit
-h,--help Show this help message
--one-device TEXT only allowed with 'start-server'
-a Excludes: -d listen on all network interfaces, not just localhost
-d Excludes: -a -e use USB device (error if multiple devices connected)
-e Excludes: -d use TCP/IP device (error if multiple TCP/IP devices available)
-s SERIAL (Env:VEGA_SERIAL) use device with given serial (overrides $VEGA_SERIAL)
-t ID:POSITIVE use device with given transport id
-H TEXT (Env:VEGA_VDA_SERVER_ADDRESS) Excludes: -L
name of vda server host [default=localhost]
-P INT:INT in [1 - 65534] (Env:VEGA_VDA_SERVER_PORT) Excludes: -L
port of vda server [default=5037]
-L SOCKET (Env:VDA_SERVER_SOCKET) Excludes: -H -P
listen on given socket for vda server [default=tcp:localhost:5037]
--exit-on-write-error exit if stdout is closed
Kill server
To stop the server, use kill-server.
vega exec vda kill-server
vega exec vda kill-server produces no output.Start server
To start the server, use start-server.
vega exec vda start-server
Example output:
* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started successfully *
Push
To copy a file or directory to your device, use the push command. Add -p to display the transfer progress.
vega exec vda push [-p] <local> <remote>
Example:
vega exec vda push Echo.png /tmp/
Example output:
$ vega exec vda push Echo.png /tmp/
2283 KB/s (6109 bytes in 0.002s)
$ vega exec vda shell ls /tmp/Echo*
/tmp/Echo.png
Pull
To copy a file or directory from your device, use pull. Add -p to display the transfer progress, and -a to display timestamp and mode.
vega exec vda pull [-p] [-a] <remote> [<local>]
Example:
vega exec vda pull -p /tmp/Echo.png
Example output:
$ vega exec vda pull -p /tmp/Echo.png
Transferring: 6109/6109 (100%)
370 KB/s (6109 bytes in 0.016s)
$ ls Echo*
Echo.png
Version
To view your VDA version, use vda version.
vega exec vda version
Example output:
Vega Device Adapter version 2.12+0a5eee73
Server Version 41
Platform Version 34.0.4
Wait for device
To block activity until your device comes online, use wait-for-device. This helps when scripting.
vega exec vda wait-for-device
Example output:
$ vega exec vda devices
List of devices attached
$ vega exec vda wait-for-device
$ vega exec vda devices
List of devices attached
G071R20720350DT6 device
Reboot
To reboot your device, use reboot.
vega exec vda reboot
Example output:
$ vega exec vda reboot
$ vega exec vda wait-for-device
$ vega exec vda devices
List of devices attached
G071R20720350DT6 device
VDA shell commands
vega exec vda shell <command> -h for help, along with a list of options for any shell command.Invoke the shell
The vega exec vda shell command runs a remote shell interactively, and has a number of options available.
vega exec vda shell
Example output:
##################################################
##### Welcome to Developer Mode Shell #####
##################################################
sh(com.amazon.dev.shell):/$
Other shell commands
vega exec vda shell <command>
Example:
vega exec vda shell whoami
Example output:
app_user
App management and communication tools
You can access these tools through the VDA shell:
vega exec vda shell vpm <subcommands>
vega exec vda shell vlcm <subcommands>
vega exec vda shell vmsgr <subcommands>
See App Management and Communication Tools for detailed vpm, vlcm, and vmsgr commands.
Launch component shell
Each app launches one or more components.
To get a list of components:
vega exec vda shell vlcm list
Example output:
application type pid id state lifespan timeout container launch args
com.amazon.lcm.stem.webview.main S 2719 1 IDLE PERMANENT DEFAULT framework.slice/service <none>
com.amazon.lcm.stem.apl.main S 2725 2 IDLE PERMANENT DEFAULT framework.slice/service <none>
com.amazon.otad.main I 3901 18 NOT_VISIBLE PERMANENT DEFAULT app.slice/app <none>
Use the value from the application column as the <Component-id> argument in the commands below.
To run a component interactively, use:
vega exec vda shell -c <Component-id>
Example output:
vega exec vda shell -c com.amazon.otad.main
##################################################
##### Welcome to Developer Mode Shell #####
##################################################
sh(com.amazon.otad):/$
To run a command in the component shell, use:
vega exec vda shell -c <Component-id> <command>
Example:
vega exec vda shell -c com.amazon.otad.main df -h /tmp
Example output:
vega exec vda shell -c com.amazon.otad.main df -h /tmp
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
none 64M 0 64M 0% /tmp
High level memory
To find the high-level memory footprint of all processes in the system, use ace-memusage.
vega exec vda shell ace_memusage
Example output:
PID User Cmdline Swap Uss Pss Rss Vss
1 root /sbin/init 0 1128 2669 8184 28904
401 root /lib/systemd/systemd-journald 0 2560 3150 7116 19692
423 root /lib/systemd/systemd-udevd 0 2432 2694 6220 18956
Total System Memory:
Total Free Buffers Cached Shmem Slab Available
1782444 1088312 142808 278528 10880 79024 1479176
Done
gwsi-tool-screenshooter
To capture and save screenshots in PNG format, use:
vega exec vda shell gwsi-tool-screenshooter <file.png>
Example:
$ vega exec vda shell gwsi-tool-screenshooter /tmp/test.png
$ vega exec vda pull /tmp/test.png
$ ls test.png
test.png
Device logs
To print device logs to the screen, use loggingctl log:
vega exec vda shell loggingctl log <subcommands>
Example:
vega exec vda shell loggingctl log -o short-precise -f
Example output:
Jun 05 18:10:37.484732 firetvstick-fa0ef0f89ff2d145 idle-manager[3268]: I idle-service:[IdleManagerService.cpp:107] transitionTo: 0->2
Jun 05 18:10:37.484831 firetvstick-fa0ef0f89ff2d145 idle-manager[3268]: I idle-service:[ScreensaverLauncher.cpp:71] Launching pkg://com.amazon.screensaver
Jun 05 18:10:37.485561 firetvstick-fa0ef0f89ff2d145 lcm_service[2151]: I lcm-ipc-server:[LcmServer.cpp:182] Received request: launch app for result (1) from (uid:101, gid:101, pid:3268, security_ctx:System)
<continuous log output>
Related topics
- Configure VDA Over TCP/IP
- Use Loggingctl to Manage System Logs
- App Management and Communication Tools
Last updated: Jul 30, 2026
