Vega SDK Release Notes
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Vega SDK version 0.23
We’re excited to bring you the 0.23 release, which includes updates to AI and performance tooling, bug fixes, and feature improvements. Key updates include:
- MCP server expanded - The Amazon Devices Builder Tools MCP server adds SDK installation workflows, code review tracking, and Node.js v24 compatibility. New prompts include AI assistance for resolving UI Fluidity issues.
- Performance tooling updates - Frame drop metrics now use a more accurate calculation methodology, and TTFVF metrics are restored for Shaka Player apps.
- Linker namespacing - Linker namespace enforcement ensures that your app does not have conflicts with system libraries.
- ACR improvements - New crash source attribution now included in reports
Announcements
kepler CLI command replaced by vega
The kepler CLI command is now deprecated. All tooling now uses vega equivalents. The kepler alias continues to work in v0.23 for backwards compatibility, but a future release will remove it.
Action required: Update all scripts, CI pipelines, and workflows to replace kepler commands with vega. For example, replace kepler <symbolication-args> with vega <symbolication-args>.
KEPLER_SDK_PATH environment variable no longer required
You no longer need KEPLER_SDK_PATH to configure the Vega SDK. Use the Vega SDK Manager to install and select specific SDK versions instead.
Action required: Remove export KEPLER_SDK_PATH=... from your shell profiles, CI scripts, and environment setup files. If you encounter any tool that still requires it, file a bug.
See Vega SDK Manager
Consecutive frame drop metric methodology change
The algorithm for calculating consecutive frame drops now uses vsync-based bucketing, producing more accurate fluidity measurements. Frame drop numbers from v0.23 are not comparable with earlier releases.
Action required: Re-baseline any performance dashboards or thresholds that track consecutive frame drops.
See Measure App KPIs
Linker namespacing enforcement
Linker namespacing is a runtime library isolation mechanism that organizes shared libraries into separate linking environments. The dynamic linker enforces namespace boundaries to prevent conflicts between app-bundled libraries and system libraries, ensuring stability across OS updates. Your app can only access system libraries through the Vega OS public ABI list, and you must bundle third-party dependencies within your app package. Build-time ABI validation (available since SDK 0.22) and runtime enforcement work together to catch issues early and guarantee compliance. This applies to all native code running on Vega OS, including C/C++ libraries, third-party native SDKs, and custom Turbo Modules. For details, see Manage native libraries with linker namespacing.
Search removed from Content Launcher
Content Launcher no longer supports search functionality. You can use Content Launcher to navigate, such as play, fast-forward, and so on.
New features
AI assisted diagnostics and resolution for UI fluidity issues
You can now use a prompt-based solution to diagnose and fix UI Fluidity/scrolling issues to ask questions such as:
@vega why is scrolling slow in my app?
@vega improve my app fluidity
@vega show me the hot functions in my scrolling code
@vega show me the stack trace for 'xyz' hot function
Improvements
MCP server: SDK install workflow and Node.js 24
The Amazon Devices Builder Tools MCP server now includes SDK installation workflows for automated setup, AI-assisted prompts for diagnosing UI fluidity issues, and Node.js v24 compatibility (migrated from better-sqlite3 to sqlite3).
The @amazon-devices/vega-devtools-mcp package is now @amazon-devices/amazon-devices-buildertools-mcp.
See Set Up Vega DevTools MCP Server
Developer Mode discovery notification on Fire TV
Fire TV devices now display a notification in Settings > My Fire TV > Developer Options with a QR code linking to the Vega developer portal, making it easier for you to discover and enable Developer Mode.
ACR crash source attribution
The Aggregated Crash Report (ACR) summary now includes information to help you determine whether your application code caused a crash versus system or framework code. If you use ACR reports, you get actionable crash attribution without any workflow changes.
See Debug Crashes with ACR Summary
VVD Landing Pad home screen
The Vega Virtual Device (VVD) now displays a Landing Pad home screen on launch with device registration built directly into the UI. You can register your VVD for Amazon Services testing without leaving the virtual device.
Resolved issues
Chrome DevTools debugging fixes for multiple devices and WebView
This release resolves two separate Chrome DevTools (CDT) issues. When more than one device or emulator was connected, CDT failed to connect to the correct target because port forwarding did not specify the device serial number. CDT now always targets the correct device. Additionally, the CDT target selection combo box (for choosing between ReactNative and WebView debugging) was not appearing in Vega Studio because the WebView npm package scope changed from @amzn to @amazon-devices, breaking package resolution. Both issues are now resolved. If you previously had to disconnect extra devices to use CDT, you no longer need to do so.
See Chrome DevTools
TTFVF metrics restored for Shaka Player apps
The KPI metrics “Time to Player Start” and “Player Start to First Video Frame” (TTFVF) were showing null values for apps using Shaka Player. The root cause was that KVA migrated to Shaka Player, which does not emit the mediaplayer_create trace that the tooling previously relied on. The performance tooling has been updated to use new Shaka Player-specific traces. TTFVF metrics should now be reliable for all Shaka Player apps.
KPI visualizer month digit correction
The KPI visualizer was generating output folder names with the month value off by one due to JavaScript’s zero-indexed month handling. January was labeled as month 0, February as month 1, and so on. This has been corrected to use 1-indexed months. Note that this is a breaking change for any scripts or automation that parse KPI visualizer output folder names by month — update month parsing logic to expect 1-indexed values (1–12). Historical output folders generated before this fix will retain the incorrect month values.
Activity Monitor memory display
Memory values in the Activity Monitor graph did not display in megabytes as expected. If you rely on Activity Monitor for memory profiling, you now see accurate MB values.
@amzn/ to @amazon-devices/ scope migration blockers resolved
The scope migration tool no longer silently introduces breaking version upgrades during migration. The migrator now warns you about potential breaking version changes, though you should still manually audit all changes after running the tool.
Memory Profiling attachment fix on Mac
Fixed an issue in Vega Studio on Mac where Vega Studio was unable to attach and read resources with a “no shared libraries loaded” error. This has been resolved, restoring memory profiling workflows for Mac-based developers.
Scope migration and package management
- CLI template build failures caused by remaining
@amzn/dependencies are fixed. - The
kepler-buildscript failure on M1 Mac under Rosetta is resolved. - The auto-linking failure that prevented apps from launching in both VVD and physical devices is fixed in the KeplerCLI version set.
Developer tools and debugging
- The Chrome DevTools (CDT) connection failure when multiple devices were connected is fixed.
- The CDT target selection combo box for WebView debugging now works after the
@amznto@amazon-devicesscope change broke package resolution. - The debugging tools and performance tools no longer depend on
KEPLER_SDK_PATH. - The VDA wrapper script in bin/tools now correctly passes arguments.
- VVD failed to start due to an error reading the metadata file. This fix gracefully ignores metadata file read errors. The VVD start failure when using kepler commands is resolved in SDK v0.23.x.
Known issues
Pin Expo to ~50.0.0
Approximately 69 expo-* packages in the SDK currently declare their peer dependency on expo as "*" instead of "~50.0.0". This allows incompatible Expo versions to install silently, which can cause runtime EventEmitter errors and app crashes. A fix is in progress, but until it ships, you must manually pin Expo.
Action required: Add "expo": "~50.0.0" to your package.json dependencies. Run npm run clean followed by npm install. Verify with npm ls expo that only 50.0.x versions resolve. Rebuild your app.
SDK Manager installation fails when $HOME is not set
VVM installation fails when the $HOME environment variable is not set. This primarily affects CI/CD environments and Docker containers.
Workaround: export HOME=$(eval echo ~$USER) before running the VVM installer.
See Vega SDK Manager
Vega Audio App (VAA) reference app crash on tile selection
The VAA reference app crashes when you select a tile in release builds. The issue is not reproducible without VPN. If you use the KAA reference app on MRC builds, be aware of this instability. No workaround is available.
Last updated: Jun 18, 2026
