APKEditor Documentation

To build the executable fat JAR, use Gradle. Note that ARSCLib.jar is expected to be in APKEditor/libs/ARSCLib.jar or you must build it yourself and place it there.

git clone https://github.com/REAndroid/APKEditor
cd APKEditor
./gradlew fatJar

The resulting executable JAR will be located in ./build/libs/APKEditor-x.x.x.jar.

Use the x (refactor) command to rename obfuscated resource entries back to readable names.

Commonly used options:

• -i: Input path to the APK.
• -o: Output path for the refactored APK.
• -public-xml: Path to a public.xml file containing resource IDs to apply to the resources.

Use the b (build) command to reconstruct an APK from a directory containing decompiled JSON, XML, or raw files.

Commonly used options:

• -i: Input path to the decompiled directory.
• -o: Output path for the new APK.
• -t: Build types (xml, json, raw, sig).
• -extractNativeLibs: Controls how .so files are handled (manifest, none, true, false).
• -dex-lib: Choose between internal or jf.

Use the p (protect) command to apply obfuscation techniques to APK resource files to protect them against decompile/modify tools.

Commonly used options:

• -i: Input path to the APK.
• -o: Output path for the protected APK.
• -dex-level: Protection level for dex files (0 to 5, where 0 is off). Default is 0.
• -keep-type: Keep specific resource types (e.g., font). Can be used multiple times.
• -confuse-zip: Confuses the zip structure (Note: may cause crashes if the app accesses APK files directly via getResourceAsStream()).

Use the d (decode) command to decompile Android resources into human-readable formats. By default, it decompiles to JSON. To decompile to XML source code (for un-obfuscated APKs), use the -t xml option.

Commonly used options:

• -i: Input path to the APK.
• -o: Output path for the decompiled files.
• -t: Decode types (xml, json, raw, sig).
• -framework: Path to framework files (e.g., framework-res.apk).
• -dex-lib: Choose between internal (supports up to dex 042) or jf (supports 035 and below).

Use the m (merge) command to combine split APK files (from a directory or compressed formats like XAPK, APKM, APKS) into a single standalone APK.

Commonly used options:

• -i: Input path (directory or compressed file).
• -o: Output path for the merged APK.
• -validate-modules: Validates that split APKs have the same versionNumber as the base.apk.

Use the info command to dump various metadata and resource information from an APK.

Key Flags:

• -v: Verbose mode.
• -resources: Prints all resources.
• -filter-type: When using -resources, limits output to specific types (e.g., drawable).
• -package: Prints the package name.
• -permissions: Prints declared permissions.
• -signatures: Prints signature information.
• -t [text|json|xml]: Specifies the output format.

APKEditor is a command-line tool for editing Android APK resources. It provides several subcommands for different tasks such as decompiling, building, merging, refactoring, protecting, and inspecting APK files.

To use APKEditor from a terminal, call the main method (typically via the compiled JAR). If you are integrating APKEditor into another Java application, use the execute(String[] args) method to avoid System.exit() calls.

When embedding APKEditor into a Java application, use com.reandroid.apkeditor.Main.execute(String[] args) instead of main(String[] args). This prevents the tool from terminating the host JVM via System.exit().

Return Codes:

• 0: Executed successfully.
• 1: An error occurred during execution.
• 2: A non-executing command was called (e.g., --help or --version).

APKEditor supports the following primary commands, each with its own specific set of options:

• decode: Decompile APK resources.
• build: Rebuild/compile resources into an APK.
• merge: Merge multiple APK resources.
• refactor: Perform refactoring operations on resources.
• protect: Apply protection mechanisms.
• info: Display information about an APK.

You can view the version information or the application help using the following flags:

• -h, -help, or --help: Display application help.
• -v, -version, or --version: Display the version of APKEditor and the underlying ARSCLib version.