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When your agent runs nowrun deploy, your APK travels through a pipeline that ends at a unique, shareable URL. Anyone who opens that URL sees your app running live in their browser — no download, no install, no app store. Here is what happens at each stage, and how the agent skill and MCP server fit into the picture.

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The deploy pipeline

  1. Your agent builds the APK. Your AI agent compiles your project using whatever engine you are working with — native Android, Unity, Godot, or Unreal. The output is a standard .apk file.
  2. The agent runs the deploy command. Using the nowrun skill it learned during nowrun init, the agent calls the appropriate nowrun command to start the upload.
  3. The CLI uploads the APK to nowrun. The nowrun CLI packages the build and sends it to the nowrun platform over a secure connection.
  4. nowrun streams the app at a unique URL. The platform processes the APK and exposes it at a unique, browser-accessible URL tied to your account and version.
  5. Anyone with the link opens it in a browser. No install required — users click the link and your app runs immediately, on any device with a modern browser.

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The nowrun skill and MCP server

Running nowrun init -t <token> does two things beyond authenticating your CLI:
  • Installs the nowrun skill — a structured set of instructions that teaches your AI agent every command the nowrun CLI exposes, along with when and how to use each one.
  • Installs the MCP server — a local server that gives your agent a programmatic, structured interface to nowrun, so it can query state, trigger deploys, and retrieve links without relying on raw shell output alone.
Because of the skill and MCP server, the agent can discover commands on its own using nowrun help and nowrun <command> -h. You do not need to provide a command cheat sheet or guide the agent step by step — it figures out what to run based on the task you give it.

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AI agent compatibility

nowrun works with any AI coding agent that can execute shell commands, including Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor. On the engine side, any toolchain that produces a standard APK is supported: native Android, Unity, Godot, and Unreal Engine. If it builds to .apk, nowrun can deploy it.
nowrun deploys .apk files only. Android App Bundle (.aab) format is not supported. Make sure your build configuration outputs a standard APK before running nowrun deploy.
You never need to install or run anything yourself. The agent handles the full install-authenticate-deploy cycle — your only job is the one-time account setup and token handoff.

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Next steps

Account setup

Create your account and activate your free plan with a $0 card verification.

Your first deploy

Walk through a complete deploy from APK to live browser URL.