Live Sessions

Start an interactive cloud device session and drive it from your terminal — install a build, run individual Maestro commands or a whole flow, capture screenshots, and dump the view hierarchy. This is ideal for authoring and debugging flows against a real cloud device.

Live is in beta and is billed at $0.03/min. Access is limited and by request only. If you would like to try Live, please contact support to request access. dcd live requires a dcd login session.

dcd live <subcommand> [flags]

A typical session: start a device, install a build, interact, then stop.

dcd live start --platform android --wait
dcd live install --session <name> --app-binary-id <id> --wait
dcd live run --session <name> path/to/flow.yaml
dcd live stop --session <name>

Every subcommand (except start) takes a --session <name> flag identifying the session, and accepts --api-key / --api-url.

dcd live start

Start a new live device session. Prints the session name and a console URL you can open to watch the device.

Flag	Description
--platform <android|ios>	Device platform (default: android)
--app-binary-id <id>	Binary upload ID to install on the device at start
--device-locale <locale>	Device locale, e.g. de_DE
--android-device <device>	Android only. Device profile (pixel-6, pixel-6-pro, pixel-7, pixel-7-pro)
--android-api-level <level>	Android only. API level, e.g. 34 (must be passed together with --android-device)
--wait	Block until the device is ready to accept commands

dcd live install

Install a binary on a running session's device.

Flag	Description
--session <name>	Required. Live session name
--app-binary-id <id>	Required. Binary upload ID to install
--wait	Block until the device is ready again after installing

dcd live exec

Execute one or more Maestro YAML commands against the session.

Flag	Description
--session <name>	Required. Live session name
--yaml <commands>	Inline Maestro YAML commands, e.g. --yaml "- launchApp"
--file <path>	Read the Maestro YAML to execute from a file (alternative to --yaml)
--wait	Wait for the device to be ready before executing

Pass either --yaml or --file, not both.

dcd live run

Run a whole Maestro flow file against the session. The flow's appId: header is handled automatically.

Flag	Description
<flow-file>	Required. Path to the Maestro flow file (positional argument)
--session <name>	Required. Live session name
--timeout <seconds>	Max seconds to wait for the flow to finish (default: 600)
--wait	Wait for the device to be ready before running

dcd live screenshot

Save the current device screen to an image file (PNG or JPEG, matching the device format).

Flag	Description
--session <name>	Required. Live session name
--output <path>, -o	File path to write to (default: live-screenshot.<ext>)

dcd live hierarchy

Dump the current view hierarchy — the selectors (text, accessibility labels, resource IDs) you can tap and assert on.

Flag	Description
--session <name>	Required. Live session name
--json	Output the raw hierarchy as JSON
--output <path>, -o	Write the output to a file instead of stdout

dcd live status

Show a session's status — platform, readiness, current device phase, device model, locale, and time until auto-cancel.

Flag	Description
--session <name>	Required. Live session name

dcd live stop

Stop a live session.

Flag	Description
--session <name>	Required. Live session name