What will be the side-loading and debugging mechanism for Android apps on ChromeOS?

Question

I've gone through everything on http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/android-apps and also watched the IO video and there doesn't seem to be any mention of what the side-loading (and debugging) mechanism available for developing/testing Android apps on ChromeOS will be?

I know that ARC used adb on desktops but not Chromebooks

Given that the new implementation is different and its a full Android framework in a Linux container and has access to USB, will ADB be available for this prupose? Using ADB could also be useful for remote debugging since Devtools already runs an adb client

EDIT: As of 9 Aug 2016 there is now official documentation available.

Answer 1

---

Edit: The instructions below are now no longer needed as ChromeOS has enabled allowing ADB access to the Android container without needing to put the Chromebook into developer mode BUT ONLY IF you want to access ADB from the Linux container on the same Chromebook as documented here.

---

Unless you are in Developer Mode, you won't be able to enable unknown sources. So in order to side load apps you will need to put your device into Developer Mode (instructions here - follow the steps for the Chromebook Pixel 2015).

Once you are in Dev Mode, go to Chrome Settings > App Settings > Security > Unknown sources (move to the right)

After enabling developer mode you can side load apps in one of 2 ways:

1. Upload your .apk to Google Drive or send it to yourself via email, and open it with the Android app equivalent (Drive and Gmail respectively)
2. Transfer the .apk to the Downloads folder of your Chromebook using a thumb drive, and install it via a File Manager Android app
3. Transfer the .apk over ethernet from another device, using VT-2 to access the command line on your Chromebook

Here is a sample walkthru of setting up an ethernet connection for approach 3:

• On desktop - Plug ethernet cable into desktop
• On desktop - Set an IP: ifconfig eth1 10.xx.xx.xx netmask 255.255.255.254
• On Chromebook - Go to VT-2: ctrl-alt-fwd (a.k.a. f2)
• On Chromebook - Plug ethernet into Chromebook
• On Chromebook - Set an IP for the ethernet: ifconfig eth1 10.xx.xx.xx netmask 255.255.255.254
• Use scp to transfer the .apk file from the desktop to the Chromebook