Parcel — Android Automotive

Parcel deliveries for Android Automotive OS 12+ (API 31), built with the Car App Library templates (POI category). Parked use only: the app isn't declared distraction-optimized, so the system blocks it as soon as the car moves; the notifications still arrive while driving.

• Deliveries under way first, by expected date: status in colour, expected date, last event and where it happened
• Optionally the recently delivered ones too (Settings › Deliveries listed)
• Detail: expected date or window, carrier and tracking number, extra information, every event, newest first; Go hands the pickup point to the car's navigation app when the parcel awaits pickup
• Hourly check in the background: one notification per delivery with a new status or event; tapping it opens the delivery
• Settings: Parcel API key (checked before it is kept), deliveries listed, notifications on or off
• Demo key demo: made-up deliveries with no Parcel account, for a try-out, the emulator run and the Play review

Screenshots

On the Android Automotive emulator (generic image, templates host), with the demo key. These are the Google Play listing screenshots, refreshed by running the Emulator workflow by hand with screenshots.

Deliveries	Delivery	Settings

Data

Same API and logic as ha-parcel:

What	Source
Deliveries, statuses, events, expected dates	Parcel external API, GET https://api.parcel.app/external/deliveries/?filter_mode=recent with the api-key header, 20 requests an hour
API key	Generated at web.parcelapp.net (Parcel Premium); stays on the car, left out of Android backups, only sent to api.parcel.app
Carrier names	Parcel's public supported_carriers.json (no key), daily cache
Changes	Each delivery's status and latest event, compared with the previous check (kept on the device)

The hourly check (WorkManager, with a network, while the car is on) notifies the deliveries that changed; opening the app shows the last check at once and fetches again after 5 minutes. A new key's own check is the first one, so the deliveries already there are not notified. The "recent" list is always fetched, so a delivery that turns delivered still gets its notification; "under way only" just filters the screen.

Layout

app/src/main/java/me/jstephan/parcel/
├── ParcelApp.kt              # notification channel, hourly check schedule
├── ParcelService.kt          # CarAppService + Session (opens a delivery from its notification)
├── Prefs.kt                  # API key (not backed up), filter, notifications
├── data/                     # HTTP, Parcel API client, models, repository (cache + change detection), demo data
├── work/                     # CheckWorker (hourly), Notifier
└── ui/                       # list, detail, settings (ListTemplate), API key (SignInTemplate), setup (MessageTemplate)

Build and run

./gradlew assembleDebug

Test on an emulator from Android Studio's Device Manager with an Automotive system image (Android 12L / API 32 or later, "with Google APIs/Play"). Debug builds accept any templates host; release builds only the hosts in the library's allowlist. Type demo as the API key to try it without a Parcel account. To run the hourly check without waiting, force its job (WorkManager runs on JobScheduler):

adb shell dumpsys jobscheduler | grep -A2 me.jstephan.parcel   # JOB #u0a123/<id>
adb shell cmd jobscheduler run -f me.jstephan.parcel <id>

On a real car, third-party templated apps are installed through Google Play (internal or closed testing track).

CI

Workflow	What
Lint	pre-commit (whitespace, YAML/XML/TOML, Ruff for scripts/), Detekt + ktlint (Kotlin quality, dead code), Android lint, jscpd (duplication). Detekt and Android lint findings go to code scanning, shown on pull requests
CodeQL	Security and quality queries on the Kotlin code and the workflows; weekly too
Build	Debug APK and JVM unit tests (testDebugUnitTest); Kotlin compiler errors and Gradle failures as annotations, test report as an artifact on failure
Emulator	Runs the release build on an Android Automotive emulator with the templates host (landscape and portrait) on each app change, with the demo key; fails on a crash, a template the host refuses, or if the app isn't blocked once the car moves. Run by hand with screenshots to refresh the Play screenshots
Release	On main, when appVersion in app/build.gradle.kts has no tag yet: signed APK + App Bundle, notes from CHANGELOG.md; upload to Google Play when its secret is set
Update release notes	Rewrites a release's notes from CHANGELOG.md (input tag)
Clean up merged branches	Deletes merged branches after each pull request and weekly
Stale	Marks and closes inactive issues and pull requests

Release signing uses the repository secrets SIGNING_KEYSTORE_BASE64, SIGNING_STORE_PASSWORD, SIGNING_KEY_ALIAS and SIGNING_KEY_PASSWORD; without them the release is signed with the debug key (emulator / adb only, not accepted by Google Play).

This is the beginning of the README. Read the rest at the original. Read the full README ↗