[Update: Chromium too] You can now search through Android Open Source Project code

Kyle Bradshaw | Dec 11 2019 - 12:25 pm PT

At the core of every flagship Android phone, underneath the layers of brand-specific and device-specific extras, lies the same open-source foundation of Android, the Android Open Source Project. To help us all better understand that foundation, Google has made it possible to browse and search through Android Open Source Project code in a way that makes sense.

Google breaks down complex projects like Android and Chromium into smaller individual Git repositories, with Android having over 1500 different open source repositories. To help make the code more accessible to those outside of Google, the company offers things like Chromium Code Search. As the name suggests, the tool gives you the option to search as well as browse through the Chromium code as though it were one large repository.

However, for the longest time, Android has been left out of the Code Search fun, leaving the community to rely upon third-party search tools like AndroidXRef. Today, that’s changing, as Google has officially unveiled the new Android Code Search website.

With Code Search, you can now easily dig in to learn more about any particular feature of Android, such as “Mainline Modules.” Most helpfully, some parts of Android Code Search also offer “cross-reference” support, meaning if you want to understand something you find in the code, you can click it to jump to where that code is defined.

In addition to the main Android Open Source Project code, the new Android Code Search can also help you peruse through the source code for AndroidX libraries like CameraX and the Kotlin-based Jetpack Compose.

Update 12/11: The new software used by Android Code Search is also coming soon to the Chromium repositories. Navigating to the existing Chromium Code Search page offers the option to try out a revamped website, which lets you specify searching by Chromium, Chromium OS, and Google’s GN build system.

Looking through the Android and Chromium Code Search pages, it appears they’re both powered by Google’s Cloud Source Repositories.