# Camerax

Provide technical guidance for Android camera development with CameraX.

- Repository: https://github.com/android/skills (10219 stars)
- Category: Data and ML
- License: Complete terms in LICENSE.txt
- Last updated: 2026-10-29
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add android/skills --skill camerax -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add android/skills --skill camerax -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add android/skills --skill camerax -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add android/skills --skill camerax -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add android/skills`

## Description

Provide technical guidance for Android camera development with CameraX. Use when implementing camera features, handling asynchronous recording lifecycles, wiring low-level hardware interop using CameraX, or integrating ML Kit or Media3 effects.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

This skill provides procedural guidance and standard patterns for building
camera applications on Android, with a focus on CameraX, including its
`Camera2Interop` utilities, and Media3 integrations.

## Core workflows

### Handling immutable API patterns

Various Android camera and media APIs, especially CameraX `VideoCapture`, use a
**fluent, immutable builder-like pattern** where methods return a new instance.
Failing to reassign these results in settings, such as audio, being ignored.

**Pattern: Reassignment is required**


```kotlin
// WRONG
run {
  val pending = recorder.prepareRecording(context, opts)
  pending.withAudioEnabled() // This returns a new instance which is ignored
  val active = pending.start(exec, listener)
}

// CORRECT
run {
  val pending = recorder.prepareRecording(context, opts)
      .withAudioEnabled() // Chaining works
  val active = pending.start(exec, listener)
}

// ALSO CORRECT
run {
  var pending = recorder.prepareRecording(context, opts)
  pending = pending.withAudioEnabled() // Reassignment
  val active = pending.start(exec, listener)
}
```

<br />

See [immutability](references/immutability.md) for a list of affected classes.

### Migrating to CameraX

When migrating legacy camera codebases to the CameraX Jetpack library:

- **Camera1 to CameraX** : For migrating legacy `android.hardware.Camera` implementations, surface handling, and manual lifecycles, see the [Camera1 migration guide](references/camera1-to-camerax.md).
- **Camera2 to CameraX** : For migrating more recent but verbose `android.hardware.camera2` implementations, session state callbacks, and interop patterns, see the [Camera2 migration guide](references/camera2-to-camerax.md).

### Comprehensive feature blueprinting

For multi-step features that involve multiple files and hardware-level wiring,
follow the [Structural Blueprinting](references/expert-blueprints.md) approach to avoid
system timeouts. Such complex features include:

The rest: https://github.com/android/skills/blob/HEAD/camera/camerax/SKILL.md