# alibaba/freeline

A super fast build tool for Android, an alternative to Instant Run

Repository: https://github.com/alibaba/freeline
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/freeline
Homepage: https://www.freelinebuild.com/
Language: Java
License: BSD-3-Clause
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2020-05-10T15:57:31+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 23/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3682, "days_push": 2306, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 5438, forks 620 (observed 2026-08-28T04:09:18.161484+00:00)

## What it is
Freeline is a fast incremental build tool for Android apps, serving as an alternative to Instant Run. It caches reusable class files and resource indices to enable second-level incremental builds with hot swap deployment to devices.

## Use cases
- speed up android app builds during development
- avoid full recompile and reinstall after code changes
- hot swap dex and resources onto a running android app
- incremental build for multi-module gradle android projects
- generate small patches for over-the-air hotfixes
- dynamically replace native .so libraries without rebuilding

## When to choose
- you develop Android apps with slow Gradle build cycles and want second-level incremental builds
- you want an Instant Run alternative with hot swap of code, resources, and native libraries
- you need a basis for generating small OTA hotfix patches

## When to avoid
- you use modern Android Studio with up-to-date build tooling, as the project is unmaintained since 2020
- you need support for the latest Android Gradle Plugin versions or newer Android APIs
- you require a maintained tool with active community support

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: abandoned
- function: build-tool, developer-tools, deployment
- domain: mobile-development, developer-tools, android-tools
- platform: cli, cross-platform
- tags: android, incremental-build, hot-swap, instant-run-alternative, gradle, hotpatching, build-tool

## Member repositories
- alibaba/freeline (main) score 23

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:18.161484+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T08:31:22.304272+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/alibaba/freeline (fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:18.161484+00:00, sha 4f85b700e439)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.