Automation-toolkit service silently crashes on OS 1.2 (build 2301020004420) — Appium completely broken

Vega Open Beta Bug Reports
1

1. Summary

The automation-toolkit service fails to start on Vega OS 1.2.
Port 8383 shows LISTEN in netstat but no process owns the socket
and all JSON-RPC requests get (52) Empty reply.
Was fully working on OS 1.1.

2. Steps to Reproduce

  1. Device on OS 1.2 (build 2301020004420)
  2. touch /tmp/automation-toolkit.enable
  3. touch /run/devmode/automation-toolkit/enable
  4. vlcm launch-app orpheus://com.att.tv.main
  5. Wait for app to be VISIBLE in vlcm list
  6. curl http://[::1]:8383/jsonrpc → (52) Empty reply from server
  7. ps | grep automation → NO PROCESS FOUND

3. Expected Behavior

automation-toolkit process appears in ps
curl returns valid JSON-RPC response
Appium findElement/takeScreenshot/getPageSource works

4. Actual Behavior

Port 8383 LISTEN but zero processes own it
curl: (52) Empty reply from server
ps shows no automation-toolkit process
All Appium commands fail with socket hang up / ECONNRESET

5. Environment

  • Vega OS: 1.2 (build 2301020004420)
  • Vega SDK: 0.22.5850
  • VDA: 2.1.0
  • Appium: 3.5.2
  • Kepler driver: @amzn/appium-kepler-driver v3.30.0
  • Device: Fire TV Stick (firestick-3b43c107c0c34130)
  • Host: macOS, Apple Silicon

6. Additional Evidence

netstat shows: tcp6 [::]:8383 LISTEN (no PID)
/proc/net/tcp6: inode 1798467 owned by UID 5000 (app_user)
No process found owning inode 1798467 via /proc/*/fd scan
Both activation flags confirmed present before app launch
App confirmed VISIBLE in vlcm list before curl test
vlcm crash-history shows no automation-toolkit crashes
(service never starts, so never crashes) Title: automation-toolkit service silently crashes on OS 1.2
(build 2301020004420) — Appium completely broken

1. Summary

The automation-toolkit service fails to start on Vega OS 1.2.
Port 8383 shows LISTEN in netstat but no process owns the socket
and all JSON-RPC requests get (52) Empty reply.
Was fully working on OS 1.1.

2. Steps to Reproduce

  1. Device on OS 1.2 (build 2301020004420)
  2. touch /tmp/automation-toolkit.enable
  3. touch /run/devmode/automation-toolkit/enable
  4. vlcm launch-app orpheus://com.att.tv.main
  5. Wait for app to be VISIBLE in vlcm list
  6. curl http://[::1]:8383/jsonrpc → (52) Empty reply from server
  7. ps | grep automation → NO PROCESS FOUND

3. Expected Behavior

automation-toolkit process appears in ps
curl returns valid JSON-RPC response
Appium findElement/takeScreenshot/getPageSource works

4. Actual Behavior

Port 8383 LISTEN but zero processes own it
curl: (52) Empty reply from server
ps shows no automation-toolkit process
All Appium commands fail with socket hang up / ECONNRESET

5. Environment

  • Vega OS: 1.2 (build 2301020004420)
  • Vega SDK: 0.22.5850
  • VDA: 2.1.0
  • Appium: 3.5.2
  • Kepler driver: @amzn/appium-kepler-driver v3.30.0
  • Device: Fire TV Stick (firestick-3b43c107c0c34130)
  • Host: macOS, Apple Silicon

6. Additional Evidence

netstat shows: tcp6 [::]:8383 LISTEN (no PID)
/proc/net/tcp6: inode 1798467 owned by UID 5000 (app_user)
No process found owning inode 1798467 via /proc/*/fd scan
Both activation flags confirmed present before app launch
App confirmed VISIBLE in vlcm list before curl test
vlcm crash-history shows no automation-toolkit crashes
(service never starts, so never crashes)

Same behavior on appium@2 and kepler driver@3.19.0

4

Hi @Hryhorii_Solonynka,

Thank you for the detailed bug report on the automation-toolkit service failing to start on OS 1.2 - the netstat/inode analysis, confirming both enable flags, the app being VISIBLE, and that this worked on OS 1.1 but not OS 1.2 is very helpful.

Our team is investigating this issue and will provide an update as soon as we have more information.

To help us diagnose your specific case, could you please share:

  • Any device logs captured during the attempted toolkit start,
  • the vlcm list and ps output around the app launch, and
  • confirmation of the exact OS 1.1 build where it previously worked (for comparison against this OS 1.2 build).

Thanks for helping us improve the Vega platform.

Warm regards,
Aishwarya

5

Hello @amen ,

Attaching logs for the first two bullets in your request.
The third one is not possible to provide since I don’t have a devcie woth OS 1.1.

Thanks.
diag_v4_20260914_150403.txt (63.5 KB)
live_v4_20260914_150403.txt (1.1 MB)
strace_v4_20260914_150403.txt (14.9 KB)

6

Hi @Hryhorii_Solonynka,

Thank you for sharing the diagnostic logs - we appreciate the thorough follow-up.

Update: This issue has been identified and a fix is included in the next OS release. The automation-toolkit service will work as expected once the update is available on your device.

In the meantime, if you have any other questions, feel free to reach out.

Warm regards,
Aishwarya

7

Thanks and when is the ETA for next release on this?

8

Same issue here: Fire TV Stick (A1TGF7GBNNZ9EE), SDK 0.24.12112, kepler driver 3.30.0, Appium 2.15.0. Extra data point: systemctl list-unit-files shows both automation-toolkit.path and automation-toolkit.service as disabled, so the enable file never triggers the server. vdad logs failed to connect to socket 'tcp:8383': Connection refused. Re-enabling developer mode didn’t change it. Any ETA for the OS release with the fix?

9

We are also experiencing the same issue. Do you have an estimated timeline for when this might be resolved?