perf: shrink classes.dex from ~932KB to ~47KB

[gmegidish]

Summary

Reduces classes.dex by 95% — from 953,956 bytes (~932KB) to 47,700 bytes (~47KB) — by dropping unused UI library dependencies and the Material theme that pulled them in.

Why so big?

The app's own code is only ~1,160 lines, yet the dex was ~932KB. The bloat came almost entirely from com.google.android.material + androidx.appcompat and their transitive deps (recyclerview, constraintlayout, transition, fragment, emoji2, lifecycle…).

None of these are referenced anywhere in the source — the only third-party class actually used is androidx.test.uiautomator.UiDevice. They were pulled in solely by the app theme (Theme.MaterialComponents.DayNight.DarkActionBar). Since this is a headless app (instrumentation entry points + a broadcast receiver, no <activity>), the theme is nominal.

Changes

• app/build.gradle.kts — remove material, appcompat, core-ktx, and tracing dependencies (kept uiautomator).
• app/src/main/res/values/themes.xml — swap the Material parent for the framework @android:style/Theme.Material.Light.NoActionBar (zero dex cost; available since API 21, minSdk is 29).
• app/src/main/res/values-night/themes.xml — deleted (only existed for the Material day/night theme; no UI to theme).

Verification

• ./gradlew assembleDebug succeeds.
• Post-build dex contains only: project classes (21), androidx.test.uiautomator (5), and a handful of Kotlin stdlib classes — no appcompat/material/etc.

Test plan

• Confirm instrumentation entry points still launch (DeviceKitServer, ViewTreeDump)
• Confirm ClipboardBroadcastReceiver still receives clipper.set
• Confirm PackageLister still runs via app_process

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Summary by cubic

Shrinks classes.dex by ~95% (953,956 → 47,700 bytes) by removing unused UI libraries and switching to a zero-cost framework theme. The app is headless, so Material/AppCompat were only pulled in by the theme; build now includes project code, Kotlin stdlib, and androidx.test.uiautomator.

• Refactors

  • Replace Theme.MaterialComponents.DayNight.DarkActionBar with @android:style/Theme.Material.Light.NoActionBar (API 21+, minSdk 29).
  • Remove values-night/themes.xml since day/night theming isn’t used.

• Dependencies

  • Removed: material, appcompat, core-ktx, tracing.
  • Kept: androidx.uiautomator (still excluding junit).

^{Written for commit e4a70d8. Summary will update on new commits.}

[coderabbitai]

No actionable comments were generated in the recent review. 🎉

ℹ️ Recent review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Organization UI

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: af14bfb2-e926-48b0-879b-9f9510c93b70

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 1d46386 and e4a70d8.

📒 Files selected for processing (3)

• app/build.gradle.kts
• app/src/main/res/values-night/themes.xml
• app/src/main/res/values/themes.xml

💤 Files with no reviewable changes (2)

• app/src/main/res/values-night/themes.xml
• app/build.gradle.kts

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Walkthrough

The pull request strips the app module of its Material UI dependency stack. Four implementation dependencies — core-ktx, tracing, appcompat, and material — are removed from app/build.gradle.kts. Correspondingly, app/src/main/res/values/themes.xml is rewritten to a minimal style that inherits @android:style/Theme.Material.Light.NoActionBar with no item overrides and a comment marking the app as headless. The night-mode theme file at app/src/main/res/values-night/themes.xml is deleted entirely.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	The title accurately reflects the primary change—reducing classes.dex size by 95% through dependency and theme removal.
Description check	✅ Passed	The description thoroughly explains the problem, solution, and verification steps, directly relating to the changeset.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.

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✨ Finishing Touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Commit unit tests in branch reduce-dex-size

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[cubic-dev-ai]

No issues found across 3 files

_{Re-trigger cubic}