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Assets and Files ​

Extensions often need to bundle extra files like scripts, templates, or binary tools. You might also need a place to store custom user data or temporary files.

Assets ​

Assets are read-only files bundled inside your extension APK. You can access them using context.assets. This property returns a standard Android AssetManager object:

kotlin
val scriptStream = context.assets.open("scripts/setup.sh")
val scriptText = scriptStream.bufferedReader().use { it.readText() }

Assets are great for files that never change or are need for initial setup/configuration.

However, to write or execute them, you must move them to another folder. This brings us to the next concept.

Persistent Storage ​

If you need to save files that persist across app restarts, use context.extensionFiles. This gives you a directory on the device that belongs solely to your extension.

kotlin
val myFolder = context.extensionFiles.resolve("my_data")
if (!myFolder.exists()) {
    myFolder.mkdirs()
}

val dataFile = myFolder.resolve("hello_world.txt")
dataFile.writeText("Hello, World!")

WARNING

When managing settings, please use the Settings Storage API rather than developing a custom solution.

INFO

In contrast to the Settings Storage API, the files you store in the context.extensionFiles folder will be removed when the extension is uninstalled.

The Files Folder ​

When building your extension, you can create a folder named files in your source structure. Everything you put in this folder will be copied to context.extensionFiles automatically when the user installs your extension.

This is the perfect way to provide "start files" without having to manually copy the files from the read-only assets folder.