Writing a client

com.roblox.client · target ABI x86_64 · status page

A complete updater, in the order the calls should be made. The shape below is what a Linux host keeping an Android runtime up to date actually needs; adapt the install step to your container.

The loop

  1. Ask what should be installed.
  2. Compare against what is installed. Stop if equal.
  3. Download, following redirects.
  4. Verify the sha256.
  5. Install according to kind.
  6. Record the version you installed.

bash

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

API="https://robloxandriod.com"
STATE="/var/lib/roblox-android/installed-version"
mkdir -p "$(dirname "$STATE")"

# 1. what should be installed
meta="$(curl -fsS "$API/api/v1/android/files/latest")"
version="$(printf '%s' "$meta" | jq -r .version)"
kind="$(printf '%s' "$meta" | jq -r .kind)"
want_sha="$(printf '%s' "$meta" | jq -r .sha256)"

# 2. already there?
if [ -f "$STATE" ] && [ "$(cat "$STATE")" = "$version" ]; then
  echo "up to date: $version"; exit 0
fi

# 3. download - -L is required, the endpoint redirects to Cloudflare
out="/tmp/roblox-$version.$kind"
curl -fL --retry 3 --retry-delay 5 -o "$out" "$API/download/$version"

# 4. verify
if [ -n "$want_sha" ]; then
  got="$(sha256sum "$out" | cut -d' ' -f1)"
  [ "$got" = "$want_sha" ] || { echo "sha256 mismatch, refusing"; rm -f "$out"; exit 1; }
else
  echo "warning: this build is unpinned (no published sha256)"
fi

# 5. install
case "$kind" in
  apk)  adb install -r "$out" ;;
  xapk) tmp="$(mktemp -d)"; unzip -q "$out" -d "$tmp"
        adb install-multiple "$tmp"/*.apk ;;
esac

# 6. remember
printf '%s' "$version" > "$STATE"
rm -f "$out"
echo "installed $version"

python

import hashlib, requests

API = "https://robloxandriod.com"

meta = requests.get(f"{API}/api/v1/android/files/latest", timeout=15).json()

with requests.get(f"{API}/download/{meta['version']}", stream=True,
                  allow_redirects=True, timeout=(15, 600)) as r:
    r.raise_for_status()
    digest = hashlib.sha256()
    with open(meta["fileName"], "wb") as f:
        for chunk in r.iter_content(1 << 20):
            f.write(chunk)
            digest.update(chunk)

if meta["sha256"] and digest.hexdigest() != meta["sha256"]:
    raise SystemExit("sha256 mismatch")

Polling politely

The tracker itself checks upstream every 60 seconds, so asking more often than that learns nothing new. Once every 5 to 15 minutes is plenty for an updater. The metadata endpoints are database reads and cost this server almost nothing; /api/v1/android/current may hit the mirror, so prefer /api/v1/android/files/latest in a loop and keep /current for the moment you actually intend to install.

Responses are sent with Cache-Control: no-store. There is no rate limit today. Set a real User-Agent so an unexpected traffic pattern can be traced to its owner rather than blocked.

Things that will bite you