What is portal-samples?

Portal Samples is a starter Android application provided by Meta that shows developers how to build apps for Meta Portal devices. Meta Portal is a line of smart display products, available in tabletop and TV form factors, that run Android but have specific hardware constraints and design rules different from phones or tablets. This sample is meant to give developers a working foundation to build on rather than starting from scratch. The sample app covers the most common things a developer would need to do on Portal hardware. It demonstrates how to handle permissions for the camera, microphone, and other device features, how to show a live camera preview, how to record and play back audio, and how to build a basic interface using Android's Material 3 design components. All of this is built with Kotlin and Jetpack Compose, which are the standard modern tools for Android development. The project also promotes an AI-assisted development path. It references a tool called hzdb that connects your AI coding assistant to documentation about Portal's specific constraints and design requirements. The idea is that instead of reading through all the Portal documentation manually, you can describe what you want to build to your AI coding tool and it will have the relevant Portal knowledge already loaded. To use the sample, you connect a Portal device to your computer with a USB cable, enable developer mode on the device, build the project, and push the app to the device using standard Android tools. The repository includes build commands and links to Meta's official Portal development documentation for anyone who needs the full setup walkthrough.