Develop Xposed Modules Using Modern Xposed API

Warning: this feature is not yet stable and currently under actively development; APIs may change until stablization

This is a brief document about developing Xposed Modules using modern Xposed API. Documentation refinement is always welcome. Please submit a Feature Reuest issue with the refinement documentation for contribution.

API Changes

Compared to the legacy XposedBridge APIs, the modern API has the following differences:

1. Java entry now uses META-INF/xposed/java_init.list instead of assets/xposed_init; native entry now uses META-INF/xposed/native_init.list. Create a file in src/main/resources/META-INF, and Gradle will automatically package files into your APK. You should now be able to obfuscate your entry classes with R8 with proguard rules adaptresourcefilenames.
2. Modern API does not use metadata anymore as well. Module name uses the android:label resource; module description uses the android:description resource; scope list uses META-INF/xposed/scope.list (one line for one package name); module configuration uses META-INF/xposed/module.prop (in format of Java properties).
3. Java entry should now implement io.github.libxposed.api.XposedModule.
4. Hook APIs are new but intentionally kept simple. We no longer provide interfaces like XposedHelpers in the framework anymore. But we will offer official libraries for a more friendly development kit. See libxposed/helper for this developing library.
5. You can now deoptmize a specific method to bypass method inline (especially when hooking System Framework). We also introduce useful APIs like invokeSpecial and newInstanceSpecial.
6. Resource hooks are removed. Resource hooks are hard to maintain and caused many problems previously, so it will not be supported.
7. You can communicate to the Xposed framework now. With the help of this feature, you can dynamically request scope, share SharedPreferences or blob file across your module and hooked app, check framework's name and version, and more... To achieve this, you should register an Xposed service listener in your module, and once your module app is launched, the Xposed framework will send you a service to communicate with the framework. See libxposed/service for more details. As a result, module apps are no longer hooked by themselves.
8. You can now analyze a dex by using DexParser API, which helps you to deobfuscate an Application and find the hook point, and to find caller of hooked methods for deoptimization to bypass method inline.
9. Xposed API call protection is always enforced for modern module, so you should never call Xposed API by reflection.

Module configuration uses entries as following:

Name	Format	Optional	Meaning
minApiVersion	int	No	Indicates the minimal Xposed API version required by the module
targetApiVersion	int	No	Indicates the target Xposed API version required by the module
staticScope	boolean	Yes	Indicates whether users should not apply the module on any other app out of scope

Comparison among content sharing APIs:

Name	API	Supported	Storage Location	Change Listener	Large Content
New XSharedPreferences	Legacy(ext)	❌ Since v2.1.0	/data/misc/<random>/prefs/<module>	❌	❌
XSharedPreferences	Legacy	✅ Since v2.0.0	Module apps' internal storage	❌	❌
Remote Preferences	Modern	✅ Since v1.9.0	LSPosed database	✅	❌
Remote Files	Modern	✅ Since v1.9.0	/data/adb/lspd/modules/<user>/<module>	❌	✅

Early Access

Note that most things are unstable, untested. APIs are likely to change in the feature. But you can still try them in your module if you need some of the new features. Please don't release a stable release until the new APIs are stable. The current development status of all components are listed below.

Component	Usage	Repository	Status
LSPosed	Implement API and service; you don't need to declaring any dependency for it.	https://github.com/LSPosed/LSPosed	Available
API	User interface for hooks; you should declare it as dependency by compileOnly; don't use it together with the legacy XposedBridge	https://github.com/libxposed/api	Roughly stable
Service	Service to communicate with the Xposed Framework; you should depend on it by implementation	https://github.com/libxposed/service	Roughly stable
Helper	Utils to find classes fields, methods and kotlinize APIs; it should be depended by implementation	https://github.com/libxposed/helper	Developing; DSL APIs are designed but not yet implemented
Example	Example module using modern Xposed API	https://github.com/libxposed/example	Available

The aforementioned libraries will be published to the maven central repository when stabilized, but not now! They offer a CI version in Github Action. Download the artifacts, and merge it with your local maven repository (see more about mavenLocal) or use the raw aar or use source dependencies.

Donation or Contribution

LSPosed and libxposed are open-source projects, and we only work on them for interests. We are not dedicated to these projects and can only work on them in our spare time. That's why the new API takes some long for its first prototype. If you want the new API to grow faster, submit codes to help us, or buy us a cup of coffee.