name: android-background-work description: Android background work — WorkManager, foreground services, notifications, scheduling. user-invocable: true

Android Background Work

Cross-cutting skill — always activates alongside the project-type-specific skill.

Hard Rules

• •Use WorkManager for all deferrable, persistent background work.
• •Declare foreground service types explicitly (API 34+ requirement).
• •Use notification channels (API 26+) for all notifications.
• •Never hold WakeLocks indefinitely — always release in a finally block.
• •Use exact alarms only for user-visible scheduling (alarms, reminders).
• •FCM high-priority messages only for user-visible notifications.
• •Stop foreground services when work completes — do not leave them running.
• •Request POST_NOTIFICATIONS permission (API 33+) before posting notifications.

Core Patterns

• •WorkManager with constraints (network, charging, storage) for intelligent scheduling.
• •Use ExistingWorkPolicy.KEEP or REPLACE to avoid duplicate work.
• •Chain work requests with then() for sequential dependencies.
• •Use expedited work for urgent tasks that must run immediately.
• •Prefer inexact alarms (setInexactRepeating) to save battery.
• •Use Hilt @AssistedInject for WorkManager Worker injection.

References

• •references/workmanager.md
• •references/foreground_services.md
• •references/notifications.md
• •references/scheduling.md
• •references/testing_background_work.md