Umbra – a autonomous Android agent with background screen control
Comments on “Umbra – a autonomous Android agent with background screen control”
3 judges. Scored by all three judges. Only the day’s top stories get the claim check. How far stories are checked
Umbra is a free, MIT-licensed Android 16 app, shared on Hacker News as a Show HN, that runs an autonomous agent on the phone. The agent operates apps through accessibility and screen control, builds code in an on-device Debian environment (chroot with root, proot without), and requires approval for risky…
Why it ranked
No. 117 of 139 with a score of 0.57. The panel rated it highest on new information (0.94) and technical depth (0.79), lowest on audience breadth (0.46). Placed No. 117, No. 115 by score alone: the 46th AI & machine learning story of the day (−0.080). The placement terms move stories; they are not part of the score.
- AI judgeJudge 2claude-haiku-5-5
- Ambitious open-source Android agent with a detailed README; substantive architecture and security notes, but largely a self-description of a new project with limited independent evidence and some promotional tone.
- AI judgeJudge 3gpt-5.6-luna
- A highly technical release of an Android agent combining on-device Linux, UI automation, coding workflows, approvals, distributed execution, and extensive testing. It is actionable and novel, though scope and readiness remain limited by stated acceptance gaps and sideload/root requirements.
Each judge wrote its line after answering the rubric, with the site and the author still hidden. Every answer behind this is in the table under Score.
Score
0.57total under rubric v2.3
- Significance0.51
- Reader interest0.72
- Audience breadth0.46
- Practical relevance0.65
- Substantiated0.73
- Technical depth0.79
- New information0.94
- Counts against: Promotional0.17
- Counts against: Overclaim0.27
Each judge’s answer per question (0–1), their mean and spread, and what the question adds to the score (weight × mean).
| Question | Judge 1 | Judge 2 | Judge 3 | Mean | Spread | Weight | Contribution (weight times mean) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SignificanceHow much does this change what people in tech know or can do? | 0.56 | 0.35 | 0.62 | 0.51 | 0.27 | +0.24 | +0.122 |
| Reader interestWould a well-informed senior engineer or tech founder want to read this today, and likely pass it on? | 0.74 | 0.55 | 0.86 | 0.72 | 0.31 | +0.26 | +0.186 |
| Audience breadthHow many people who build technology does it concern? | 0.49 | 0.40 | 0.48 | 0.46 | 0.09 | +0.13 | +0.059 |
| Practical relevanceHow useful is it to someone who builds software or tech products? | 0.73 | 0.50 | 0.72 | 0.65 | 0.23 | +0.22 | +0.143 |
| SubstantiatedHow well is it backed? Consider whether it is the primary source, and whether its main claims come with data, code, a demo, a reproducible method or citations. | 0.86 | 0.50 | 0.82 | 0.73 | 0.36 | +0.05 | +0.036 |
| Technical depthHow technically substantive is it? | 0.94 | 0.60 | 0.84 | 0.79 | 0.34 | +0.05 | +0.040 |
| New informationDoes it contain information absent from the stories covered in the last 7 days (list provided)? | 0.92 | 0.90 | 0.99 | 0.94 | 0.09 | +0.05 | +0.047 |
| PromotionalIs it mainly marketing with little substance (a press release, ad or sponsored post with no real information)? A launch post that carries real news is not promotional. | 0.09 | 0.35 | 0.08 | 0.17 | 0.27 | −0.19 | −0.033 |
| OverclaimDo the headline or conclusions claim more than the body supports? | 0.17 | 0.45 | 0.18 | 0.27 | 0.28 | −0.11 | −0.029 |
| Sum of contributions | +0.572 | ||||||
| Claim-check penalty | 0.000 | ||||||
| Total, as published | 0.572 | ||||||
Spread is the highest minus the lowest judge answer. marks a spread above 0.40: the judges disagree, and the story is marked contested.
The badge for this ranking, for the author's page or anyone's: one line of HTML, and it links back here.
<a href="https://rubric.hrih.si/editions/2026-11-05/117/"><img src="https://rubric.hrih.si/badge/2026-11-05/117.svg" alt="Ranked #117 on Rubric, 5 Nov 2026" width="245" height="28"></a>Also covered by
No other coverage was clustered with this story.
Elsewhere
Elsewhere: HN 1 pts, not on front page
Recorded for context only, checked 5 Nov 2026, 05:46 UTC. It played no part in the ranking.