TAD — Termux Android Dev

Build, install and test Kotlin + Jetpack Compose Android apps entirely on an Android phone, inside Termux. No Android Studio, no PC, no root, no proot.

Everything is built from Termux packages and Google's official Android SDK. There are no third-party repositories, prebuilt binaries, vendored wrappers or curl-pipe-to-shell installers.

Install

One line:

pkg install -y git && git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/mhs003/TAD ~/.local/share/TAD && ~/.local/share/TAD/bin/tad-setup

Then source ~/.bashrc and check it over with tad doctor.

The installer installs the Termux packages, downloads Google's SDK command-line tools, accepts the SDK licences, installs the platform and build-tools, writes env.sh, hooks it into ~/.bashrc, and configures ~/.gradle/gradle.properties. It is idempotent, so re-run it any time. ./install.sh does the same thing if you would rather not paste a one-liner.

Commands

Command	Description
tad setup	Build the complete toolchain from an empty Termux
tad doctor	Check the toolchain and report problems
tad new <name> [--package <id>] [--dir <path>]	Create a Kotlin + Compose project
tad init [dir]	Make an existing project buildable on-device
tad build [debug|release]	Assemble an APK and verify its contents
tad compile [debug|release|all]	Compile Kotlin sources without packaging an APK
tad run [--log]	Build, install and launch on the device
tad install [apk]	Install an APK on the device
tad test [unit|instrumented|all]	Run JVM and/or on-device tests
tad clean [--daemon|--all]	Clean build output
tad adb <cmd>	adb helpers — run tad adb for the list

Quick start

tad new MyApp --package com.example.myapp
cd MyApp
tad compile               # fast typecheck, no APK
tad build                 # assembleDebug + APK verification
tad run                   # build, install, launch
tad test unit             # JVM unit tests
tad test instrumented     # Compose UI tests on the device

Testing on the device

Termux and adb run on the same phone, so adb talks to 127.0.0.1.

1. Enable Developer options → Wireless debugging.
2. Pair device with pairing code — note the pairing port and code.
3. tad adb pair <pairing-port> <code>
4. Note IP address & Port, then tad adb connect <connect-port>
5. tad adb status to confirm.

Useful extras:

• tad adb tcpip 5555 — pin adbd to a fixed port until reboot.
• tad adb phantom off — disable Android's phantom-process killer for long builds. Re-enable it afterwards (tad adb phantom on); leaving it off can drain the battery.

On some OEM ROMs the shell user shares the device with a secondary user (for example TECNO's "Dual Space", user 999). Every command here targets --user 0 explicitly, so package queries and installs behave predictably.

Configuration

All versions live in tad.conf. Each value comes from one of:

Source	Used for
Termux packages	openjdk-21, gradle, kotlin, aapt2, apksigner, d8, android-tools
Google SDK (dl.google.com via sdkmanager)	command-line tools, platform-tools, platforms;android-37.2, build-tools;36.0.0
Maven (Google Maven + Maven Central, resolved by Gradle)	AGP, Compose, AndroidX

Change a value and re-run tad setup (SDK levels) or tad init (per project).

How it works

An Android build is almost entirely Java, which is architecture-independent. The exceptions are the native binaries in build-tools and platform-tools, which ship as x86-64 and cannot execute on an ARM device.

• aapt2 — AGP is pointed at Termux's native aarch64 aapt2 via android.aapt2FromMavenOverride. This was verified against every AGP 9 resource task, including optimizeReleaseResources with R8 minification and resource shrinking enabled.
• adb — platform-tools/adb is replaced with a symlink to Termux's aarch64 adb, so AGP's on-device tests work. Neither platform-tools nor build-tools is put on PATH; their natives would only shadow the working Termux copies.
• Kotlin — AGP 9 compiles Kotlin itself ("built-in Kotlin"), so the org.jetbrains.kotlin.android plugin is not applied. The only Kotlin plugin in the generated project is the Compose compiler, whose version must match the Kotlin Gradle plugin AGP bundles.

Layout

TAD/
├── tad.conf                  versions and paths
├── env.sh                    generated by tad setup, sourced from ~/.bashrc
├── lib/common.sh             shared helpers
├── bin/                      the tad-* commands
├── templates/compose-app/    Kotlin + Compose project template
└── .agents/skills/tad/       Agent Skill so coding agents can drive this tool
    └── SKILL.md

The bundled Agent Skill teaches any Agent-Skills-compatible coding agent how to drive tad. It lives at .agents/skills/tad/, and copying it to ~/.agents/skills/ makes it available in other projects.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause / fix
Exec format error from adb or aapt2	An x86-64 SDK binary is shadowing the Termux one. Run tad doctor; re-run tad setup to restore the adb symlink.
Build killed part-way through	Android's phantom-process killer. tad adb phantom off, then re-enable when done.
OutOfMemoryError during a build	Lower GRADLE_JVMARGS in tad.conf, then tad setup.
BUILD SUCCESSFUL but the app will not install	tad build guards this already — it checks the APK for AndroidManifest.xml, resources.arsc and dex, and runs apksigner verify.
WARNING: ... 'android.aapt2FromMavenOverride' is experimental	Expected. AGP marks the option experimental; it is required for on-device builds.
Gradle daemon misbehaving	tad clean --daemon.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.