curl -fsSL https://dixonsolutions.github.io/lindroids/install.sh | sh # in Termux
lindroids run org.gnome.Calculator # a window of its own, now
lindroids export org.gnome.Calculator # an app of its own: tap Install, then its icon
What Lindroids is, and is not
- A package, not an app. You install Lindroids inside your container apps: with
pkg in
Termux, or with the package manager of a proot distro. There is no Lindroids app to get
from a store, and nothing to install on Android first.
- Not a container app. Lindroids does not run Linux itself. Termux, proot-distro and
Flatpak keep running your programs, with their files and packages. Lindroids gives those
programs windows on Android, and Android features through the portals.
- It builds apps for your programs. The APK in the package is a template for the window
app.
lindroids export fills it in with a program's name and icon and signs it on the phone.
The resulting app belongs to that program and opens its window. The optional windows app
(lindroids app install) is built the same way, for programs you run without exporting.
What you get
- Every exported program is an Android app.
lindroids export builds an APK for the
program on the phone (its package, name, icon and start page; about 180 KB, in milliseconds)
and hands it to Android's installer. Its icon starts the program, also when Termux is not
running; its window is Android's own WebView, full screen; Recents shows its icon.
How, and what was tested →
- Single runs get a window of their own too.
lindroids run opens the program in the
Lindroids windows app (lindroids app install builds it on the phone, once): one window per
run with the program's name, closed when the program ends or Termux stops. One UI draws the
windows app's icon on those cards; only an exported program's own app shows its own.
- Any Linux program with a window: Termux packages, programs in a proot distro, Flatpaks
from Flathub (set up in Termux by
install.sh, no root), X11 programs.
- Android underneath: dark mode and accent colour, Android's file picker for Open… and
Save As…, Open with from the Files app, notifications, the clipboard both ways, sound and
the microphone, keeping the screen on, battery state, touch, pen and keyboards.
How it works
Termux / proot distro / Flatpak Android
┌────────────────────────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────────────────────┐
│ Linux programs │ │ the program's own app (WebView) │
│ │ Wayland │ PulseAudio │ X11 │◀═ WebSocket on ═▶│ canvas, touch, keys, sound │
│ lindroids server + desktop portals │ loopback, │ file pickers, clipboard │
│ app_process helper (as Termux) ────┼── P-256 keys ───▶│ installer, notifications, theme │
└────────────────────────────────────┘ └──────────────────────────────────┘
- The program and its data stay in Termux (or the proot distro, or the Flatpak). The
lindroids server is a Wayland compositor and a PulseAudio server in one Rust binary; it
sends each window as a page on a loopback port, tile by tile, and takes back input.
- The window is an app on Android. Android draws windows only for installed apps, so each
exported program gets one: the window app's code (
packaging/webview-app) under the program's
identity, filled in and signed on the phone by crates/lindroids-apk (no Android SDK, aapt or
Java there). Programs that are not exported open in a browser Custom Tab, or in the optional
shared app (lindroids app install).
- Android's side reaches programs through the desktop portals (Settings, FileChooser,
OpenURI, Notification, Inhibit), so GTK and libadwaita programs follow it unchanged.
More: docs/ARCHITECTURE.md, docs/DISPLAY.md.
Install
In Termux (from F-Droid, GitHub or Google Play):
curl -fsSL https://dixonsolutions.github.io/lindroids/install.sh | sh
install.sh adds the Lindroids repository to the package manager (Termux's APT or pacman;
Debian/Ubuntu, Arch, Fedora, openSUSE, Alpine, Void in proot distros and on desktops), so the
usual upgrade keeps it current, and offers to set up Flatpak. Details:
docs/INSTALL.md.
The first lindroids export asks Android once to allow installs: from Termux (F-Droid/GitHub
Termux), or from the file manager (Google Play Termux, which may not install apps itself).
Google Play Protect may then ask to scan the new app; More details → Install without scanning
keeps it on the phone.
Use
lindroids run <command> [args] # a program in a window of its own
lindroids run org.gnome.TextEditor # a Flatpak
lindroids run --prootdistro=debian gedit # from a proot-distro distro
lindroids export <command> [args] # an app of its own (again: updates it)
lindroids list | launch <id> | remove <id>
lindroids open --linux <file> # a file in a Linux program; `open <file|URL>` in Android
lindroids notify <title> [body] # an Android notification
lindroids status | doctor | stop | version
lindroids config browser chooses what an export becomes: app (the default, its own app),
webapk (an app made by Chrome or Samsung Internet, docs/WEBAPK.md),
home-screen (a Termux shortcut) or a browser.
Limits
- Installing is always the user's tap in Android's installer, and new apps meet Google Play
Protect. From 2027, Google's developer verification may require a one-time "advanced flow"
for apps signed on the phone (BROWSER_AGNOSTIC_APK.md).
- An app is signed with a key made on the phone: clearing Termux's data loses it, and the apps
must then be uninstalled before they can be installed again.
- Windows of programs that are not exported open in a browser: there full screen starts on the
first tap, and Firefox shows its own icon in Recents.
Tested
On a Samsung Galaxy Tab Active5 (Android 16, Termux from Google Play): building, installing and
updating VSCodium's app, starting it from its icon with Termux closed, one window in Recents with
VSCodium's icon (docs/APPS.md). On Android 13 lab VMs: Calculator, Text Editor,
Mousepad, foot, Xournal++, X11 programs, home screen icons after a reboot, Open with, the file
picker, notifications, theme (docs/TESTING.md, lab/CHECKLIST.md).
Build from source
cargo test --workspace
scripts/build-release.sh # CLIs for 8 targets and every package → dist/
packaging/build-app-template.sh # after changing packaging/webview-app (needs the SDK)
Needs Rust with the Android and musl targets, cargo-ndk and NDK 27:
docs/PACKAGING.md.
License
MIT or Apache-2.0, at your option. Packages also ship
xwayland-satellite (MPL-2.0): third_party/README.md.
