Cline Termux

Unofficial native Termux port of the Cline CLI TUI for Android aarch64.

This repository packages the upstream Cline CLI for Termux and adds the small runtime/UX pieces needed for a phone-native terminal experience. It is not an official Cline release.

Current port:

Cline CLI: 3.0.61
Termux release: v3.0.61-termux.2
Platform: Android aarch64
Command: cline

Install

curl -fsSL https://github.com/IChouChiang/cline-termux/releases/latest/download/install-cline-termux.sh | bash

Then run:

cline

or explicitly open the TUI:

cline --tui

Requirements

• Termux on Android
• aarch64 device
• Internet access for the first install
• An API key/provider supported by Cline

The installer installs required Termux packages if they are missing:

curl
nodejs-lts
ripgrep
tar
coreutils

Runtime Layout

The package follows Termux prefix layout and keeps user data in the official Cline location:

$PREFIX/bin/cline
$PREFIX/opt/cline-termux/current
$PREFIX/opt/bun-android-ffi/current
$PREFIX/bin/bun-ffi
~/.cline

The private bun-ffi runtime is used only by this Cline port. It does not replace $PREFIX/bin/bun.

Each release installs into its own $PREFIX/opt/cline-termux/<version> tree and current points at the active one. After a successful install the installer keeps the previous version as an offline rollback path and removes older trees. To keep more, or to keep everything:

curl -fsSL https://github.com/IChouChiang/cline-termux/releases/latest/download/install-cline-termux.sh | bash -s -- --keep 3
curl -fsSL https://github.com/IChouChiang/cline-termux/releases/latest/download/install-cline-termux.sh | bash -s -- --no-prune

The same settings are available as CLINE_TERMUX_KEEP_VERSIONS and CLINE_TERMUX_PRUNE=0. Nothing outside $PREFIX/opt/cline-termux is removed.

Why Bun FFI Is Included

Cline CLI v3 uses OpenTUI. OpenTUI loads its native renderer through bun:ffi dlopen().

Official Bun Android can run JavaScript, but currently cannot perform that native dlopen() path because TinyCC is disabled. This port therefore depends on a small experimental Bun Android FFI runtime:

https://github.com/IChouChiang/bun-android-ffi

Android Native OpenTUI Library

OpenTUI publishes native renderer packages for macOS, Linux, and Windows, but not for Android. This port builds a genuine Android/Bionic @opentui/core-android-arm64 from pinned OpenTUI source with Zig and the Android NDK, and ships it as a checksum-verified release asset. No Linux prebuilt is aliased as Android and no ELF is rewritten.

The library also disables Android heap pointer tagging in a constructor: Scudo's tagged pointers cannot survive Bun's number-based FFI pointers, which otherwise corrupts every heap pointer that crosses the FFI boundary. Build script and source patch live in release/opentui-android/; all pins are recorded in release/port-manifest.json.

Termux TUI Defaults

This port adjusts three mobile terminal behaviors by default:

CLINE_TUI_TERMUX_DIALOG_SAFE_AREA_BOTTOM=15%
CLINE_TUI_TERMUX_MOUSE=off
CLINE_TUI_TERMUX_TOUCH_SCROLL=transcript

The first keeps dialogs such as /settings, /model, and /history higher above the Android keyboard. The second lets Termux open the soft keyboard when the screen is touched. The third maps Termux finger scrolling to the transcript; use Alt+Up and Alt+Down to browse prompt history.

To restore OpenTUI mouse tracking:

CLINE_TUI_TERMUX_MOUSE=on cline --tui

To restore plain Up/Down prompt-history navigation:

CLINE_TUI_TERMUX_TOUCH_SCROLL=input cline --tui

Verify

cline --version
cline --help
bun-ffi --version

The installer also runs a native OpenTUI dlopen() smoke test before reporting success. Release acceptance goes further: every candidate must render real frames through the packaged native library and draw the TUI input screen in a pseudo-terminal on a physical device before it can be promoted.

Maintainer Flow

Each stable upstream CLI tag is handled independently:

bash release/manage.sh inspect cli-v3.0.30
bash release/manage.sh candidate cli-v3.0.30
bash release/manage.sh promote v3.0.30-termux.1 --confirm-manual-test

candidate builds once, runs the upstream CLI unit and TUI suites, tests the unpublished archive on Termux, publishes a prerelease, and installs that exact tag on the S25 Ultra. Host-side test files are confined to a disposable staging directory instead of accumulating in /tmp. promote only changes release state after the manual touch/IME test; it does not rebuild or replace release assets. Device acceptance checks use bounded retries. Promotion waits for GitHub's Latest state, closes the matching update issue, audits active workflows, and can safely resume after interruption. The manager has no range mode, so an upstream CLI release cannot be skipped accidentally.

Uninstall

rm -f "$PREFIX/bin/cline" "$PREFIX/bin/bun-ffi"
rm -rf "$PREFIX/opt/cline-termux" "$PREFIX/opt/bun-android-ffi"

This does not remove ~/.cline, where Cline stores user settings, tasks, and API keys.

Status

Tested on:

Samsung SM-S9380, Android 16, F-Droid Termux 0.118.3, aarch64

Known limitations:

• Android aarch64 only
• experimental private Bun FFI runtime
• no guarantee as a general Bun replacement
• not yet an official Termux package

Source And Attribution

Upstream Cline:

https://github.com/cline/cline

Upstream OpenTUI (source of the Android native library build):

https://github.com/sst/opentui

Downstream Bun FFI runtime:

https://github.com/IChouChiang/bun-android-ffi

License:

Apache-2.0 for Cline
MIT for OpenTUI; its LICENSE ships inside the Android native package
Bun and linked-library notices are included in the Bun FFI runtime artifact