Termux Launcher

Warning

This project is entirely vibe-coded. I’ve been daily-driving it as a launcher on a Nothing Phone (2), and it has been rock-solid so far. It also does not appear to have any noticeable impact on battery life.

Caution

The native AI backends—Google LiteRT and Alibaba MNN—are highly experimental. Be mindful of your device’s available RAM and processor capabilities when selecting models.

Note

If the terminal slows down, run termux-reload-settings. All hail Fable for exorcising this daemon-basically yeeted it in seconds, on God.

Termux Launcher is a terminal-first Android home launcher inspired by TEL, built on termux-app and termux-monet.

🌐 Website & docs | Download builds | Getting Started | LauncherCtl | LauncherCtl MCP | Termux AI | Changelog

Two editions are available. The com.termux build is the recommended version — it stays fully compatible with the upstream Termux package ecosystem. The io.vaj.tl build installs side-by-side with a stock Termux, but it runs off my own custom APT repository, which I maintain by hand — so it is updated manually and less often. See Editions.

About

Designed to be a Terminal/TUI Android home launcher. What started out as me just wanting sixel image drawing in TEL spiralled out of scope to what this project is today. All credits go to the amazing developers and contributors of Termux, TEL, and Termux:Monet.

Features

• Termux as the actual Android home launcher
• Sixel image drawing in terminal
• App dock with terminal app search
• Android Material theme integration for launcher surfaces and Termux shell theming
• launcherctl shell bridge for launching apps and reading launcher/system data
• LauncherCtl agent tools, including optional stdio MCP-backed tools from ~/.config/termux-launcher/mcp.json
• Cloned/work-profile app discovery where Android exposes launcher profiles
• On-device LLM backends using Google's LiteRT and Alibaba's MNN
• Optional Shizuku integration for screen lock and privileged status helpers

Editions

Every release ships two APK sets. They are the same launcher built from the same source; the only difference is the Android package identity and the package ecosystem they use.

	Termux edition	VAJ edition
Package name	com.termux	io.vaj.tl
Release tag	vX.Y.Z	vX.Y.Z-vaj
Alongside official Termux?	❌ No — same package name, replaces it	✅ Yes — installs side by side
Package repository	official Termux repos	VAJ APT repo (https://repo.pathayam.xyz)
Architectures	arm64-v8a, armeabi-v7a, x86_64, x86	arm64-v8a (aarch64) only, bootstrap embedded
Companion add-ons	Termux:API / Termux:Styling (plain tags)	same forks, -vaj tagged releases

Pick the Termux edition if you want the launcher as your only Termux, fully compatible with the upstream Termux package ecosystem. This is the recommended edition for most users. Pick the VAJ edition if you want to keep your existing official Termux app untouched and run the launcher next to it with its own isolated prefix, data, and APT repository.

⚠️ The VAJ edition depends on my manually maintained custom APT repo (https://repo.pathayam.xyz), so its packages and -vaj releases are updated less frequently than the com.termux edition. If you want the most up-to-date builds and the broadest package compatibility, use the Termux (com.termux) edition.

In both cases, companion add-ons must be the matching builds from this project's forks (they share the launcher's signing key and package family); official F-Droid add-ons will not pair with either edition.

Installation

Download the latest APK of your chosen edition from Releases, install it, then select Termux Launcher as your Android home app.

Recommended setup:

• Unexpected Keyboard for terminal and tmux-heavy use
• Shizuku only if you want optional privileged features
• Optional termux-launcher-tmux theme plugin, installed through the Getting Started flow, for Material colors, CPU/RAM/weather widgets, extra keys, kew, and rish-backed btop
• Matching companion forks when using Termux add-ons (pick the release matching your edition: plain tag for com.termux, -vaj tag for io.vaj.tl):
  • Termux:API
  • Termux:Styling

See Getting Started for the setup flow.

Documentation

• Getting Started: install, launcher basics, tmux setup, rish setup, Extra Keys, and troubleshooting.
• LauncherCtl: shell commands, endpoint files, API basics, and permissions.
• LauncherCtl MCP: MCP client configs, tool names, and live-verified examples for local agents.
• Termux AI: local model setup, tai, OpenAI-compatible clients, and troubleshooting.
• Developer Docs: advanced API routes, runtime notes, helper scripts, and security details.

Quick Shell Example

Launch an Android app from the terminal:

launcherctl launch whatsapp

Example tmux binding:

bind -n M-w run-shell 'tmux display-message "Opening WhatsApp"; launcherctl launch whatsapp >/dev/null 2>&1 || tmux display-message "Launch failed: WhatsApp"'

Known Limitations

• When Termux is set as the home launcher and the last terminal shell exits, Android may recreate the activity before Termux can exit cleanly. Run termux-reload-settings if the terminal slows down or feels stale.

Screenshots

Upstream Base

• termux-app
• termux-monet
• TEL

License and Attributions

Termux Launcher is a modified Termux/Termux:Monet distribution, developed from 2026 onward and released under GPLv3-only. See LICENSE, license exceptions, and open-source notices. The Android app exposes the same notices under Settings > Open-source licenses.