Cortex is a modern, high-performance Linux terminal application for Android powered by Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat) and Glibc 2.39.
Most existing Android terminal setups suffer from two major problems:
- Missing standard Linux libraries: They rely on Android's custom system libraries, causing errors when compiling or running standard Linux programs.
- Slow execution: When using tools like PRoot to fake a Linux system, every single action is intercepted at the operating system level, which slows down your device and consumes extra battery.
Cortex takes a completely different approach:
- Zero-Overhead Native Speed: Programs talk directly to your device's processor and Linux kernel. No heavy emulation and no system-call traps.
- No Root Required: Everything operates safely inside the application sandbox on standard, unrooted Android devices.
- Full Library Support: Built to support standard Glibc tools and modern Linux environments natively.
- Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat) Userland: Full APT package management (
apt update,apt install) with standard Ubuntu repositories and Glibc 2.39. - Pure Native Execution: Zero PRoot, zero chroot, and zero virtualization overhead. Direct hardware execution on Android's Linux kernel with userspace translation (
libcortex-hook.so). - CLI Browser Auto-Redirection: Seamlessly bridges CLI auth tools (
antigravity auth login,gh auth login, OAuth flows, andxdg-open) into Google Chrome or your default Android browser. - Direct Keyboard Image Insertion: Tap any image in Gboard or Samsung Keyboard's clipboard to save it to
/sdcard/Pictures/and insert its file path directly into the terminal prompt. - Background Service Manager: Control services with
service,systemctl,/etc/init.d/, and persistent background daemons via/etc/cortex/autostart. - All-Files Storage Access: Deep integration with Android's
MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGEto work directly across device files on/sdcard. - High-Speed Display Engine: Smooth text rendering with full 256-color, TrueColor, and crisp monospace typography.
- Convenient Keyboard Bar & Tabs: Quick-access buttons for Esc, Tab, Ctrl, Alt, arrows, and multi-tab session management.
- Terminal Search: Swipe right-to-left across the keyboard bar (or tap
FIND) to search the full 5000-line scrollback with live hit counts and match-to-match navigation. - Clickable Links: URLs printed in the terminal are underlined and open directly in Chrome or your default Android browser with a single tap.
- Go to the Releases section on this repository.
- Download the version for your device:
- Cortex-arm64-v8a-signed.apk: For almost all modern Android phones and tablets (64-bit).
- Cortex-armeabi-v7a-signed.apk: For older 32-bit Android devices.
- Open the downloaded file on your Android device and tap Install.
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| Cortex Terminal |
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| +-----------------------------------------------------+ |
| | Modern User Interface (Tabs, Keyboard Bar, Display) | |
| +-----------------------------------------------------+ |
| | |
| +-----------------------------------------------------+ |
| | Native PTY Controller (Direct Unix Terminal Bridge) | |
| +-----------------------------------------------------+ |
| | |
| +-----------------------------------------------------+ |
| | Zero-Overhead Userspace Hook (libcortex-hook.so) | |
| +-----------------------------------------------------+ |
| | |
| +-----------------------------------------------------+ |
| | Android Linux Kernel (Direct Hardware Execution) | |
| +-----------------------------------------------------+ |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
- Native Terminal Interface: The user interface draws text directly to the screen using your phone's graphics hardware.
- Direct Kernel Execution: Terminal commands run directly on the underlying Linux kernel with zero emulation layers.
- Userspace Redirection: A lightweight helper library redirects standard Linux paths (such as
/usrand/bin) to Cortex's private directory without using slow kernel intercepts.
This project is configured with GitHub Actions. Every release is built, split into 64-bit and 32-bit packages, and signed automatically in the cloud.
To build manually on your workstation:
# Build release APKs for 64-bit and 32-bit
./gradlew assembleReleaseHave feedback, questions, or feature requests? Reach out directly:
- Telegram: @ratzgn
- GitHub Issues: Report an Issue / Feature Request
This project is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.