Termux Commands

Reference for Termux-specific commands used within the ADL environment. Covers package management, storage access, session control, and the Termux API.

Package Management

Termux uses pkg as its primary package manager. pkg is a wrapper around apt that automatically runs apt update before install operations, ensuring you always pull from the latest package index. You can use apt directly if you prefer, but you must run apt update manually before installing or upgrading.

Feature	pkg	apt
Auto-updates package index	Yes	No
Syntax	pkg install <name>	apt install <name>
Backend	Calls apt internally	Direct dpkg frontend
Recommended for Termux	Yes	Only if you need fine-grained control

Core Commands

Command	Description	Example
pkg install <package>	Install one or more packages	pkg install git nodejs
pkg uninstall <package>	Remove a package	pkg uninstall nodejs
pkg list-installed	List all installed packages	pkg list-installed
pkg list-all	List all available packages in the repo	pkg list-all
pkg search <query>	Search for packages by name or description	pkg search python
pkg update	Update the package index	pkg update
pkg upgrade	Upgrade all installed packages to latest versions	pkg upgrade
pkg show <package>	Show detailed info about a package	pkg show openssh
pkg files <package>	List files installed by a package	pkg files curl
pkg clean	Clear the local package cache	pkg clean

$pkg update && pkg upgrade -y

✅💡 Batch installs

Chain multiple packages in a single install command to avoid repeated index updates: pkg install git curl wget openssh -y

Common Package Groups

Useful package sets for a typical ADL setup.

Core utilities:

$pkg install coreutils findutils grep sed gawk tar gzip -y

Development tools:

$pkg install git nodejs python build-essential clang cmake -y

Networking and remote access:

$pkg install openssh curl wget nmap rsync -y

Shell and terminal:

$pkg install zsh tmux neovim htop tree -y

File and text processing:

$pkg install jq ripgrep fd fzf bat -y

⭐Keep packages current

Run pkg update && pkg upgrade -y regularly to avoid dependency conflicts when installing new packages.

Storage

Termux runs in its own sandboxed filesystem. To access shared Android storage (Downloads, DCIM, etc.), you must grant storage permission first.

Setting Up Storage Access

$termux-setup-storage

Running this command prompts for the Android storage permission and creates symlinks under ~/storage/.

⚠️Run only once

You only need to run termux-setup-storage once. Running it again will recreate the symlinks but should not cause issues.

Important Paths

Path	Description
/data/data/com.termux/files/home	Termux home directory (~)
/data/data/com.termux/files/usr	Termux usr prefix ($PREFIX)
~/storage/shared	Android internal storage root
~/storage/downloads	Android Downloads folder
~/storage/dcim	Android DCIM (camera photos)
~/storage/music	Android Music folder
~/storage/movies	Android Movies folder
~/storage/pictures	Android Pictures folder
~/storage/external-1	External SD card (if available)

ℹ️Note

Files stored inside /data/data/com.termux/files/ are private to Termux and not accessible to other Android apps without root. Use ~/storage/shared when you need files visible to other apps.

Sessions

Reloading Settings

$termux-reload-settings

Reloads ~/.termux/termux.properties without restarting the Termux app. Use this after editing font, color scheme, or keyboard settings.

Setting file	Purpose
~/.termux/termux.properties	Terminal behavior, extra keys, bell, etc.
~/.termux/colors.properties	Terminal color scheme
~/.termux/font.ttf	Custom terminal font

Termux API Commands

These commands require the Termux:API add-on app to be installed from F-Droid (or the same source as your Termux install) and the termux-api package.

$pkg install termux-api -y

⚠️Warning

The Termux:API Android app and the termux-api package must come from the same distribution source (both from F-Droid or both from GitHub releases). Mixing sources causes silent failures.

Device and System

Command	Description	Example
termux-battery-status	Battery level, status, temperature in JSON	termux-battery-status
termux-brightness <0-255>	Set screen brightness	termux-brightness 200
termux-vibrate	Vibrate the device	termux-vibrate -d 500
termux-volume <stream> <vol>	Set volume for a stream (music, ring, alarm, notification)	termux-volume music 10
termux-wifi-connectioninfo	Current Wi-Fi connection details in JSON	termux-wifi-connectioninfo
termux-telephony-deviceinfo	Device and SIM information in JSON	termux-telephony-deviceinfo
termux-location	Get device GPS/network location in JSON	termux-location -p gps

Clipboard

Command	Description	Example
termux-clipboard-get	Print current clipboard contents to stdout	termux-clipboard-get
termux-clipboard-set <text>	Set clipboard contents	echo "text" | termux-clipboard-set

$termux-clipboard-get

Notifications and Feedback

Command	Description	Example
termux-notification	Show an Android notification	termux-notification -t "Title" -c "Content"
termux-toast	Show a short popup toast message	termux-toast "Build complete"
termux-tts-speak	Speak text aloud via text-to-speech	echo "done" | termux-tts-speak

$termux-notification -t 'ADL' -c 'Task finished' --id adl-notify

✅💡 Tip

Use the --id flag with termux-notification to update an existing notification instead of creating a new one. Useful for progress tracking in scripts.

File Sharing and Downloads

Command	Description	Example
termux-download	Download a file using the system download manager	termux-download "https://example.com/file.zip"
termux-share	Share a file or text via the Android share menu	termux-share -a send image.png

Camera and Media

Command	Description	Example
termux-camera-photo <file>	Take a photo with a device camera	termux-camera-photo -c 0 photo.jpg

The -c flag selects the camera: 0 for rear, 1 for front.

SMS

Command	Description	Example
termux-sms-list	List SMS messages in JSON	termux-sms-list -l 10 -t inbox

Flags: -l limits the count, -t sets the type (inbox, sent, draft, all).

ℹ️Permissions

Termux API commands require their corresponding Android permissions. The first invocation of each command may trigger a system permission dialog (camera, location, SMS, etc.). Denied permissions cause the command to return empty output or an error.

Scripting with Termux API

Termux API commands output JSON, making them straightforward to parse in scripts:

# Check if battery is above 20%
battery=$(termux-battery-status | jq '.percentage')
if [ "$battery" -lt 20 ]; then
  termux-notification -t "Low Battery" -c "Battery at ${battery}%"
fi

# Copy current working directory to clipboard
pwd | termux-clipboard-set

# Notify when a long-running command finishes
make build && termux-toast "Build succeeded" || termux-toast "Build failed"