OpenClaw on Android

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Because Android deserves a shell.

No Linux install required

The standard approach to running OpenClaw on Android requires installing proot-distro with Linux, adding 700MB-1GB of overhead. OpenClaw on Android eliminates this by installing just the glibc dynamic linker (ld.so), letting you run OpenClaw without a full Linux distribution.

Standard approach: Install a full Linux distribution in Termux via proot-distro.

┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Linux Kernel                                      │
│ ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Android · Bionic libc · Termux                │ │
│ │ ┌───────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │
│ │ │ proot-distro · Debian/Ubuntu              │ │ │
│ │ │ ┌───────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ GNU glibc                             │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ Node.js → OpenClaw                    │ │ │ │
│ │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────┘ │ │ │
│ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ │
│ └───────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

This project: No proot-distro — just the glibc dynamic linker.

┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Linux Kernel                                      │
│ ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Android · Bionic libc · Termux                │ │
│ │ ┌───────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │
│ │ │ glibc ld.so (linker only)                 │ │ │
│ │ │ ld.so → Node.js → OpenClaw                │ │ │
│ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ │
│ └───────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Claw App

A standalone Android app is also available. It bundles a terminal emulator and a WebView-based UI into a single APK — no Termux required.

• One-tap setup: bootstrap, Node.js, and OpenClaw installed from within the app
• Built-in dashboard for gateway control, runtime info, and tool management
• Works independently of Termux — installing the app does not affect an existing Termux + oa setup

Download the APK from the Releases page.

Requirements

• Android 7.0 or higher (Android 10+ recommended)
• ~1GB free storage
• Wi-Fi or mobile data connection

What It Does

The installer automatically resolves the differences between Termux and standard Linux. There's nothing you need to do manually — the single install command handles all of these:

1. glibc environment — Installs the glibc dynamic linker (via pacman's glibc-runner) so standard Linux binaries run without modification
2. Node.js (glibc) — Downloads official Node.js linux-arm64 and wraps it with an ld.so loader script (no patchelf, which causes segfault on Android)
3. Path conversion — Automatically converts standard Linux paths (/tmp, /bin/sh, /usr/bin/env) to Termux paths
4. Temp folder setup — Configures an accessible temp folder for Android
5. Service manager bypass — Configures normal operation without systemd
6. OpenCode integration — If selected, installs OpenCode using proot + ld.so concatenation for Bun standalone binaries

Step-by-Step Setup (from a fresh phone)

1. Prepare Your Phone
2. Install Termux
3. Initial Termux Setup
4. Install OpenClaw — one command
5. Start OpenClaw Setup
6. Start OpenClaw (Gateway)

Step 1: Prepare Your Phone

Configure Developer Options, Stay Awake, charge limit, and battery optimization. See the Keeping Processes Alive guide for step-by-step instructions.

Step 2: Install Termux

Important: The Play Store version of Termux is discontinued and will not work. You must install from F-Droid.

1. Open your phone's browser and go to f-droid.org
2. Search for Termux, then tap Download APK to download and install
   • Allow "Install from unknown sources" when prompted

Step 3: Initial Termux Setup

Open the Termux app and paste the following command to install curl (needed for the next step).

pkg update -y && pkg install -y curl

You may be asked to choose a mirror on first run. Pick any — a geographically closer mirror will be faster.

Step 4: Install OpenClaw

Tip: Use SSH for easier typing From this step on, you can type commands from your computer keyboard instead of the phone screen. See the Termux SSH Setup Guide for details.

Paste the following command in Termux.

curl -sL myopenclawhub.com/install | bash && source ~/.bashrc

Everything is installed automatically with a single command. This takes 3–10 minutes depending on network speed and device. Wi-Fi is recommended.

Once complete, the OpenClaw version is displayed along with instructions to run openclaw onboard.

Step 5: Start OpenClaw Setup

As instructed in the installation output, run:

openclaw onboard

Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the initial setup.

Step 6: Start OpenClaw (Gateway)

Once setup is complete, start the gateway:

Important: Run openclaw gateway directly in the Termux app on your phone, not via SSH. If you run it over SSH, the gateway will stop when the SSH session disconnects.

The gateway occupies the terminal while running, so open a new tab for it. Tap the hamburger icon (☰) on the bottom menu bar, or swipe right from the left edge of the screen (above the bottom menu bar) to open the side menu. Then tap NEW SESSION.

In the new tab, run:

openclaw gateway

To stop the gateway, press Ctrl+C. Do not use Ctrl+Z — it only suspends the process without terminating it.

Keeping Processes Alive

Android may kill background processes or throttle them when the screen is off. See the Keeping Processes Alive guide for all recommended settings (Developer Options, Stay Awake, charge limit, battery optimization, and Phantom Process Killer).

Access the Dashboard from Your PC

See the Termux SSH Setup Guide for SSH access and dashboard tunnel setup.

Managing Multiple Devices

If you run OpenClaw on multiple devices on the same network, use the Dashboard Connect tool to manage them from your PC.

• Save connection settings (IP, token, ports) for each device with a nickname
• Generates the SSH tunnel command and dashboard URL automatically
• Your data stays local — Connection settings (IP, token, ports) are saved only in your browser's localStorage and are never sent to any server.

CLI Reference

After installation, the oa command is available for managing your installation:

Update

oa --update && source ~/.bashrc

This single command updates all installed components at once:

• OpenClaw — Core package (openclaw@latest)
• code-server — Browser IDE
• OpenCode — AI coding assistant
• AI CLI tools — Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Codex CLI (Termux)
• Android patches — Compatibility patches from this project

Already up-to-date components are skipped. Components you haven't installed are not touched — only what's already on your device gets updated. Safe to run multiple times.

If the oa command is not available (older installations), run it with curl:

curl -sL myopenclawhub.com/update | bash && source ~/.bashrc

Backup & Restore

OpenClaw's built-in backup command (openclaw backup create) often fails on Android because it relies on hardlinks, which are blocked in Android's app-private storage. The oa --backup command works around this by using tar directly while maintaining full compatibility with the OpenClaw backup specification.

To create a backup:

oa --backup

Backups are stored in ~/.openclaw-android/backup/ with a timestamped filename (e.g., 2026-03-14T00-00-00.000Z-openclaw-backup.tar.gz). You can also specify a custom path: oa --backup ~/my-backups/. Each backup includes your configuration, state, workspaces, and agents.

To restore from a backup:

oa --restore

This command lists all available backups in the default backup directory. Simply select the number of the backup you wish to restore. The tool automatically detects the platform from the backup manifest and handles the restoration to ~/.openclaw/. Note that this will overwrite existing data, so a confirmation is required.

Troubleshooting

See the Troubleshooting Guide for detailed solutions.

Performance

CLI commands like openclaw status may feel slower than on a PC. This is because each command needs to read many files, and the phone's storage is slower than a PC's, with Android's security processing adding overhead.

However, once the gateway is running, there's no difference. The process stays in memory so files don't need to be re-read, and AI responses are processed on external servers — the same speed as on a PC.

Local LLM on Android

OpenClaw supports local LLM inference via node-llama-cpp. The prebuilt native binary (@node-llama-cpp/linux-arm64) is included with the installation and loads successfully under the glibc environment — local LLM is technically functional on the phone.

However, there are practical constraints:

For experimentation, small models like TinyLlama 1.1B (Q4, ~670MB) can run on the phone. For production use, cloud LLM providers are recommended.

Why --ignore-scripts? The installer uses npm install -g openclaw@latest --ignore-scripts because node-llama-cpp's postinstall script attempts to compile llama.cpp from source via cmake — a process that takes 30+ minutes on a phone and fails due to toolchain incompatibilities. The prebuilt binaries work without this compilation step, so the postinstall is safely skipped.

Installed Components

The installer sets up infrastructure, platform packages, and optional tools across multiple package managers. Core infrastructure and platform dependencies are installed automatically; optional tools are individually prompted during install.

Core Infrastructure

Agent Platform Runtime Dependencies

These are controlled by the platform's config.env flags. For OpenClaw, all are installed:

OpenClaw Platform

Optional Tools (prompted during install)

Each tool is offered via an individual Y/n prompt. You choose which ones to install.