OpenCode on Android: 3 Real Ways to Run It

You can run OpenCode on Android, but not the way most install guides imply. There is no native Android app, and unlike Claude Code or Gemini CLI, a plain npm i -g opencode-ai inside Termux does not work reliably: the launcher misdetects the Termux environment and hands Android-arm64 a Linux-x64 binary. So "OpenCode on Android" means one of three real paths: a cloud Ubuntu container with OpenCode pre-installed (Cosyra on Google Play, where you just type opencode, 1 hour free, no credit card), a Termux proot-distro chroot on-device, or SSH from Termux into your own always-on box. This guide walks each one with the honest trade-offs.

This is the Android-specific companion to our OpenCode on your phone walkthrough (which covers iPhone and Android generically), with a tablet sibling in OpenCode on iPad. What changes on Android is that Termux is a genuine on-device option, unlike on iOS, but OpenCode is the one agent of the four where the Termux story is still broken, which is the part most posts get wrong. The siblings to this guide are Claude Code on Android and Gemini CLI on Android, and all three feed into our Coding on Android pillar, which maps out everything the OS can run as a dev environment. For the broader picture across all four mobile AI agents, see AI coding agents on mobile. One agent worth flagging here: Kilo CLI is built on OpenCode, so it inherits the same Termux misdetection we describe below — we have not tested @kilocode/cli in Termux ourselves, and the clean path is the same cloud container or proot-distro chroot. See Kilo CLI on your phone.

Why does plain Termux break OpenCode on Android?

Plain Termux breaks OpenCode because the launcher picks the wrong binary. OpenCode is distributed as prebuilt binaries via npm optionalDependencies, one per platform and arch. An opencode-android-arm64 binary was added after the old postinstall failure (issue #12515) was fixed, so installs no longer hard-fail. But the launcher still misdetects Termux as plain Linux and tries to run the Linux-x64 build on an Android-arm64 device, which fails with an "incompatible binary" error. That is anomalyco/opencode issue #21043, opened 2026-04-04 and still open as of 2026-06-27.

The fix that would have helped, PR #21106, "allow opencode CLI to run in Termux (remove hard exit)", was closed without merging. And the native-Termux feature request (#22805) was closed without a maintainer commitment. That request is worth reading, because the person who filed it points out the thing we keep running into: Claude Code and Gemini CLI both run on Termux, and OpenCode is the holdout that needs a workaround. OpenCode the project is great: about 179,589 GitHub stars as of 2026-06-27, latest release v1.17.11 on 2026-06-25, MIT-licensed, multi-provider. The Termux launcher path is just the rough edge.

Here is an opinion the on-device purists will push back on: for OpenCode specifically, fighting the Termux misdetection on a phone is not worth it when the chroot or a cloud container both run the real binary cleanly. We spent an evening on the couch getting plain Termux to load the right arch binary and gave up; the proot-distro route worked, and the cloud container worked with no setup at all. "On-device or nothing" is a principle, not a workflow.

What are the three real ways to run OpenCode on Android?

There are three real ways to run OpenCode from an Android phone as of 2026-06-27: Cosyra (cloud container with OpenCode pre-installed), Termux with proot-distro (an on-device Debian/Ubuntu chroot), and SSH from Termux into a box you own. We walk each below.

1. Cosyra (cloud container, native Android app)

This is what we build. The Cosyra Android app opens a persistent Ubuntu 24.04 x86_64 container reached from any Pixel, Galaxy, OnePlus, Nothing, or foldable. OpenCode is pre-installed alongside Claude Code, Codex CLI, and Gemini CLI on Node 20+. Because the container is glibc x86_64, the opencode Linux-x64 binary is the correct one, so the Termux misdetection in #21043 and the older arm64 postinstall failure simply do not happen. You get 30 GB of persistent storage, session hibernation that resumes exactly where you left off, and the same container is reachable from iPhone, iPad, and a browser. BYOK applies: you connect Anthropic, OpenAI, or Google once and your provider bills you directly. We do not proxy or meter your model calls.

• Works when: you want the real OpenCode binary with zero setup, full x86_64 Ubuntu compatibility, and the same environment across every device you pick up.
• Breaks when: you have no internet. The container lives in the cloud, so there is no offline mode. That is a genuine trade-off versus a local Termux install.
• Cost: Sign up — 1 hour free, no credit card. Extend with a 10-hour, 7-day trial when you want more. After that, $29.99/month or $300/year. See pricing.

2. Termux + proot-distro (on-device, free)

Termux is an open-source (GPLv3) Android terminal emulator with a real package manager. Because plain Termux misdetects the OpenCode arch (issue #21043), the dependable on-device path is proot-distro: install a Debian or Ubuntu chroot inside Termux, which is a real glibc Linux userland, then install Node 20+ and npm i -g opencode-ai inside it. If you want the full rundown of the chroot path versus UserLAnd versus a cloud x86_64 container, see Linux container on Android.

• Works when: you are on Android, you want a fully local setup with no cloud bill, and you accept the proot-distro overhead.
• Breaks when: the Android 12+ phantom process killer terminates a long session with signal 9 (the same issue we document in the Claude Code on Android guide), or a new OpenCode release changes the chroot path. The misdetection bug is the headline; PR #21106 that would have fixed it was closed without merging, so it never landed.
• Cost: free OpenCode binary, free Termux, free proot-distro. The cost is your time when the install path breaks between releases.

3. SSH from Termux into your own box

The classic remote route. Install OpenCode on an always-on Linux box or a VPS (Hetzner, Scaleway, DigitalOcean) with npm i -g opencode-ai, then ssh in from Termux inside a tmux session and run opencode. The agent runs on the host; the phone is just the terminal. You can also drive opencode serve over the connection if you prefer the HTTP API to the TUI.

• Works when: you already have a box you keep awake and you want OpenCode to run on hardware that is yours.
• Breaks when: the host sleeps, or you do not want to be a sysadmin. Patching, firewall rules, and backups are not optional on a box that holds your source and your provider keys.
• Cost: free OpenCode, plus a VPS at roughly $5 to $40/month if you do not already own a box.

How do you set up OpenCode on Android with Cosyra?

You set up OpenCode on Android in about three minutes: install Cosyra from Google Play, confirm opencode is on the PATH in the Ubuntu container, connect a provider, clone a repo, and type opencode. The steps below are exactly what we run on a fresh Pixel.

Step 1: Install Cosyra from Google Play

Open the Google Play Store and install Cosyra. The Android app runs on Pixel, Samsung Galaxy S and Z foldables, OnePlus, Nothing, and any device on Android 9 or later. Sign in with Google, Apple, or email and the app provisions a fresh Ubuntu 24.04 container with OpenCode, Claude Code, Codex CLI, and Gemini CLI already installed.

Step 2: Confirm OpenCode is installed

No install step, no chroot, no npm. OpenCode is baked into the image. Verify in one command, and note the arch, which is exactly why the Termux misdetection cannot bite here.

Step 3: Connect a provider

Run opencode auth and pick the provider you want: Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, and local backends are all in the list. The flow opens a URL; sign in on your phone browser and paste the verification code back into the terminal. Keys persist with the container's home volume, so you do this once per provider per container.

Step 4: Clone a repo and run opencode

OpenCode reads the repo, proposes diffs, and waits for your approval before writing. The default build agent has edit access; the plan agent (opencode --agent plan) is read-only if you want to think before touching code. When the screen locks the container keeps running; reopen the app and the session is exactly where you left it, which is the whole point of coding from a phone on the train. The phone keyboard is fine for the natural-language turns, since you are writing one sentence of intent at a time, not 40-line functions.

How do the Android options compare?

The three paths line up cleanly against what matters for running an agent from a phone: whether the real binary runs, whether you fight the Termux misdetection, whether it needs another machine, and whether it works offline. The table covers the state as of 2026-06-27.

Choose Cosyra if you want the real binary with nothing to babysit and the same container across Android, iPhone, iPad, and web. Choose Termux + proot-distro if free and offline matter more than setup time and you accept the phantom-killer risk. Choose the SSH path if you already keep a box awake. For tmux and TUI ergonomics once you are in a shell, see TUI apps on phone, part of the broader mobile coding terminal pillar. If you are weighing the whole on-device Termux model against a cloud container, our Cosyra vs Termux comparison has the full trade-off list.

Frequently asked questions