Z2Term

Z2Term is a terminal for Android that is also a way to drive Android.

It runs Alpine, Ubuntu, Arch and Kali without root, opens a Linux desktop in a tab, and lets the shell reach the phone itself: read a notification, ask you a question in the notification shade, or run a script when the battery, the network or an incoming SMS changes.

* Linux distributions without root: z2root is a ptrace-based userspace implementation written for this app and built from source. A real chroot is optionally available on rooted devices.
* Terminal emulator: VT100/xterm, 256-colour and true colour, alternate screen, East Asian Width (CJK / emoji) rendered as 2 cells, OSC 4/7/8/10/11/12/52
* 9 built-in themes plus a custom theme editor, and custom font loading
* 5,000-line scrollback (configurable 500-50,000) with search
* Multi-tab sessions with independent emulators, drag to reorder
* Linux GUI: Xvnc + openbox with an RFB client built into the app, with audio and video. "z2gui" starts a desktop, "z2run " launches a GUI program. The same screen also connects to another machine over VNC or RDP.
* SSH client and SFTP built in (public-key auth, secrets encrypted by the Android Keystore), port forwarding in both directions that can outlive the tab, plus a built-in sshd that binds to localhost only by default
* Android bridge: around 40 "z2-*" helpers call host features from the shell (notifications, clipboard, battery, sensors, torch, intents, alarms, text-to-speech, and wireless adb to the device itself)
* It can ask you things: "z2-ask" puts a question in the notification shade and reads your reply into a shell variable
* Automation hub: "z2-when" runs scripts on device events (charging, battery level, time or cron, Wi-Fi, connectivity, boot, a share from another app, an incoming SMS, sensors, an arriving notification, a new file), narrowed by filters. Rules are plain text and survive reboots without opening the app.
* Resident servers: register any server as a start command and keep it running in the background without the app being open
* Edge panels: "z2-edge" builds a panel that floats over other apps. It holds commands, macros and app launches as buttons, plus notes and a mini terminal. Open it by swiping the bar at the screen edge; it can be edited on screen as well
* Screen actions: "z2-action" sends taps, swipes and gestures from the shell. Steps live in a plain text file with repeats, conditions and calls to other step files. They can also be edited on screen or recorded by tracing with a finger, and run from a tile, a widget or an edge panel
* QR tools: scan and create QR codes offline, with a history; "z2-qr" makes one from the terminal as well
* Screenshots of just what you want: "z2-shot" grabs the screen, you draw around the part to keep, then save or share it
* Read what you built: "z2-view" opens a page made on the terminal inside the app, with JavaScript and network loads switched off
* Japanese IME: kana-kanji conversion with prediction and learning, and a custom on-screen keyboard that can also be enabled as an OS-wide input method. Its key layout is editable on every face (kana, letters, symbols) and can be saved under a name
* Terminal log: record what a tab shows to a plain text file with one tap
* Home screen widgets: a status and macro launcher, and a live tail of any file
* Receive from other apps' share sheet (inserted into the input line, never executed)
* Backup and restore: settings, SSH connections, snippets, automation rules and macros in one file
* Built-in help ("z2help") and self-diagnosis ("z2doctor") that answers "why isn't it working?" with a next step on every NG line
* A foreground service keeps your session alive, physical keyboards work (Bluetooth, Chromebook), and there is long-press selection, copy/paste and pinch-to-zoom

100% local - no telemetry, no analytics. This build bundles no third-party prebuilts: the Linux distribution is downloaded from the official CDN on first launch and verified by S

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