Leveling Up Your Termux Experience: A Lightweight GUI/TUI Alternative Package Manager

RedVase — Wed, 06 May 2026 01:03:13 +0000

Stop Memorizing Package Names: A TUI App Store for Termux

As a Termux user, we all know the routine: you open the terminal, you type pkg install, and then you realize you forgot the exact package name. Or you're just tired of the standard command-line interface and want something more intuitive to browse packages.

That's exactly why I built termux-app-store.

The Problem

Managing packages in Termux can be tedious. Finding new tools or remembering specific commands can slow down your workflow, especially when you just want to get things running quickly on your Android device.

The Solution: A TUI Approach

I wanted to bridge the gap between "I need a tool" and "It's installed." termux-app-store is a Terminal User Interface (TUI) based package manager designed to make your Termux experience smoother, faster, and more visual.

Key Features

Intuitive TUI: Navigate through packages using your keyboard or screen without digging through documentation.
No Root Required: It works seamlessly within the standard Termux environment.
Efficiency: Designed to be lightweight and fast.
Open Source: Built for the community, by the community djunekz.github.io/termux-app-store .

How to Get Started

Getting it running is straightforward. You can clone the repository and run it directly:

git clone [https://github.com/djunekz/termux-app-store](https://github.com/djunekz/termux-app-store)
cd termux-app-store

I tried to simplify installing GitHub tools on Termux (it’s harder than I thought)

RedVase — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 21:12:35 +0000

The problem

Installing random tools from GitHub on Termux is... messy.

Every repo is different:

some use pip
some are just standalone scripts
others mix bash + Python
some don’t even have a clear entrypoint

Even worse, something that works locally can break after installation.

What I noticed

After trying multiple tools, I kept running into:

missing dependencies
unclear install steps
no releases or versioning
inconsistent project structures

It feels like there’s no standard.

The idea

So I started experimenting with a small tool that tries to:

detect how a repo should be installed
generate a build script automatically
turn it into an installable package on Termux

Basically, something like a lightweight “app store” for GitHub tools.

The challenge

The deeper I go, the more edge cases I find:

repos without releases
projects that rely on relative paths
Python dependencies that don’t map cleanly to system packages
tools that assume a specific folder structure

Open question

Is there a better way to standardize this?

How do you usually handle installing random GitHub tools on Termux?

If you're curious, I've been experimenting with this here:
Repository

DEV Community: RedVase