Add support for Termux (Android)

[hjfghycvdt]

Check if target os is Android disable arboard

remote-client also needa an adjustment to use nodejs instead of bun

Compiling arboard v3.6.1
error[E0433]: cannot find `Clipboard` in `platform`
  --> /data/data/com.termux/files/home/.cargo/registry/src/index.crates.io-1949cf8c6b5b557f/arboard-3.6.1/src/lib.rs:82:38
   |
82 | ...latform: platform::Clipboard::new()? })
   |                       ^^^^^^^^^ could not find `Clipboard` in `platform`

error[E0433]: cannot find `Clear` in `platform`
   --> /data/data/com.termux/files/home/.cargo/registry/src/index.crates.io-1949cf8c6b5b557f/arboard-3.6.1/src/lib.rs:162:31
    |
162 | ...form::Clear::new(&mut self.platform) }
    |          ^^^^^ could not find `Clear` in `platform`

error[E0433]: cannot find `Get` in `platform`
   --> /data/data/com.termux/files/home/.cargo/registry/src/index.crates.io-1949cf8c6b5b557f/arboard-3.6.1/src/lib.rs:167:29
    |
167 | ...atform::Get::new(&mut self.platform) }
    |            ^^^ could not find `Get` in `platform`

error[E0433]: cannot find `Set` in `platform`
   --> /data/data/com.termux/files/home/.cargo/registry/src/index.crates.io-1949cf8c6b5b557f/arboard-3.6.1/src/lib.rs:172:29
    |
172 | ...atform::Set::new(&mut self.platform) }
    |            ^^^ could not find `Set` in `platform`

error[E0425]: cannot find type `Clipboard` in module `platform`
  --> /data/data/com.termux/files/home/.cargo/registry/src/index.crates.io-1949cf8c6b5b557f/arboard-3.6.1/src/lib.rs:71:33
   |
71 |     pub(crate) platform: platform::Clipboard,
   |                                    ^^^^^^^^^ not found in `platform`

error[E0425]: cannot find type `Get` in module `platform`
   --> /data/data/com.termux/files/home/.cargo/registry/src/index.crates.io-1949cf8c6b5b557f/arboard-3.6.1/src/lib.rs:179:33
    |
179 |     pub(crate) platform: platform::Get<'clipboard>,
    |                                    ^^^ not found in `platform`

error[E0425]: cannot find type `Set` in module `platform`
   --> /data/data/com.termux/files/home/.cargo/registry/src/index.crates.io-1949cf8c6b5b557f/arboard-3.6.1/src/lib.rs:213:33
    |
213 |     pub(crate) platform: platform::Set<'clipboard>,
    |                                    ^^^ not found in `platform`

error[E0425]: cannot find type `Clear` in module `platform`
   --> /data/data/com.termux/files/home/.cargo/registry/src/index.crates.io-1949cf8c6b5b557f/arboard-3.6.1/src/lib.rs:259:33
    |
259 |     pub(crate) platform: platform::Clear<'clipboard>,
    |                                    ^^^^^ not found in `platform`

Some errors have detailed explanations: E0425, E0433.
For more information about an error, try `rustc --explain E0425`.
error: could not compile `arboard` (lib) due to 8 previous errors
warning: build failed, waiting for other jobs to finish...

[hjfghycvdt]

I asked Big Pickles to fix the previous error, and this is the result: Crabcode is running on Termux.

[yan-ad]

Thanks for confirming that Crabcode can run on Termux with the initial workaround.

At the moment, Android/Termux is still experimental and unsupported in the current release train. The focused compatibility work addresses the build blocker from arboard and makes the remote client runnable with Node/npm.

Image attachments are not supported on Android yet. arboard has no Android clipboard-image backend, so image paste needs a dedicated Android/Termux implementation rather than just disabling the dependency. Until that exists, the intended behavior is a clear unsupported-feature error instead of a failed build.

We should treat a successful Termux launch as encouraging validation, not a support guarantee, until the Android build and runtime paths are covered by CI and documented.

[hjfghycvdt]

Thanks for confirming that Crabcode can run on Termux with the initial workaround.

At the moment, Android/Termux is still experimental and unsupported in the current release train. The focused compatibility work addresses the build blocker from arboard and makes the remote client runnable with Node/npm.

Image attachments are not supported on Android yet. arboard has no Android clipboard-image backend, so image paste needs a dedicated Android/Termux implementation rather than just disabling the dependency. Until that exists, the intended behavior is a clear unsupported-feature error instead of a failed build.

We should treat a successful Termux launch as encouraging validation, not a support guarantee, until the Android build and runtime paths are covered by CI and documented.

I asked GPT, and it said we can use Termux:API for the clipboard.

And here is an example of how to build CrabCode in GitHub Actions using a Termux Docker image:

name: "Release (arm64: Termux)"

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
    tags: ["v*"]
  pull_request:
  workflow_dispatch:

permissions:
  contents: read

jobs:
  create-release:
    runs-on: ubuntu-26.04-arm
    permissions:
      contents: write
    steps:
      - name: Create / update GitHub Release
        if: startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/v')
        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
        with:
          generate_release_notes: true

  build-termux:
    name: Build Termux (aarch64, bionic)
    needs: create-release
    if: github.event_name != 'pull_request'
    runs-on: ubuntu-26.04-arm
    permissions:
      contents: write
    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          submodules: recursive
          fetch-depth: 0

      - name: Install Bun
        uses: oven-sh/setup-bun@v2

      - name: Build remote client
        shell: bash
        run: |
          cd remote-client
          bun install --frozen-lockfile
          bun run build

      - name: Verify remote client assets
        shell: bash
        run: test -s remote-client/dist/client/index.html

      - name: Pull termux-docker image
        run: docker pull termux/termux-docker:aarch64

      - name: Prepare host dist folder
        run: |
          mkdir -p "${{ github.workspace }}/dist"
          chmod -R 777 "${{ github.workspace }}/dist"

      - name: Build crabcode natively inside Termux
        run: |
          docker run --rm \
            -v "${{ github.workspace }}:/workspace:ro" \
            -v "${{ github.workspace }}/dist:/dist" \
            termux/termux-docker:aarch64 \
            bash -lc '
              set -euo pipefail
              PREFIX=/data/data/com.termux/files/usr
              rm -f "$PREFIX/etc/apt/sources.list.d/termux.sources"
              printf "deb https://packages.termux.dev/apt/termux-main stable main\n" > "$PREFIX/etc/apt/sources.list"
              for i in 1 2 3; do apt update -y && break || sleep 5; done
              for i in 1 2 3; do apt upgrade -y && break || sleep 5; done
              apt install -y rust binutils pkg-config clang make openssl
              rustc --version
              cargo --version
              cd /workspace
              CARGO_TARGET_DIR=/dist/target cargo build --release --locked
              mv /dist/target/release/crabcode /dist/crabcode-termux-aarch64
            '

      - name: Upload to GitHub Release
        if: startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/v')
        env:
          GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
        run: gh release upload "$GITHUB_REF_NAME" dist/crabcode-termux-aarch64 --clobber

[hjfghycvdt]

I tried this PRin my private repo, it builds successfully in Termux.