Open-sourced ssh/sftp/telnet/RDP/VNC/Spice/ftp client for Android, built on top of the electerm-web codebase with Capacitor and an on-device Node.js runtime.

Note on local terminal & serial port: electerm for Android currently does not support the local terminal or serial port. These features rely on native libraries (node-pty, serialport) that can not be built for Android at the moment. There is potential to add them in the future once the native dependencies are ported. SSH, SFTP, Telnet, FTP, RDP, VNC and Spice all work because they are network protocols implemented in pure JS / WASM.

• electerm.org: Homepage, downloads, videos, etc
• electerm-web: Web app version running in browser(including mobile device)
• electerm-web-docker: Docker image for electerm-web
• electerm online: Public free online electerm app
• electerm demo: Online demo of electerm
• electerm AI: Free AI for electerm users
• electerm deb repo: Debian repo of electerm
• electerm rpm repo: RPM repo of electerm

How it works

WebView (frontend)  ── http://127.0.0.1:5577 ──►  Node.js backend (on device)
   loads index.html                                    serves UI + SSH/SFTP/...
   (local "loading" page)                              API/WebSocket on same origin

• Capacitor provides the native Android shell + WebView.
• @capawesome/capacitor-nodejs embeds a Node.js runtime and auto-starts the electerm backend when the app launches.
• The electerm frontend (React) is rendered in a WebView; the electerm backend (the Node.js server that talks SSH/SFTP/Telnet/FTP/RDP/VNC/Spice) runs directly on the device.

Features

• 🖥️ SSH / SSH tunnel (proxy) / SFTP / FTP / FTPS
• 🐚 Telnet
• 🖥️ Remote desktop: RDP / VNC / Spice
• 🔁 Zmodem (rz/sz), trzsz file transfer
• 🌐 Multi-language, themes, bookmarks, sync
• ❌ Local terminal — not available (native node-pty can not be built for Android yet)
• ❌ Serial port — not available (native serialport can not be built for Android yet)

Local terminal and serial port may be added in the future once the required native libraries are ported to Android.

Install

1. Download the latest APK from the Releases page. Pick the APK that matches your device:
   • arm64-v8a — most modern Android phones/tablets (64-bit ARM)
   • armeabi-v7a — older 32-bit ARM devices
   • x86_64 — Android emulators / Intel tablets
   • universal — works on all architectures (larger download)
2. Install it on your Android device (you may need to allow "Install from unknown sources").
3. Open electerm, wait a moment for the engine to start, and connect to your hosts.

Upgrade

Just download the latest APK from the Releases page and reinstall.

Known issues

• Local terminal and serial port are disabled on Android (see note above).
• The device must allow "Install from unknown sources" for sideloaded APKs.

Project layout

src/                 electerm-web source (frontend + Node.js backend)
build/vite/          web build configuration
build/android/       Android build scripts, Capacitor project, native assets
  build.mjs          builds www/ (frontend + bundled backend)
  capacitor.config.ts
  res-overlay/       generated launcher icons + splash (from temp/ logos)
  android/           native project (generated by `cap add android`)
.github/workflows/   CI that builds + releases the APK

See build/android/README.md for how to build and test locally.

Dev

# needs nodejs/npm 24.x and Java JDK 17+ (21 recommended)
# needs Android SDK (platform-36, build-tools 36.0.0)
npm config set legacy-peer-deps true
npm i
npm --prefix build/android install

# build the web frontend + Node.js backend bundle into build/android/www
npm run build:android

# create the native project + sync assets/plugins (first time only)
cd build/android
npx cap add android
npx cap sync android

# build debug APK
cd android
./gradlew assembleDebug

The debug APK lands at build/android/android/app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apk.

Install on a device:

adb install build/android/android/app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apk

Sponsor this project

github sponsor

https://github.com/sponsors/electerm

kofi

https://ko-fi.com/zhaoxudong

wechat donate

TRON TRN20

[]

Address: TXk3pQNmQu1vihH76RaEFnK9wg13x4LLCZ

Contact author

zxdong@gmail.com

License

MIT