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Termux Optimization Guide

This document defines hard limits, operational rules, and required settings for running long-lived services on Android using Termux.

Termux is powerful, but hostile by default to background workloads.

Hard Limits (Non-Negotiable)

Android + Termux has unavoidable constraints:

  • No systemd
  • No Docker
  • Aggressive background process killing
  • No privileged ports (<1024)
  • No guaranteed process lifetime

Design must work within these limits.

Operational Rules

The following rules are mandatory:

  • One service = one process
  • Use tmux for all long-running services
  • No critical data stored locally
  • Services must tolerate unexpected restarts

If a service cannot restart cleanly, it does not belong on Termux.

Startup Management

All services are started via a single script.

Location 

~/start-services.sh


tmux new -d -s dns "~/adguard/AdGuardHome"
tmux new -d -s radar "cd ~/sophia && python main.py"

## Mandatory Settings

Required for Stability

These settings are not optional.
Without them, Android will kill background services.

  • Disable battery optimization for Termux
  • Allow background activity
  • Lock Termux in recent apps

If these settings are not applied, the system is expected to fail.