Android (Termux) installation

Experimental and community-supported. f3router runs locally on the Android device.

f3router can run in Termux without an Android NDK toolchain. On Android, the server uses Node's built-in SQLite driver instead of the native better-sqlite3 package.

Requirements

Android 7 or newer
About 1 GB of free storage
Termux from F-Droid (the Play Store build is outdated)
Node.js 22.13 or newer; Node 24 LTS is recommended

Do not mix Termux or add-on packages from different stores.

Install

Update Termux and install the required packages:

pkg update
pkg upgrade -y
pkg install -y nodejs-lts git

Confirm that Node is new enough for node:sqlite:

node --version

Then clone and start f3router:

git clone https://github.com/f3tools/f3router.git
cd f3router
npm install --no-audit --no-fund
npm run dev

An installation warning for the optional better-sqlite3 package is harmless on Android. If npm asks you to approve dependency install scripts, approve the esbuild script and run npm install again.

Open http://localhost:5173 in a browser on the phone. The API is available at http://localhost:3001/v1.

Access from another device

The dashboard contains API keys and administrative controls. Only expose it on a trusted network.

HOST=0.0.0.0 npm run dev:lan

Find the phone's local address with Android's Wi-Fi settings or:

ip addr show wlan0

Open http://PHONE_IP:5173 from another device on the same network. Do not port-forward these development servers directly to the internet; use a private VPN such as Tailscale if remote access is required.

Keep the process awake

Android may suspend Termux when the screen turns off. Install the Termux:API add-on from the same store as Termux, then run:

pkg install -y termux-api
termux-wake-lock

Release the lock when the server is stopped:

termux-wake-unlock

Troubleshooting

`node:sqlite` is unavailable

Upgrade the Termux packages and verify that node --version reports 22.13 or newer:

pkg update
pkg upgrade -y
pkg install -y nodejs-lts

`concurrently: not found`

The dependency installation did not complete. Run npm install --no-audit --no-fund again and address the first non-optional error it reports.

Port already in use

Stop the process using port 3001 or 5173, or configure a different PORT in the repository's .env file.

The process stops when the screen turns off

Use termux-wake-lock and disable battery optimization for Termux in Android settings.

Updating

Stop the running development server, then run:

git pull --ff-only
npm install --no-audit --no-fund
npm run dev

When reporting an Android issue, include the Android version, Termux source and version, device architecture, node --version, and the complete error output.