Shellow

A high-performance mobile terminal and native Codex client,
connecting directly to your machines over SSH.

Important

Shellow is currently in beta. Features and stored data formats may change, and you may encounter incomplete behavior. Please avoid relying on it as your only way to access a critical server.

Install

iOS

Install the latest beta through TestFlight. Apple may report that the beta is full or unavailable when all tester slots are occupied.

Android

Google Play access is limited to members of the Shellow test group:

1. Join the Shellow test group with the Google account you use on Google Play.

2. Open the Google Play testing page with the same account and opt in.

3. Install Shellow from Google Play. Access may take a few minutes to become available after joining the group.

   Note: Google Play may show a price or payment warning. This is part of the test setup—you will not be charged and do not need to make a real payment.

Alternatively, download an Android build directly from GitHub Releases. Installing an APK outside Google Play may require enabling installation from your browser or file manager.

Why Shellow

High-performance terminal

• Ghostty terminal engine: libghostty-vt provides standards-aware terminal parsing and state management.
• GPU-native rendering: A shared Rust wgpu renderer draws through Metal on iOS and Vulkan on Android.
• Built for sustained sessions: Text shaping, glyph caching, and dirty-row updates keep terminal interaction responsive.
• Native surface end to end: Terminal frames render directly into platform surfaces instead of an embedded web terminal.

Native Codex client

• First-class Codex UI: Browse projects and threads, send messages, review tool activity, handle approvals, and adjust settings from mobile.
• SSH only: Shellow connects directly to Codex on your own machine, without a Shellow relay, hosted backend, browser session, or extra agent.
• Persistent remote tasks: Codex work continues on the remote host when the phone disconnects, and can be resumed later.
• Setup stays in the app: Shellow explains and runs the one-time remote setup only after explicit confirmation.

Native on both platforms

• Platform-native UI: SwiftUI on iOS and Jetpack Compose on Android.
• Shared Rust core: Both apps use the same SSH, terminal, Codex, and rendering implementation without sharing a web view.

For implementation details, see Architecture and the terminal capability checklist.

Build from source

Shellow combines native iOS and Android apps with a shared Rust core. See the building guide for setup, builds, tests, and releases.

Project status

Shellow is under active development and currently distributed as a beta. Platform behavior and feature parity may change between releases.

More from me

I also make Sillage, an app that turns your trips into a personal timeline by automatically bringing together visited places, flights, trains, hotels, and photos. It can also connect to Immich for photo management. If you love traveling, take a look.

License

Shellow is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. Third-party dependencies and bundled assets retain their respective licenses.