Running Claude Code and a Local MCP Server (sentinel-ir-mcp) on Android via Termux

A developer documented a method for running Anthropic's Claude Code CLI on Android by installing Ubuntu through proot-distro inside Termux, bypassing the glibc/bionic libc mismatch that blocks Anthropic's prebuilt linux-arm64 binaries. The setup wires Claude Code to a local sentinel-ir-mcp server over stdio, letting the agent run analyze_code, analyze_directory and analyze_file tools against a project folder, and the MCP server deliberately refuses to grant access to the entire Termux home directory.

Want a full-featured AI coding agent right in your pocket on Android, connected to your own local Model Context Protocol MCP server? While Anthropic's official Claude Code CLI doesn't natively support Android out of the box, you can get the entire stack running smoothly inside Termux in just a few minutes. In this guide, we will walk through the complete setup step-by-step—including how to bypass the exact installation roadblocks you hit on Android and how to wire up sentinel-ir-mcp so Claude can inspect your code safely without burning tokens. Step 1: Set Up Your Project and Verify the MCP Server in Termux Before installing the AI client, create a dedicated workspace and verify that the MCP server sentinel-ir-mcp runs properly in your Termux Node.js environment. Run the built-in health check: bash npx -y sentinel-ir-mcp@0.4 mailto:sentinel-ir-mcp@0.4 doctor As long as you have Node.js 20+ installed, doctor will verify the handshake and confirm that all three tools analyze code, analyze directory, and analyze file work properly. Security Safeguard Note: If you run npx -y sentinel-ir-mcp@0.4 mailto:sentinel-ir-mcp@0.4 setup directly inside your Termux home folder ~ , the tool will intentionally block you with: Refusing to give the agent access to your whole home folder. By design, it prevents AI agents from scanning personal configs or sensitive files outside a specific project directory. Create a dedicated project folder and generate the setup command inside it: bash mkdir ~/my-project cd ~/my-project npx -y sentinel-ir-mcp@0.4 mailto:sentinel-ir-mcp@0.4 setup --client claude-code The setup wizard will output the exact registration command you will need for Claude Code. Step 2: Why Direct Claude Code Installation Fails in Termux If you try to install Claude Code directly inside Termux using npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code, you will hit two roadblocks: Anthropic ships prebuilt binaries for standard Linux linux-arm64 , which relies on glibc rather than Android's bionic libc. Step 3: The Fix — Running Ubuntu in Termux No Root Required You can bypass the Android binary limitation cleanly using proot-distro, which runs a full Ubuntu userland inside Termux without requiring root access—while still giving you direct filesystem access to your Termux project folders. Install and log into Ubuntu: bash pkg update && pkg install -y proot-distro proot-distro install ubuntu proot-distro login ubuntu Once your prompt changes to root@localhost:~ , you are inside Ubuntu. Now install Node.js and Claude Code: bash apt update && apt install -y curl curl -fsSL https://nodesource.com https://nodesource.com | bash - apt install -y nodejs npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code Step 4: Create a Sample File and Connect sentinel-ir-mcp Navigate to your Termux project folder accessible directly from Ubuntu via its full path , create a sample JavaScript file with risky capabilities to test the analyzer, and register your MCP server. bash cd /data/data/com.termux/files/home/my-project cat << 'EOF' test.js const fs = require 'fs' ; const { exec } = require 'child process' ; function runCommand cmd { exec cmd ; } module.exports = { runCommand }; EOF Now register sentinel-ir-mcp with Claude Code using the command generated in Step 1: bash claude mcp add --transport stdio sentinel-ir -- npx -y sentinel-ir-mcp@0.4 mailto:sentinel-ir-mcp@0.4 /data/data/com.termux/files/home/my-project Step 5: Launch Claude Code and Authenticate Everything is wired up. Start the Claude Code CLI: bash claude You will be greeted by Claude Code's pixel mascot "Clawd" and guided through a quick one-time onboarding: Putting It to the Test Once inside the interactive prompt, ask Claude to inspect your workspace: "Use sentinel-ir analyze directory to scan this project and summarize any capability risks." Under the hood, Claude calls your local sentinel-ir-mcp server over stdio. Instead of ingesting raw source code, it receives a compact structural Intermediate Representation IR and immediately flags the critical risk from child process cp.exec —giving you a fast, token-efficient, and sandboxed AI development workflow right on your phone. Independent Engineering Projects Built as independent engineering experiments across AI, software analysis, security, and autonomous systems. Evaluated by reproducible evidence, not by the number of layers. Explore the projects: Sentinel Ecosystem: AutoDoc-Sentinel, Sentinel-IR, Sentinel-IR-MCP and related tools. Agentix Lite: Independent security and system-observation project. Find the projects: GitLab repositories | NPM packages Support the work: ⭐ Star the repositories on GitLab. Connect: Follow me here on DEV Community or explore the Playground. Each project is distributed under its own license. Check the corresponding repository or NPM package for licensing terms. Copyright © 2026 jackymenCZ. All rights reserved. Written for the community.