Opencode + termux: better than claude code?

I recently used this setup to:

- Build what looks like a $10,000 website
- Automate my entire Termux environment
- Run OpenCode inside VS Code (which itself runs in termux)

And I haven't paid a single rupee for any of this.

The best part?

The free limits are surprisingly generous. Even after doing all of this, I still had plenty of usage left, and the limits reset every day.

So let’s get started.

Installing OpenCode

The first thing we need is Ubuntu running inside Termux. We’ll use "proot-distro" for this.

Start by updating the Termux repositories:

pkg update && pkg upgrade

Now install "proot-distro":

pkg install proot-distro

Once that's installed, install Ubuntu:

proot-distro install ubuntu

After the installation finishes, log into Ubuntu:

proot-distro login ubuntu

Now we're inside Ubuntu.

The next step is installing OpenCode.

Run the OpenCode installation command:

apt update ; apt install nodejs npm -y ; npm i -g opencode-ai

Once it's installed, simply run:

opencode

And that's it.

Get Technical Bot’s stories in your inbox

Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.

Remember me for faster sign in

OpenCode is now running directly on phone.

Now if you just want to use as it is, but I have one more thing which is that you can automate your whole termux (indirectly whole phone) by connecting termux with opencode.

Setting Up Termux MCP

For doing so, we can use a tool called Termux MCP

So open a new session in termux and install termux mcp by executing following command

curl -fsSL https://github.com/TecnicalBot/termux-mcp/raw/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

once that’s done, start the mcp server

termux-mcp serve http

now to connect to it, get back to the session where opencode was running, and give it following prompt and it will configure termux mcp automatically, below is the prompt

I want you to configure Termux MCP as a remote mcp server and the MCP URL for same is: http://127.0.0.1:3000/mcp

Once it finishes configuring, just exit opencode by doing /exit then open opencode again

opencode

now if you do /mcp you should be able to see termux mcp connected there.

You can even ask opencode itself to check it, below is the prompt

Check if termux mcp is connected or not

After that you can ask opencode to do anything you want with termux like scanning local network with nmap, below is the prompt

Using Termux MCP,
Install nmap and then scan my local network

Building Website

To build amazing websites, you have to give amazing prompts

luckily for us we have a website called https://motionsites.ai

which has too many crazy websites design with the prompt that can be used to get that exact result

Just copy the prompt there and paste it in opencode, and done.

Here’s the video version of this article: https://youtu.be/Ni6oyaliZEw