Runtime Setup

Deputy Shell ships as a small base app and downloads its development runtime — Git, Python, Node.js, curl, OpenSSH tools, ripgrep, and the Codex CLI — the first time you launch it, using Google Play's on-demand module delivery.

Why it's downloaded separately

The full development runtime is large (roughly 500 MB compressed, over 1 GB once extracted). Rather than bundling all of it into the installable app, Deputy Shell requests it as four Play-delivered modules on first run, so the initial app download stays small.

What the runtime contains

• Core module: shell and core utilities, Python, and shared runtime metadata.
• Tools module: Git, curl, SSH/SCP/SFTP, ripgrep, and related command-line tools — the largest of the four modules.
• Node module: Node.js and npm.
• Codex module: the Codex CLI, built for Android.

What you'll see during setup

A full-screen setup view shows progress through distinct phases — initializing, downloading, installing, verifying, and starting the terminal — with a percentage based on completed steps, not just elapsed time. If setup fails partway, Deputy Shell shows a plain-language error with the option to retry.

Current status

The Play-delivered download mechanism itself is implemented and has passed local testing. End-to-end delivery through a live Google Play release, including recovery from an interrupted download after a fresh install, is still under evaluation — this is one of the things closed-alpha testing is expected to confirm.

Updates

An application update or a runtime-version change can replace the runtime directory. If you've made manual changes inside the runtime yourself, expect those to be reset by an update — modifying runtime files directly is unsupported and done at your own risk.