SillyTavern in Termux

This is the real thing, and we recommend it without hedging. Termux runs the upstream Node.js server on your own phone, so you get the project exactly as its developers ship it: every release the day it lands, server plugins, and the whole extension surface. What you pay is twenty minutes of setup and a session Android can end while your back is turned.

PokiTavern is our app and it is a separate implementation of the same API, so on feature count we trail upstream and always will. This page is where we say so plainly.

1.What do you get from a Termux install?

The genuine upstream server. SillyTavern is AGPL-3.0 and Termux runs it unmodified. Nothing about your install is a reinterpretation of the project by somebody else. If a behaviour is documented upstream, that is the behaviour you have.

New releases on release day. Updating is git pull --rebase --autostash and you are current. Version 1.18.0 landed on 2026-05-03 and the ones after it arrive the same way.

Server plugins and the full extension set. Stable Diffusion image generation, text to speech, speech recognition, expression classification, image captioning, vector storage and web search all work here. None of them exist in PokiTavern, and that is our gap rather than a design statement.

The install is yours. Your own data directory, your own backups, config files you can edit, and the freedom to patch the server. An APK gives you none of that.

2.What does the setup actually involve?

Install Termux, then follow the official Termux guide. It is roughly six commands: update the package lists, install git and Node.js, clone the repository, and start the server with bash start.sh. Then open 127.0.0.1:8000 in the phone's browser and you are looking at SillyTavern.

If you have used a terminal before, that is a coffee break, not a wall. If you have not, it is the point where most people stop, and there is no shame in that being the deciding factor.

3.What does it cost to live with?

The server lives inside a Termux session. Close the session and it stops. Let Android reclaim the process for memory and it stops. Reboot the phone and nothing is running until you start it again by hand. The official guide ends at bash start.sh and points you elsewhere for keeping a process alive, which tells you how much of that is your problem.

The other cost is that the server does not generate anything. It is a frontend and an API router, so replies come from a provider you connect to. Getting text with the network off means installing llama.cpp or koboldcpp inside Termux as well and keeping both processes up.

4.When is PokiTavern the better fit?

Three things, and none of them is a feature count. The server survives, because opening the app is the whole procedure every time. Inference is on the device, so after one free in-app model download, between 614 MB for Qwen3 0.6B and 3.66 GB for Gemma 4 E4B, replies come with no signal. And nothing needs assembling: no Node.js, no git clone, no mirror selection, and no terminal at any point.

Stay with Termux if image generation, spoken replies, expression portraits, vector storage or web search is part of how you play, if you want server plugins, if you want the newest release the moment it exists, or if you simply want the install to be yours down to the config files. We are not a substitute for any of that, and no amount of convenience changes it.

5.Questions people ask

Is PokiTavern a fork of SillyTavern?

No. It is a separate server, written in Dart, that implements the SillyTavern 1.18 API endpoint by endpoint, and it serves that project's official frontend on top. A Termux install runs the upstream Node.js server itself. Both are AGPL-3.0, and the two projects are unaffiliated.

Which SillyTavern features are missing from PokiTavern?

Server plugins, the AI Horde and NovelAI backends, Stable Diffusion image generation, speech synthesis and recognition, expression classification, image captioning, vector storage and web search. All of these work on a Termux install. If any one of them is part of how you play, install upstream.

How fast does PokiTavern follow a new SillyTavern release?

Slower than a git pull, always. Termux gets a release the day it ships. Our server targets the 1.18 API, released 2026-05-03, and new endpoints reach the app only after we implement and test them, then publish a build. The gap is structural, not a scheduling problem.

Does a Termux install keep running in the background?

Not on its own. The server lives in a Termux session, so it stops when you close the session or when Android reclaims the process for memory, and a reboot leaves nothing running. The official guide ends at bash start.sh and sends you elsewhere for keeping it alive.

Can a Termux install generate replies with no internet?

Only if you also install a local backend such as llama.cpp or koboldcpp inside Termux and point SillyTavern at it. The server on its own is a frontend and an API router, not an inference engine. PokiTavern carries one, which is the main thing you get for the 202 MB.

Can I move my data from Termux to PokiTavern?

Character cards and world books move, because both sides read the same files. A PNG card keeps its JSON in the image tEXt chunk, V2 under chara and V3 under ccv3, and world books import as JSON. Chat history is stored differently and does not transfer as a directory copy.