a-Shell
a-Shell
Download on App Store

This page is not an official page of the app or its developer, but an independent editorial publication created for informational and commentary purposes. Unless expressly stated otherwise, neither the app nor its developer is affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, authorized by, or otherwise officially connected with MWM, Apple, Google Play, the app publisher, or the app's developer, and nothing on this page implies that the app was developed using MWM's services. Any trademarks, logos, screenshots, and other content remain the property of their respective owners.

Logo of a-Shell
Download on App Store

a-Shell

Transform your iPad into a high-performance workstation. Run Python, compile C++, and process TeX locally with a professional-grade terminal designed for developers and power users.

Key Figures

Downloads

290K+

User Rating

4.6/5

Total Ratings

300

Publisher

Nicolas Holzschuch

Category

Developer Tools

Locales

7

Latest Version

1.17.4

Size

1.9 GB

First Released

Oct 25, 2019
Features

Desktop Power in Your Pocket

Transform your iPad or iPhone into a high-performance local development environment with a full Unix-style terminal designed for power users.

Native Unix Performance

Run Unix commands natively on Arm64 at maximum speed. Use tools like grep, awk, and sed without needing a remote server or cloud connection.

The Ultimate Dev Toolkit

Write and run Python, C, and C++ scripts locally. Includes a complete TeX engine and WebAssembly SDK for serious coding and research on the go.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about a-Shell

What is a-Shell?

a-Shell is a complete local terminal emulator for iOS devices, allowing users to run most Unix commands and various programming languages directly on their device.

Can a-Shell run Unix commands on iOS?

Yes, a-Shell can run most standard Unix commands directly on your iOS device. It functions as a local terminal emulator and is compiled for native Arm64 for optimal performance.

What programming languages does a-Shell support?

a-Shell includes Python, Lua, Perl, JavaScript, C, and C++ for programming. It also offers TeX for text processing and a complete WebAssembly SDK.

The following screenshots and description are sourced directly from the app's official store listing and are the property of the app developer.

App Store

Screenshots

a-Shell - a-Shell app interface showing a Unix directory listing and virtual keyboard

a-Shell app interface showing a Unix directory listing and virtual keyboard

a-Shell - Editing a Python script using the Vim editor in the a-Shell terminal emulator on an iPhone

Editing a Python script using the Vim editor in the a-Shell terminal emulator on an iPhone

a-Shell - a-Shell app interface showing Unix terminal commands on an iOS device

a-Shell app interface showing Unix terminal commands on an iOS device

a-Shell - a-Shell mobile app showing an interactive IPython terminal session running Python code on iOS

a-Shell mobile app showing an interactive IPython terminal session running Python code on iOS

a-Shell - a-Shell terminal interface showing nslookup command output on iOS

a-Shell terminal interface showing nslookup command output on iOS

Description

a-Shell is a complete local terminal emulator, allowing to run most Unix commands on your iOS device. You can transfer files using scp and curl, edit them with vim and ed, process them using grep, awk and sed. You can work with git repositories using lg2.  Most commands are compiled for iOS native Arm64 format, making them fast and well integrated with the BSD Unix that powers iOS/iPadOS. a-Shell includes Python, Lua, Perl, JavaScript, C, C++ for programming and TeX (texlive 2025, with Tikz and LuaTeX) for text processing. There are also multiple network utilities: nslookup, ping, whois, ifconfig... Type help for help, help -l to get the full list of commands. a-Shell can be controlled from Shortcuts: run commands in order, process files in a-Shell, get the results as text or files, transfer files to other apps... a-shell uses iOS 13+ “multiple windows” ability, so you can run multiple shells at the same time, with different commands, in different directories. You can edit a file in one window with vim and process it in the other with python. Compile your C or C++ programs to webAssembly using clang or clang++, and execute the resulting binary. A complete webAssembly SDK is included (WASI-libc). a-Shell is the complete version. If you need a smaller app, and you don't need a C compiler, a TeX engine, or numpy and matplotlib, there is a-Shell mini.

Download

Download on App Store
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This page is not an official page of the app or its developer, but an independent editorial publication created for informational and commentary purposes. Unless expressly stated otherwise, neither the app nor its developer is affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, authorized by, or otherwise officially connected with MWM, Apple, Google Play, the app publisher, or the app's developer, and nothing on this page implies that the app was developed using MWM's services. Any trademarks, logos, screenshots, and other content remain the property of their respective owners.