retroidRootRunner

A persistent root command bridge for Retroid devices. Enabling root commands over adb on stock/unrooted devices.

TL;DR: Run root commands an unrooted Retroid device!

Warning

This project enables root-level command execution (from trusted devices only). Read and understand the files in this repo before running them.
Use at your own risk.

Prerequisites

• Retroid device with USB (or wireless) debugging enabled
• adb installed on your computer, device connected and authorized
• A Retroid device with "Run script as root" developer feature available
  • Supported on most if not all Retroid devices (testing done with Retroid Pocket 5)

Initial Setup

From the root of this repository:

adb shell "mkdir -p /sdcard/retroidRootRunner" # Create a folder for application files
adb push device_files/*.sh /sdcard/retroidRootRunner/ # Push the scripts to the device
adb shell "chmod 755 /sdcard/retroidRootRunner/*.sh" # Set execute permissions

Usage

1. Spawn the runner via the entrypoint

• Navigate to Settings ➡️ Handheld Settings ➡️ Advanced ➡️ Run script as Root
• Browse to /sdcard/retroidRootRunner/ and select entrypoint.sh

2. Send commands

Helper script retroidRootRunner.sh sends commands, then polls output.log for a completion marker, and ultimately returns both to your shell (with error handling).

For Example:

./retroidRootRunner.sh 'id; getenforce'

Output:

=== Mon Aug 17 21:58:15 EDT 2026 ===
id; getenforce
--- output ---
uid=0(root) gid=0(root) groups=0(root) context=u:r:pservice:s0
Permissive
=== exit 0 ===

Tune polling if needed: RRUN_POLL_INTERVAL (default 1s), RRUN_TIMEOUT (default 60s). See ./retroidRootRunner.sh --help for details.

3. Kill / shut down

./retroidRootRunner.sh kill

Output:

Stopping runner...
Stopped and cleaned up.

Touches stop, waits for the runner to log its exit, then removes the leftover cmd/stop/runner.pid control files.

Application Flowchart

%%{init: {
  'theme': 'base',
  'themeVariables': {
    'primaryColor': '#262626',
    'primaryTextColor': '#dbdbdb',
    'primaryBorderColor': '#00ff99',
    'lineColor': '#8d81ff',
    'secondaryColor': '#1f1f1f',
    'tertiaryColor': '#333'
  }
}}%%
flowchart LR
  subgraph HOST[Host Machine]
    H[retroidRootRunner.sh]
  end

  subgraph DEVICE[Retroid Device]
    E[entrypoint.sh]
    R[runner.sh 🔁]
    C[run cmd.run contents]
    K[break loop, cleanup pid]
    O[output.log]

    E -->|spawn runner.sh as root| R
    R -->|cmd detected| C
    R -->|stop detected| K
    C -->|append stdout and exit marker| O
    K -->|append stop and loop exited logs| O
  end

  H -->|command| R
  H -->|kill| R
  O -->|poll and read| H

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Notes / Use Cases

• A hung command in cmd.run blocks the loop until it returns; wrap risky commands with timeout
• output.log isn't rotated, clear it if left running long
• Anything that can write to the cmd file can run commands as root while the process is running, be careful