Was curious about if the article would have any useful info on tools or approaches for mobile coding besides just using the recent agentic coding options as Ive been using my phone to code for a few years now and it’s a thing I have gotten loads of stuff done with in all sorts of areas.

Things I use on iOS frequently:

a-shell / a-shell mini

https://github.com/holzschu/a-shell

Ill let the creator do the explaining of what a-shell is

A Terminal in your pocket (or on your desk)
The power of command line instructions, on your favorite device.

Control your files
Create directories, move files, compress them, uncompress them, edit them, run python, lua or Tex on your files, move them to other apps.

Edit your files inside the App
a-Shell comes with Vim included. You can edit your files and even run syntax checkers using e.g. vim-lsp or ALE. Or, if you're more old-school, there is also Ed.

Shortcuts
a-Shell is compatible with Apple Shortcuts. Script your favorite commands, transfer files to other apps, typeset files, download files...

Plays well with others
a-Shell uses iOS file sharing ability. You can open directories in other app sandbox with pickFolder and run TeX or Python there. You can send the result in a third app. You can also edit files directly in a-Shell.

Multiple shell windows
a-Shell uses iOS 13 multi-window ability. Edit your files in one window, process them in another, transfer them in a third...

Program on your iPad (or your iPhone)
a-Shell comes with several programming languages: Lua, Python, JavaScript, C and C++. Edit your programs and run them inside the app.
Run your C and C++ files (yes, really)
clang/clang++ compiles your C/C++ files to webAssembly with wasi included. Execute the resulting files using 'wasm command'. You can also compile to webAssembly elsewhere and bring the files to your iPad.

Install more packages
Use 'pip install' to add more Python packages (if they are pure Python). Download pre-compiled webAssembly commands.


a-Shell can do most of the things you can do in a terminal, locally on your iPhone or iPad. You can redirect command output to a file with ">" (append with ">>") and you can pipe commands with "|".

- customize appearance with config
- pickFolder: open, bookmark and access a directory anywhere (another app, iCloud, WorkingCopy, file providers...)
- newWindow: open a new window
- exit: close the current window

- All your files, including configuration files (.bashrc, .profile, .ssh...) are in ~/Documents/
- Files created by Shortcuts are in ~shortcuts/
- a-Shell executes the ~/Documents/.profile and ~/Documents/.bashrc files for each new window

- Single-finger swipes move the cursor or scroll, two-finger swipes send keyboard input (up, down, escape, tab). "man gestures" for more.

- Edit files with vim and pico.
- Transfer files with curl, tar, scp and sftp.
- Clone repositories and do version control with lg2 (similar to git)
- Install more commands with "pkg"
- Process files with python3, lua, jsc, clang, pdflatex, lualatex.
- Open files in other apps with open, play sound and video with play, preview with view.
- For network queries: nslookup, ping, host, whois, ifconfig...

- bookmark the current directory with "bookmark <name>" and access it later with "cd ~name" or "jump <name>".
- showmarks: show current list of bookmarks
- renamemark, deletemark: change list of bookmarks

User guide: https://bianshen00009.gitbook.io/a-guide-to-a-shell/

A list of the commands possible to tickle anyone’s creative thinking going on possibilities for a particular use case in mind.

alias
apropos
awk
base64
basename
bc
blink
bookmark
brave
calc
call
cat
cd
chflags
chmod
cksum
clear
compare
composite
compress
config
conjure
convert
cowsay
cp
credits
ctags.wasm3
curl
cut
cygdb
cython
cythonize
dash
date
dc
deactivate
deletemark
diff
dig
dirname
downloadFile
downloadFolder
du
ebong
echo
ed
egrep
env
exit
export
expr
ffmpeg
ffprobe
fgrep
file.wasm3
files-to-prompt
find
firefox
googlechrome
grep
gunzip
gzip
head
help
hideKeyboard
hideToolbar
history
host
huggingface-cli
id
identify
idle3
idle3.13
ifconfig
import
indraa
internalbrowser
ipython
ipython3
isForeground
jq
jsc
jsc_core
jsi
jump
keepDirectoryAfterShortcut
less
lessecho
lex
lg2
link
ln
ls
lua
luac
magick
magick-script
man
mandoc
mandocdb
md5
mkdir
mktemp
mogrify
montage
more
multimarkdown
mv
nc
newWindow
normalizer
nslookup
open
openrsync
openurl
opera
pbcopy
pbpaste
pickFolder
pico
ping
ping6
pip
pip3
pip3.11
pip3.13
pkg
play
printenv
pwd
pydoc3
pydoc3.13
pygmentize
pyproject-build
python
python3
python3-config
python3.13
python3.13-config
readlink
readtags.wasm3
realpath
rehash
renamemark
repeatCommand
rlogin
rm
rmdir
rsync
safari
say
scp
sed
setenv
setuptools-scm
sftp
sh
sha1
sha256
shodan
showToolbar
showmarks
sleep
snetra
sort
source
ssh
ssh-add
ssh-agent
ssh-copy-id
ssh-keygen
stat
stream
stty
sum
tail
tar
task
tee
telnet
text
touch
tqdm
tr
tree.wasm3
unalias
uname
uncompress
uniq
unlink
unrar
unsetenv
uptime
vba_extract.py
view
vim
wappalyze
wasm
wasm3
wc
whatis
wheel
whoami
whois
wol
xargs
xxd
yandexbrowser
z

working copy

https://workingcopy.app/

For code editor / repository / git anything / host key management Working copy is really good for local website development as its bulit in preview and JavaScript console

Git Shortcuts
Use Shortcuts and x-callback-url for automation.

Search repositories
Navigate by querying filenames, symbols or text occurrences.

Hosting Services
Lists your repositories on GitHub & many other services.

Signed Commits
Take part in secure workflows by signing commits.

Resolve Tool
Fix merge & rebase conflicts with speed and safety.

Large File Storage
Use Git LFS to efficiently handle videos and other huge assets.

Web IDE
HTML Preview with Javascript console.

Work Offline
Clone repositories making them fully available even when offline.