magisk-renef

magisk-renef is a Magisk / KernelSU / APatch module that automatically packages and runs the Renef server on a rooted Android device. Instead of manually copying binaries and launching the server over ADB, magisk-renef installs Renef as a system module so the server starts automatically on every boot — no ADB required.

Features

  • Auto-start on boot — Renef server launches automatically via service.sh on every reboot
  • Root manager agnostic — Works with Magisk, KernelSU, and APatch
  • Always up to date — GitHub Actions checks for new Renef releases daily and publishes a fresh module ZIP automatically
  • Zero manual setup — No need to push binaries with ADB or start the server by hand
  • UDS transport — Server binds to @com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit Unix domain socket

Requirements

  • Rooted Android device (Magisk, KernelSU, or APatch)
  • ARM64 only (aarch64)
  • Android 10 or newer
  • ADB (only needed for script delivery and log inspection, not for server startup)

Installation

  1. Download the latest MagiskRenef-{version}.zip from the Releases page
  2. Open your root manager (Magisk / KernelSU / APatch)
  3. Install the ZIP from the root manager’s module installer
  4. Reboot your device

After reboot, renef_server starts automatically in the background.

You can verify the module is active by checking the module list in your root manager — it will show a status message confirming the server is running.

Usage

With renef_server running on the device, connect from your workstation using the standard Renef CLI. Forward the UDS socket or use ADB to deliver scripts.

Spawn a new process 

renef -s com.example.app -l script.lua

Attach to a running process by PID 

renef -a <PID> -l script.lua

Quick workflow 

# 1. Get the PID of the target app (optional — use -s to spawn instead)
adb shell pidof com.example.app

# 2. Push your Lua script to the device
adb push hook.lua /data/local/tmp/

# 3. Attach and run the script
renef -a <PID> -l /data/local/tmp/hook.lua

Troubleshooting

Check the server log 

adb shell cat /data/local/tmp/renef_server.log

SELinux denials

If the server fails to start, SELinux enforcement may be blocking it. Temporarily disable enforcement to diagnose:

adb shell setenforce 0

Disabling SELinux enforcement reduces the security of your device. Re-enable it with setenforce 1 after testing.

Attach fails on hardened apps

Some apps detect and resist process attachment. In these cases, prefer spawning the app fresh with -s instead of attaching with -a.

How It Works

magisk-renef is built entirely through CI automation:

  1. A GitHub Actions workflow runs daily and checks the upstream Renef repository for new releases
  2. When a new release is detected, it downloads the official ARM64 Renef tarball
  3. The workflow packages the binary into a Magisk-compatible ZIP (with META-INF/, system/, and service.sh)
  4. The ZIP is published as a new GitHub Release automatically

This means the module always ships the latest official Renef binary without any manual intervention.

Building locally

If you want to build the module yourself:

# Install uv (Python package manager) if not already installed
curl -Ls https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

# Run the build script
uv run python3 main.py

# Force a release build even if no new Renef version is detected
FORCE_RELEASE=1 uv run python3 main.py

Comparison: magisk-renef vs manual setup

  magisk-renef Manual
Server startup Automatic on boot Manual via ADB every time
Binary updates Automatic (daily CI) Manual download and push
ADB required at runtime No Yes
Root manager integration Yes No
Supported root managers Magisk, KernelSU, APatch N/A

Source & Credits

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Renef - Dynamic Instrumentation Toolkit for Android