CLI & Native Applets

Magisk Command-Line Tools & Binaries

Exhaustive developer and power-user reference documentation for all 4 native Magisk command-line binaries: magiskboot, resetprop, magiskpolicy, and su.

Native Binary Architecture & Invocation

Magisk's command-line utilities are implemented in high-performance C++ and compiled with the Android NDK for all target architectures (arm64-v8a, armeabi-v7a, x86_64, x86). When Magisk is installed, these binaries reside in /data/adb/magisk/ and are symlinked into the global root $PATH as well as accessible as standalone tools.

Native Tool Modules

magiskboot

Boot Image Tool

Unpack, repack, CPIO patch, DTB edit, decompress, and hex-patch Android boot headers (v0–v4) and ramdisk archives.

Layer: Boot / Ramdisk Manipulation

resetprop

Properties Engine

Modify, set, and delete read-only (ro.*) Android system properties directly in memory without rebooting.

Layer: System Property Shared Memory Trie

magiskpolicy

SELinux Compiler

Real-time binary SELinux policy editor and compiler. Injects permissive rules into running kernels without audit violations.

Layer: Live Kernel SEPolicy Injection

MagiskSU (su)

Superuser Client

Isolated multi-user Superuser CLI client with mount namespace control (--mount-master), UID switching, and socket IPC.

Layer: Root Privilege Elevation Daemon

Master Tools Comparison & Invocation Matrix

Tool Name	Primary Function	Invocation Layer	Typical Developer Use Case
magiskboot	Boot image unpack / repack & CPIO ramdisk patcher	Offline / Pre-boot / Recovery	Modifying boot partitions, injecting binaries into root cpio
resetprop	Live in-memory system property manipulation	Runtime OS / Root Shell	Spoofing device fingerprints, bypassing Play Integrity checks
magiskpolicy	Real-time SELinux policy compiler and rule injector	Early Boot / Live Kernel	Granting specific SELinux permissions to custom root daemons
MagiskSU (su)	Multi-user Superuser client and mount namespace manager	User-Space Shell	Executing elevated commands and accessing global mount namespaces

Source & Verification Standard

Last Reviewed: August 19, 2026 • Verified With: Magisk v30.7 • Primary upstream: topjohnwu/Magisk. Primary reference: topjohnwu/Magisk on GitHub.