VasakOS Alpha 4 available · 19 August 2026

VasakOS

A desktop of its own, built on Arch Linux, made so the system feels like yours.

Rolling release, Wayland, native applications written in Rust, and an interface you can restyle with CSS. Free, and developed in the open.

Download Alpha Project status

Version Alpha: usable every day for testing, still not recommended as your only system. See what works today.

Why VasakOS

It is not Arch with a different wallpaper: the desktop, the applications and the services were written for this system.

Built on Arch Linux

A rolling release, with no versions falling behind and the newest software available. All of Arch's ecosystem and documentation still applies.

Native applications in Rust

The file manager, terminal, gallery, settings and the desktop itself are applications of our own, not a collection of programs borrowed from other environments.

Wayland from the start

A Wayfire session managed by systemd, with screen lock, night light and brightness control built in.

Restyleable with CSS

The interface is styled with CSS and colour variables. Changing how the desktop looks does not mean recompiling anything.

Actually open source

Every component lives in its own public repository under the GPL. The history, the issues and the decisions are all in the open.

No telemetry

The system collects no usage data and sends nothing to any server. There is no account to create and no service to subscribe to.

The system, piece by piece

Every part of VasakOS lives in its own repository, with its published version and its status. What is still rough says so.

Desktop and session

DesktopBeta
1.11.0-1
Session managerAlpha
0.7.0-1
Session settingsBeta
0.5.23-20
Icon themeStable
0.6.3-1

Applications

File managerBeta
0.22.1-1
TerminalBeta
0.9.0-1
System settingsAlpha
0.22.0-1
GalleryAlpha
0.6.0-1
ResonanceAlpha
0.8.2-1

System services

KeyringAlpha
0.7.2-1
NotificationsAlpha
0.4.7-1
PolicyKit agentAlpha
0.5.0-1
Application permissionsAlpha
0.13.0-1
Online accountsAlpha
0.13.0-1

Input and accessibility

Press and holdAlpha
0.3.6-1

Distribution

ISO imageAlpha
Alpha 4
pacman repositoryStable
active
InstallerBeta
3.4.2

See the detailed status of each component

Gallery

Screenshots

A look at what Vasak OS looks like

A VasakOS screenshot — VasakOS on screen

Illustration of a group of people collaborating

Be part of this community

You can be part of this community by downloading the system and using it, testing it, or joining in on the development. Vasak OS is built by all of us, from the people who use it to the people who write it.

Download

OPEN SOURCE

All the work behind VasakOS is completely open to the community.

See the repositories

Illustration of branches and commits in a source repository

Every component lives in its own public repository under the GPL: the desktop, the applications, the services, the PKGBUILDs, and this site. There is no closed part that the rest depends on.

Whether you design, write code, or just use it, your help counts. From the moment you install VasakOS and report what is not working, you are part of the development.

Fork, clone, modify, or send a pull request.
Test, report, suggest, open issues, comment on them, or resolve them.
Translate, document, or design icons and wallpapers.

VasakOS is not trying to use less memory than anyone else. It would rather spend the resources needed to preload what you are about to use, so the system feels immediate, than leave RAM free that is of no use to anybody.

Built on Arch Linux, the system is a rolling release: no versions fall behind, and no big migration every two years. Updates arrive through pacman from the Arch repositories and from ours.