Omarchy: why this fast, free Linux setup could shake up Windows and Mac

What Omarchy is

Omarchy is a free version of Linux created by David Heinemeier Hansson (known as DHH), the creator of Ruby on Rails and co-founder of 37signals, the company behind Basecamp. It's built on Arch Linux and the Hyprland window manager. The name comes from "omakase", Japanese for "chef's choice": it arrives with the tools and settings already picked, so you can start working straight away, but you can change everything. Version 4, called "Quattro", came out in August 2026.

What it does well

• It installs in minutes. Omarchy says it's up and running in as little as 35 seconds on the fastest machines, and in under two minutes on most computers. You write the installer to a USB stick, answer five questions and get a finished desktop. You can also try it in a virtual machine on a Mac or Windows PC first.
• It's fast and keyboard-driven. There's no dock and no desktop icons. One key combination (Super + Space) opens a menu for apps, settings and installs. Windows arrange themselves side by side instead of piling up, and you jump between workspaces instantly. Once it clicks, it's a very quick way to work.
• It's free and open source. The code is released under the MIT licence. Omarchy's principles promise "no tollbooths, no gatekeepers, no platforms that can change the terms on you."
• Security is switched on from the start. Full-disk encryption is mandatory, the firewall blocks incoming connections by default, and the system takes a snapshot before every update, so you can roll back if something breaks. A "Reset Computer" option wipes it cleanly before you pass it on.
• It gives old computers a second life. Omarchy says it runs on a 2011 ThinkPad X220 with 2GB of memory. It also supports older Intel Macs, and in its own simple test a 2019 MacBook Pro ran 36% faster.
• It's popular with developers. Coding tools like Neovim, VS Code, Cursor and Zed are ready to install, along with Docker and common programming languages. Games run through Steam and other launchers, and Windows itself can run in a built-in virtual machine for the odd program you can't replace.
• It has momentum. Omarchy reports 200,000 downloads of version 4 in its first 18 days, from 215 countries and territories, and close to 7,000 contributions from more than 550 people. It says corporate backers have pledged about US$23.2 million.

Bring your own AI

Windows, Apple and Google are building AI into the operating system itself. Microsoft offers Copilot and, on Copilot+ PCs, Recall, which saves snapshots of your screen (it stays off until you opt in). Apple Intelligence is available automatically when you update an eligible iPhone, iPad or Mac. Gemini is now the main assistant on many Android phones. In each case the operating system company chooses the AI and decides how it fits in.

Omarchy goes all in on AI too. It calls itself "agentic Linux", and one of its principles is "Welcome the agents". The difference is that you pick:

• It includes ready-made launchers for 14 AI coding agents from different companies, including Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Google's and xAI's tools, and Cursor. It deliberately doesn't choose one for you, and an agent only installs the first time you run it.
• You sign in with your own account and can switch agents whenever you like, or use none at all.
• For dictation, you can choose between Superwhisper, the default, which processes your voice in the cloud, and Voxtype, which runs on your own computer.
• When an app crashes, one click asks your chosen agent to work out what went wrong.

The project itself runs on AI help too: in October 2026, SpaceXSI donated US$1.5 million in Grok AI credits to power the bots that review contributions.

Where it could shake things up

These are opportunities, not certainties, but each has a real driver behind it:

• People leaving Windows. Windows 10 support ended on 14 October 2025. Microsoft's paid extended security updates for home users run until 12 October 2027, and many older PCs can't run Windows 11. A free system that runs well on that hardware is an obvious alternative to buying a new PC.
• People who want a say over their computer's AI. For anyone uneasy about AI that's built into the system and chosen for them, "bring your own AI, or none" is a clear selling point.
• Developers on Mac and Windows. Omarchy's manual has a whole chapter for people switching from Mac or Windows, and its downloads suggest developers are listening.
• Small businesses and schools. No licence fees, encryption as standard, and a reset button for handing machines over could lower costs for fleets of computers, especially older ones. They'd still need someone to set it up and support it.
• A friendlier layer on top. Omarchy is aimed at confident users, which leaves room for others to build beginner guides, setup services or ready-to-go machines on top of it.

Who it isn't for yet

• People who want everything to just work. Omarchy is easy to install, but day to day it expects you to learn keyboard shortcuts and get comfortable with the terminal now and then. Its AI agents can also run without stopping to ask, and the manual warns, "be ready for them to actually do things!"
• People who rely on certain apps or games. Some popular programs, like the Microsoft Office desktop apps and Adobe's Creative Cloud apps, don't have Linux versions. You'd use web versions or the Windows virtual machine instead. Many games work through Steam, but not all.
• Some hardware. Newer Macs with Apple chips aren't directly supported, and installing on an Intel Mac wipes macOS. Some older Macs have known problems, like sound not working.

What this means for you

If you're curious, try Omarchy in a virtual machine before touching your main computer, and back up your files first. Whatever you use, check what the built-in AI can see and how to switch it off: on Windows, Settings > Privacy & security > Recall & snapshots; on iPhone, individual Apple Intelligence features under Settings > Notifications and Settings > Apps; on Android, the Gemini app's Keep Activity setting.

For step-by-step help, see our guides on stopping chatbots training on your chats and giving an AI agent access to your accounts.