avyos is a minimal, experimental operating system project.
The goal of avyos is to explore how far a mostly pure Go system can go, while keeping the system simple, readable, and hackable.
⚠️ Experimental project. Things will break.
- Build a full operating system in Go
- Keep components small, explicit, and easy to understand
- Prefer clarity and control over POSIX compatibility
- Gradually eliminate legacy dependencies
-
Bootstrap phase
Build a usable operating system by reusing existing components:- Linux kernel
- GCC toolchain
- Mesa
- Wayland / wlroots
- Traditional C libraries where unavoidable
-
Replacement phase
Incrementally replace reused components with simple, pure Go implementations:- init system
- service manager
- IPC bus
- shell
- device management
- userspace libraries
- graphics and input stack
The system is expected to stay bootable and usable at every step.
avyos has crossed the “toy OS” stage and is now a working experimental system.
- ✅ Fully bootable disk image generated by the avyos build system
- ✅ QEMU-based development workflow
- ✅ Modified, non-standard Unix-like root filesystem layout
- ✅ Custom init and service model
- ✅ Lipi shell implemented and fully usable
- Lisp-inspired
- Not POSIX, not
/bin/shcompatible - Designed specifically for avyos
- ✅ Wayland stack working
- ✅ Mesa providing hardware-accelerated graphics
- ✅ wlroots + dwl compositor running successfully
- ✅ Accelerated rendering confirmed
- ✅ 36 external components integrated
- ✅ Full GCC compiler toolchain
- ✅ Mesa, Wayland, wlroots, libinput, and supporting libraries
- ✅ Working IPC service bus named
connect - ✅ Used by init and system services
- ✅ Designed for structured, binary IPC (no JSON or strings in hot paths)
- ✅ apigen tool implemented
- ✅ Generates client-side and service-side IPC code
- ✅ Uses API specifications located at:
/api/<service>/api.json
Build everything (kernel, userland, rootfs, disk image):
makeRun on amd64 using QEMU:
make -C device/amd64 run| Directory | Purpose |
|---|---|
_external/ |
External source code (third-party components) |
api/ |
Api specification and generated go code |
build/ |
Toolchains and build tools |
cmd/ |
System commands |
config/ |
Configuration files |
data/ |
Fonts, images, icons, and static assets |
device/ |
Device / architecture-specific targets |
init/ |
Init systems and kernels |
init/kernel |
Linux kernel (current) |
init/sutra |
Experimental pure-Go “kernel” |
lib/ |
Required C libraries |
pkg/ |
Go packages |
scripts/ |
Helper and build scripts |
services/ |
System services |
api/ |
IPC API specifications (api.json) |
tools/ |
Build tools (including apigen) |
- ❌ Not POSIX-compliant (by design)
- ❌ Not a traditional Unix system
⚠️ APIs, layouts, and interfaces are unstable- 🔁 Frequent refactors are expected
- 🎯 Primary focus: clarity, control, and Go-first design