The package manager for when your distribution is on fire—or just extremely minimal.
Cosmos is a minimal, musl-friendly, static-binary-only package manager for people who want to build, install, and repair Linux systems with zero runtime dependencies and zero patience for bloat.
Cosmos v1.0.0 is now stable.
This marks the first full release of the Cosmos package manager, built for recovery, embedded, and minimal systems. It’s been tested on various systems, including Alpine Linux, Ubuntu, and Arch Linux. It’s designed to be small, fast, and easy to use.
Cosmos is a statically linked, offline-friendly, interpreter-free package manager. It was designed for:
- Bootstrapping systems from scratch
- Initramfs, embedded, and recovery environments
- Fully custom distros (like Wombat Linux)
- Minimal or purpose-built Linux deployments
- Developers who want reproducible installs without shell drama
- Those who don't need GPG or TLS for package verification, only checksums
Terminology:
- Galaxy: A repository of packages
- Star: An individual package
- Nebula: A group of Stars (meta-package)
- Constellation: A preset list of Stars to install
- Universe: Local package database/tracking system
Cosmos is for real-world failure cases:
- When your system package manager is broken and can’t install or update anything.
- When you’re bootstrapping a minimal, embedded, or recovery system without a shell or internet access.
- When you need to install software from a USB stick, not a cloud mirror.
- When all you have left is a static binary and sheer force of will.
See the Design Rationale for more philosophy and tech comparisons.
See the Design Rationale for more philosophy and tech comparisons.
- ✅ Written in Rust
- ✅ Under 4MB binary size on musl libc
- ✅ No Bash, no Python, no dynamic linking
- ✅ Offline installs from USB or local files
- ✅ Nova: Safe Lua scripting for builds and installs (like shell scripts but cleaner and saner)
- ✅ Stellar: Package builder CLI (define, fetch, build—no Makefiles, no nonsense)
- ✅ Universe TOML tracking system
- ✅ C FFI via cbindgen
- ✅ Host Galaxies from USB, HTTP, S3, or even
python3 -m http.server - ✅ Modular transport layer:
file://and HTTP included by default. HTTPS, IPFS, and others available via optional features.
Quick install flow example:
cosmos sync
cosmos install core-stack
cosmos install --constellation desktop.tomlQuick build flow example:
stellar new-star hello
# Edit star.toml + add files/ and install.lua
stellar fetch ./hello
stellar build-star ./hello
📖 Full documentation lives in the cosmos-docs repository.
Includes:
- Install and usage guides
- Star and Galaxy file formats
- Nova scripting reference
- FAQ and bootstrapping
Cosmos isn’t here to replace Apt, Pacman, or Nix—it’s for when they’re down, broken, overkill, or not even possible. Perfect for embedded systems, recovery environments, custom initramfs, and everything in between.
See the Design Rationale for comparisons and guiding principles.
Cosmos assumes trusted networks or pre-verified sources. Don't use it to install packages from sketchy URLs unless you enjoy rootkits and regret.
Cosmos does not require TLS or GPG. HTTP and file:// transports are supported by default.
Optional features allow enabling HTTPS and other protocols via the modular cosmos-transport layer.
Cosmos prioritizes simplicity, readability, and explicit trust boundaries.
Read the Security Model
See BUILDING.md for:
- Glibc vs Musl targets
- Static linking instructions
- Binary size tips and
stripusage
Cosmos is modular, documented, and snarky. You can help by:
- Writing Stars or Nova scripts
- Building Galaxies
- Improving Stellar or Nova
- Proposing new commands or safety features
Start here: Contribution Document
MIT. No contributor agreement. No drama.
Cosmos exists for the systems no one else wants to deal with. It’s for the broken, the weird, the embedded, and the intentionally small. Where other package managers assume DNS resolution, working SSL, a functioning shell, and five runtime daemons, Cosmos assumes a USB stick and sheer force of will. It doesn't aim to be elegant or extensible—it aims to work, when and where nothing else does.
If you’ve ever fixed a system by hand-editing /etc, this is your vibe.
Cosmos is not for everyone.
It’s for people who fix their systems with tarballs and spite—or build systems that never needed help to begin with.