ZephyrOS

Website & Downloads

A minimal, modern Arch-based Linux distribution with a Wayfire Wayland compositor and UEFI Secure Boot support. Inspired by the Windows 11 aesthetic — centered taskbar, frosted launcher, clean animations — without the bloat.

Ships in 5 editions, each bundling a locally-hosted AI model via Ollama tailored to a specific use case.

Editions

Edition	Target User	AI Model	Min RAM	Key Tools
Core	Base reference	None	4 GB	Wayfire desktop, Kitty, Thunar
Scholar	Students	Phi-3 Mini (3.8B)	8 GB	Firefox, Evince, Xournal++, AI tutor
Dev	Developers	DeepSeek Coder V2 16B Lite	16 GB	Neovim, Helix, Docker, Git, 6 languages
SOC	Security analysts	Llama 3.1 8B	16 GB	Wireshark, nmap, tcpdump, AI triage
Lite	Low-end hardware	SmolLM2 1.7B	4 GB	Mousepad, Midori, minimal footprint

All editions share the same base: Wayfire desktop, Secure Boot, Ollama runtime. The AI model is pulled automatically on first boot.

Status

Phase 1 — VM-stable with Secure Boot (current). See ROADMAP.md for the full 3-phase plan.

Architecture

UEFI Firmware → shimx64.efi (Microsoft-signed) → GRUB2 → signed Linux kernel
                                                           ↓
                                                    Wayfire compositor
                                                    wf-panel-pi taskbar
                                                    Wofi launcher
                                                    Kitty terminal + zsh
                                                    Ollama + AI model

Base: Arch Linux (rolling release, archiso for reproducible ISOs) Display: Wayfire — lightweight Wayland compositor with blur, rounded corners, animations Boot: shim + GRUB2 Secure Boot chain with development MOK signing AI: Ollama runs locally — zero data exfiltration, all inference on-device

Key Design Decisions

• Arch over Debian/Ubuntu — Rolling model, first-class archiso support, modern Wayland stack
• Wayfire over KDE Plasma — Modular plugin-based effects without full DE bloat
• Secure Boot from day one — Development MOK workflow validates boot chain early
• Thunar + Kitty — Small footprint alternatives to Dolphin and GNOME Terminal
• Edition system — Shared base with per-edition package overlays and AI model configs

See DECISIONS.md for full rationale.

Quick Start

Build an edition ISO (requires Arch Linux host):

cd build && ./build-edition.sh scholar   # or: dev, soc, lite, core

Build the base ISO (original, no editions):

cd build && ./build-iso.sh

Test in VM (QEMU/KVM + OVMF):

cd vm && ./run-vm.sh

Use the AI assistant (inside any edition):

zephyros-ai                              # Interactive chat
zephyros-ai "explain quicksort"          # One-shot query
ollama run phi3:mini                      # Direct model access

Run diagnostics (inside any edition):

zephyros-hwreport           -o hw.md      # Hardware / driver / firmware report
zephyros-bootreport         -o boot.md    # systemd-analyze + slow-unit flags
zephyros-telemetry-audit    -o audit.md   # Scan for telemetry / phone-home packages

Apply theme (inside the guest):

cd theme && ./apply-theme.sh [--light|--dark]

Project Structure

zephyros/
├── build/                  # Archiso profile and ISO build scripts
│   ├── build-iso.sh        # Original single-ISO builder
│   └── build-edition.sh    # Multi-edition ISO builder
├── editions/               # Edition definitions
│   ├── base/               # Shared packages, first-boot service, AI wrapper
│   ├── scholar/            # Student edition overlay
│   ├── dev/                # Developer edition overlay
│   ├── soc/                # Security analyst edition overlay
│   └── lite/               # Lightweight edition overlay
├── dotfiles/               # Wayfire, Kitty, Wofi, zsh configs
├── secureboot/             # MOK key generation, kernel/module signing, enrollment
├── theme/                  # Single-command theme application (dark/light)
├── vm/                     # QEMU/OVMF launch and Secure Boot validation
├── DECISIONS.md            # Design decision rationale
├── ROADMAP.md              # 3-phase development plan
├── SECUREBOOT.md           # Detailed Secure Boot design documentation
├── KEYS.md                 # Key management and revocation policy
├── USER-GUIDE.md           # Install, verification, upgrade, diagnostics
└── DEVELOPER-GUIDE.md      # Build, contribute, release

How Editions Work

Each edition is a directory under editions/ containing:

• edition.conf — Name, description, ISO filename, Ollama model ID
• packages.x86_64 — Additional packages (merged with base)
• airootfs/ — Files overlaid into the ISO root filesystem (MOTD, configs)

At build time, build-edition.sh merges the base profile with the edition overlay and produces a standalone ISO. On first boot, a systemd oneshot service pulls the configured AI model via Ollama.

The zephyros-ai command provides a unified interface across all editions — it reads the edition config, loads the appropriate model, and sets a role-specific system prompt (tutor, code assistant, SOC analyst, etc.).

Roadmap

Phase	Goal	Status
1	VM-stable with Secure Boot, Wayfire desktop	Complete
1.5	Edition system with AI model integration	Complete
2	Full installer experience (TUI installer, live session)	Complete
3	Bare metal testing (GPU, Wi-Fi, power management)	Scaffolded (awaits bare-metal runs)
4	Public signed ISO release, Microsoft UEFI CA submission	Scaffolded (awaits signing keys + shim submission)

Tech Stack

Component	Technology
Base	Arch Linux (rolling)
Compositor	Wayfire (Wayland)
Launcher	Wofi
Terminal	Kitty + zsh
Theming	adw-gtk3, Fluent icons, Bibata cursor
Audio	PipeWire + WirePlumber
Boot	shim + GRUB2 + sbsigntools
AI Runtime	Ollama (local inference)
Build	archiso + local AUR repo
VM Testing	QEMU/KVM + OVMF Secure Boot firmware

License

MIT