Architecture

Kilne OS is built from a short stack of well-known parts. Here is each layer, from the bottom up.

1. 6
   Apps

   Files, Terminal, Text Edit, Viewer, Settings, Store, web apps, Chromium

2. 5
   Kilne shell

   Bar, dock, launcher, login screen and the native system apps. Written in Rust.

3. 4
   Kilne runtime

   Runs installed web apps, one window each. Proprietary, licensed.

4. 3
   Graphics

   GPU-accelerated 2D drawing through wgpu.

5. 2
   Session

   The labwc compositor on Wayland, with greetd for login.

6. 1
   Base

   Debian 13 “Trixie”.

Debian underneath

Kilne OS is built on Debian 13. You get the Debian archive, apt, and the stability that comes with it. Kilne is Debian-based, and is not an official Debian project.

A modern Wayland session

Windows are managed by labwc, a lightweight Wayland compositor. The login screen runs through greetd. Kilne's bar, dock and launcher draw as layer surfaces, so windows can never cover them.

A shell in Rust

The shell, the login screen, the package tool and the native system apps are written in Rust. Drawing is GPU-accelerated through wgpu, which means Vulkan on Linux.

Apps

There are two kinds:

• Native apps (Files, Terminal, Text Edit, Viewer), written in Rust.
• Web apps (Settings, Store, and yours), built with the web and run by the Kilne runtime, each in its own window.

Packages

The kilne command installs apps from folders, .kilneapp files, URLs or catalogs. Catalogs are an index with a detached signature, and archives are verified against their checksum before they are unpacked. Every user's apps and settings live under ~/.kilne/.

Open and licensed

The shell, installer and tools are open source. The runtime is a proprietary component, accepted by license. How licensing works →