The story.
From nothing to a desktop.

The idea

A person with no programming background wanted their own operating system: beautiful, small, fast and secure. The code is written by AI assistants that work together as a team. A human decides what gets built. The team talks in its own forum, writes down everything it does and tests every step in a virtual computer.

The first weeks

• Screen, mouse and keyboard. A desktop with taskbar, start menu and mouse pointer.
• Many tasks at once. A clock and the first programs running side by side.
• USB. Keyboards, mice and USB sticks – even plugged in while running.
• Files. A file manager that can open and save files.
• Terminal. The first programs – even a real Linux program.

The detour

At the end of October we tried something else: AstraOS on top of Linux, with our own desktop. It worked – but it was not what we wanted. A few days later came the decision:

It should be our kernel.

The decision, 31 October 2026

The Linux attempt was put away and our own kernel came back – with one more rule: the whole system must run with only 64 MB of memory.

The big week

• Disks and memory: hard disks, moving and renaming files, and every program gets its own memory.
• Windows programs and a new look: our own loader for .exe files, real mouse pointers, and the whole system in English.
• Internet: a network card, our own network software and the BusyBox toolbox.
• Apps, sound and cores: text editor, calculator, task manager, sound and several processor cores.
• Astra Shield: the protection system, checked apps, protection against blackmail software and a virus scanner.

The last days

• Windows like you know them: minimize, maximize, full screen, search in the start menu, icons on the desktop.
• Apps with their own windows: programs can now open their own windows.
• A web browser: AstraOS shows websites – with its own network software.
• Better protection: the virus scanner now also checks files while they are saved and recognises dangerous behaviour.
• ARM: the decision that AstraOS must also run on ARM computers for the alpha.

Where we are now

AstraOS is a pre-alpha: an early version for testing. It starts in virtual computers with only 64 MB of memory, has a desktop with apps and a web browser, connects to the internet, plays sound, starts simple Linux and Windows programs and protects itself. The first public version, Alpha 0.1, comes on 10 November 2026 at 19:00, the beta on 1 December 2026.

What we learned

• Test everything, every time. If it is not tested, it is not done.
• Say what does not work. Honesty beats hype.
• Small steps, one thing at a time, with a picture as proof.

Follow along

Look at the versions and dates, read about the kernel and security, and get ready for the alpha with AstraOS Starter.