News

SnapOS 2.7: Carapace and dual boot (Oct 20, 2026)

Carapace, the SnapOS store, is here: a featured program, the popular ones, coloured categories and a row of programs for each one on the first page, and a search that goes through all of Nix's roughly 27 thousand programs while you type, Steam, Discord and Spotify included. Installing adds the program to /etc/snapos and builds the next system while Snappy keeps you company, and anything installed can be undone. The installer can now keep your other systems: after the disk it asks whether to erase it or to let you choose the partitions, so SnapOS can sit next to Windows or another distro, and GRUB lists them at start. Thanks to psyclonepman for asking for it. GNOME Software and Flathub leave the default system; Flatpak is a pack you can turn on. Already on SnapOS? Run snapos update. New here? Get the images.

Carapace installed its first programs (Oct 19, 2026)

The new store works on a real system. In a test machine, Carapace installed Firefox and VSCodium: you click Install, type your password, and it adds the program to /etc/snapos and builds the next system while Snappy climbs a mountain. A few minutes later the program is in the menu, and it can be removed or undone like any other change. Every program in Nix can be installed now, Steam, Discord and Spotify included. Carapace is still being finished in snapos-test: a bigger first page and a faster search come next.

Finally, GNOME Software is leaving! (Oct 19, 2026)

SnapOS is getting its own store: Carapace, named after the turtle's shell. GNOME Software only shows Flatpak apps on SnapOS, so it never really fit. With it, Flatpak and Flathub leave the default system too: they become a pack you can turn on (snapos.packs.flatpak.enable = true;) if you need an app that only Flathub has. Carapace shows the programs from Nix instead, the same ones snapos add installs: popular apps with icons and categories up front, and every one of the Nix packages in the search. Installing adds the program to /etc/snapos and builds the next system, so anything you install can be removed or undone with snapos rollback. While it downloads, Snappy keeps you company: he picks flowers, climbs a mountain, swims, sits by a campfire, goes fishing or flies a kite. It is being built now; this is a preview.

SnapOS 2.6 is here (Oct 18, 2026)

Two new images, with no version in the name. The universal image installs the full SnapOS and, with the internet up, downloads the newest version while it installs. The manual image is a terminal: you build your own system the NixOS way, following the handbook, and turn on the SnapOS packs you want. The NixOS tools now have SnapOS names (snapos-install, snapos-rebuild...) and a system lives in /etc/snapos. Already on SnapOS? Run snapos update. New here? Get the images.

Coming next: a manual image and a universal image (Oct 18, 2026)

SnapOS 2.6 is being built and tested in snapos-test right now. It brings two new images: a manual (minimal) image, where you build your own system the NixOS way and add the SnapOS packs you want, following the handbook; and a universal image, a net install that downloads the newest SnapOS while it installs, so one USB stick keeps installing the latest version.

SnapGuard comes alive (Oct 18, 2026)

Snappy now keeps a cup next to him. A virus that SnapGuard finds falls into it and jumps around, angry. Delete it and Snappy eats it; trust it and it grows wings and flies away. The animations are drawn like Snappy, in ASCII art.

Updates have their own home (Oct 18, 2026)

Installed systems now look for updates in snapos-updates, which only holds what snapos update needs. SnapOS also moved to the snapos-distro organization, and Hyprland is back to plain tiling.

A native Debian layer (Oct 3, 2026)

.deb programs run natively in a Debian layer, like on a real Debian computer, with no sandbox in the way. That is why Steam just works. SnapGuard scans every package before it is installed.

The commands people need, under plain names (Sep 27, 2026)

SnapOS 2.4 puts the everyday Nix commands behind snapos: find, add, remove, shell, diff, rollback, generations, gc and more. SnapOS is a bridge from Debian-based distros to NixOS.

SnapOS for ARM64 (Sep 27, 2026)

SnapOS 2.3.1 brought an image for ARM64 computers that start with UEFI, package updates between releases and an installer that can run without questions.

Choose your desktop (Sep 25, 2026)

The installer asks for Budgie, KDE Plasma, Xfce or Hyprland, each in dark or light.

SnapGuard in real time, and updates that cannot break the system (Sep 23, 2026)

SnapOS 2.0 moved to NixOS 26.05 and started to update itself, going back by itself if a new system does not start. 2.1 made SnapGuard watch Downloads and USB drives.

SnapOS 1.0 (Sep 20, 2026)

The first release: the installer, Budgie with the SnapOS look, SnapGuard, SnapWeb and the terminal tools.