Welcome to ArcOS: a super advanced web-based operating system. This Wiki is all about developing apps for ArcOS. I'll guide you through scaffolding your first app to solving problems and accessing ArcOS internal APIs. ArcOS is fully transparent: every class, type, store, whatever is accessible to the developers. Just wait until you see what's truly possible when you grasp the power that is ArcOS' internals.
ArcOS apps are constructed using HTML, CSS and JS, making the development process accessible to anyone. A so-called Third-party app (or TPA) can do anything a built-in Svelte-based app can do, just with a couple more hoops to jump through. The main one being that TPAs run on an ArcOS filesystem, so many file operations will feel like actual app development on a real operating system.
For example, when developing a Svelte app, I can just import an image from a neighbouring directory or file. In the land of TPAs, I have to first asynchronously read the file from the ArcOS filesystem, and then use that path.
If you came here to learn about ArcOS, I'm afraid this place isn't for you. ArcOS is a relatively self-explanatory environment, and this wiki is written with the sole purpose to explain the development cycle of app development so that you and anyone else may develop and package their own applications instead of being stuck with what I have to provide. If you want to develop an ArcOS app, you're free to go on...
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ArcOS disclaimers
In the block below are a series of disclaimers you should keep in mind when using ArcOS or developing apps for it. Please read these statements carefully. If you report something that's covered by the disclaimers, there's a good chance it'll be ignored.
ArcOS Disclaimers - May 27th 2025
ArcOS cannot be used as a primary operating system. An attempt to do so is discouraged.
This isn't an actual operating system, rather it's an operating system environment that runs in your browser, built using modern web technologies. These sorts of projects are often referred to as WebOSes.
All assets contained within ArcOS belong to their respective authors. The wallpapers and sounds were each explicitly licensed to the ArcOS development team as early as 2023. Redistribution of these assets is strictly prohibited.
It is not possible to access your ArcOS v5 or v6 user data. This data has been deleted when the ArcOS project was momentarily shut down in September of 2024. ArcOS v7 bares no backwards compatibility with any older version.
As of May 2025, ArcOS v7 is still in pre-release development. This means that you have to be prepared to find lacking UX, incomplete features, unforseen bugs and unstable environments. Furthermore, the current ArcOS v7 backend might be reset to zero when ArcOS eventually releases, though that hasn't been definitively concluded.
The release date of ArcOS v7 is estimated to be sometime in August of 2025. Before that time, ArcOS and any pages related to it are to be observed as incomplete and in-beta software.
I am not responsible for a loss of information when using ArcOS v7, either in beta or as a stable, released product. ArcOS is a hobbyist project taken to the extreme, there is no guarantee of data redundancy or backups. That said, I do take security extremely seriously. The only one able to access your data, is you. Nobody else. Your data is yours, forever.
The Terms of Service (ToS), Privacy Policy and Community Guidelines have yet to be established. These should be ready by the time ArcOS v7 releases to the general public.
The ArcOS v7 source code, as well as any accompanying repositories, will remain private until further notice. The decision to make ArcOS open-source software has plagued me in the past, and I'm not sure I want to continue that trend with v7, considering the amount of time I'm putting into it.
