Run it. Peer it. Own it.
Guides that start from what you want to do, the full per-product reference ingested straight from each repo, the HTTP API, and deep dives for self-hosters and contributors.
Start here
New to Vulos? Follow this path in order — understand what it is, install it on a machine you own, then find your way around the desktop.
A sovereign personal server — a real desktop, on hardware you own. The 3-minute picture.
Step 02Install itFlash the image to a mini-PC, an old laptop, a Pi, or a VPS, and walk the first-boot wizard.
Step 03Use the desktopWhat you see and what to click — windows, the dock, and the ⌘K command palette.
Using Vulos
Up and running? These are the everyday guides — click-by-click walks through the desktop, the apps, and common tasks, no jargon.
What you see and what to click — windows, the dock, and ⌘K.
Browse the app grid and install apps onto your own box.
Upload, organise, and share files with real viewer/editor roles.
Ask it anything — it confirms before it changes anything.
Passwordless sign-in, and adding people to your box.
Install Vulos, in depth
Install Vulos
Pick a machine — a mini-PC, an old laptop, or a cloud VPS (Hetzner, DigitalOcean, Fly.io) — get the image on it, sign in, then optionally add a domain with TLS and a relay so it's reachable from anywhere. One guide, start to finish.
Read the guideReachability
Reach your box from anywhere — reachability is built into the OS. Behind a home router you run a relay yourself: a cheap cloud VPS in relay mode that your box dials out to (so your home network opens no ports). Go direct if you have a public IP, run several relays for redundancy, or add an experimental broker like Pier alongside. Vulos the org operates none of it.
Apps & projects
5 mini-sitesThe peripheral open-source projects keep their docs alongside their own landing page — follow the link into each product’s mini-site.
Docs, Sheets, Slides and PDF signing — a sovereign office suite.
lilmailBring-your-own-email PIM connector — a single Go binary over your inbox.
LLMuxThe sovereign LLM gateway — route AI through your own box, metered.
OpenRateRating and metering library — usage graphs and rate math.
SlipScanSelf-hosted personal finance & accounting — receipts, ledger and VAT on a local SQLite file.
When things break
Self-serve fixes for the problems that actually happen.
For admins & operators
A separate track for running Vulos for other people: installing on cloud servers, running your own relays, deploying, self-hosting the suite, and building on the OS. Not the way in for most people.
Running several relays for real redundancy, the reachability modes in full, Pier, and when to autoscale.
Install reference — USB, disk, DockerDocker, build-from-source, and the dev workflow — for developers, not the visual install path above.
Configuration referenceEvery environment variable and config file, in one place.
OS architectureHow the shell, the Go backend, and the seams fit together.
Files service (reference)The Files service and its server-side ACL, as a reference.
Identity & peeringVula IDs, the key lifecycle, and leaderless CRDT sync.
Vulos federates over Kotva — the substrate spec family (mail, work, commerce) that lets boxes reach and trust each other without a central authority. It has its own home; these docs stay focused on the OS and its management.