Flow through your desktop.

LumaOS is a Wayland-first Linux distribution built around the Niri scrollable-tiling compositor. Speed, elegance, and a deep-space aesthetic — crafted as a cohesive whole.

Built different.

Every component in LumaOS is chosen with intention. No bloat. No compromise.

Niri Compositor

Scrollable-tiling Wayland compositor. Windows flow in a continuous strip — no overlapping, no clutter. Navigate with momentum.

Ubuntu Foundation

Built on Ubuntu Resolute. Rock-solid base, broad hardware support, and a familiar APT package ecosystem underneath it all.

Wayland Native

Every app runs on Wayland — Qt6, GTK, Electron, Firefox. XWayland is available as a fallback, but rarely needed.

Deep-Space Aesthetic

Void Navy backgrounds, Aurora Blue accents, soft glows. A theme system applied consistently across every surface.

Curated Stack

Waybar, nwg-drawer, Kitty, Mako — every tool handpicked and themed to match. Kvantum handles Qt theming; GTK follows the same tokens.

Graphical Installer

Ships with Calamares. Boot the live ISO, click through the installer, and have a fully configured system in minutes.

See it in action.

Real screenshots from the live ISO.

LumaOS desktop Clean desktop

The stack.

Role Component
BaseUbuntu Resolute (26.04 LTS)
CompositorNiri (scrollable-tiling Wayland)
Display managerluma-session
Status barWaybar
App launchernwg-drawer
TerminalKitty
NotificationsMako
AudioPipeWire + WirePlumber
NetworkNetworkManager
InstallerCalamares

Documentation.

Keyboard shortcuts, configuration, and everything you need to get started.

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Download LumaOS

Version 26.04  ·  Ubuntu Resolute base  ·  x86_64

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Verify with sha256sum -c lumaos-26.04-3.iso.sha256 after downloading.
Flash to USB with dd if=lumaos-26.04-3.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress or Balena Etcher.

Frequently asked questions.

The short answers to the questions people ask most.

What is LumaOS?

LumaOS is a personal Linux distribution, built first to match its creator's own workflow and needs, and shared publicly for anyone who finds that workflow appealing. It's a Wayland-first distro built around the Niri scrollable-tiling compositor, on top of an Ubuntu Resolute base.

Why does LumaOS exist?

LumaOS started after falling in love with scrollable-tiling window management. Once that workflow clicked, going back felt like a step down — but no polished, ready-to-install distro shipped a scrolling compositor as its default experience. LumaOS is the distro that fills that gap.

What does the name "LumaOS" mean?

LumaOS comes from the initials of its creator: Luciano Magri, plus OS. The deep-space, glow-accented theme grew naturally out of that name.

Who is LumaOS for?

Primarily scrollable-tiling and Wayland enthusiasts who want that workflow out of the box, without assembling it themselves. It's built on a solid, familiar foundation, so anyone who likes the workflow can extend it to fit their own needs.

Is LumaOS stable enough for daily use?

Yes. As of the 26.04-3 release, LumaOS is considered stable for daily driving.

Why Ubuntu as the base?

Ubuntu Resolute provides solid defaults: broad hardware support, a mature APT package ecosystem, and a well-tested base to build a curated desktop stack on top of.

Why Niri instead of another tiling compositor?

Scrollable tiling — windows flowing in a continuous strip instead of splitting into grids — is a fundamentally different, and better, way to manage windows. Niri implements that model natively on Wayland, which made it the obvious foundation to build the rest of the desktop around.

Is LumaOS Wayland-only?

Yes, LumaOS is Wayland end to end — there's no X11 desktop session. The greeter (luma-session) automatically detects any other Wayland compositors or desktop environments you install and lists them as login options, but X11-only sessions won't show up as something you can log into.

What are the hardware requirements?

LumaOS is built from a lightweight stack (Niri, Waybar, nwg-drawer, Kitty, Mako), so requirements are modest:

  • 64-bit (x86_64) CPU, dual-core or better
  • 4 GB RAM minimum, 8 GB recommended
  • 20 GB free disk space
  • UEFI firmware — LumaOS is EFI-only and will not boot on legacy BIOS
  • A GPU with working KMS/Mesa or proprietary driver support. Intel and AMD graphics work out of the box; NVIDIA works too, though a recent proprietary driver is recommended for the best Wayland experience.
How do I update and install packages?

APT is the default and only package manager installed out of the box — the same apt update / apt upgrade workflow you'd expect from an Ubuntu-based system. If you'd rather manage software through a graphical app store, LumaOS's own repos also ship bauh, which isn't installed by default but is available to install from the LumaOS repos. Other APT or Flatpak front-ends can be installed too, but bauh and Discover are the only ones themed to match LumaOS out of the box.

Is LumaOS free and open source?

Yes. LumaOS and its component packages are open source, licensed under the GNU General Public License v2 (GPL-2.0).

How do I report a bug or contribute?

Bug reports and contributions are welcome on GitLab. Open an issue on the relevant project's repository.