umbrel

umbrelOS is an operating system designed to run on home hardware, such as a Raspberry Pi or a standard PC running Ubuntu or Debian. It gives you a personal server that behaves like cloud storage and services, except that you own and control the hardware. The project is built on the idea that your data should stay with you, not on a third-party company's computers.

Once installed, you get a dashboard where you can manage files, photos, and a collection of over 300 optional apps through the Umbrel App Store. The app store is organized into categories: Bitcoin and finance tools, files and productivity apps, media servers, networking utilities, social platforms, home automation, and developer tools. Apps run in isolated containers, so adding or removing one does not affect the rest of the system.

Some of the available apps are well-known open-source projects. In the Bitcoin category, you can run a full Bitcoin node or a Lightning Network node directly from your home network. In the files category, options include Nextcloud (a self-hosted alternative to Google Drive) and Immich (photo backup similar to Google Photos). Media options include Plex and Jellyfin for streaming video. Networking apps include Pi-hole for blocking ads across your whole network and Tailscale for accessing your server remotely without exposing it directly to the internet.

umbrelOS can be installed on a Raspberry Pi 4, or on any Ubuntu or Debian machine, by running a single command in a terminal. There is also a dedicated hardware device called the Umbrel Home for those who want a pre-configured unit. The project notes that the software is currently in beta and should not be treated as fully secure.

The codebase is written primarily in TypeScript and is open to community contributions. The development environment documentation is noted as a work in progress following a recent architecture change.