# Omarchy

> An Arch based distribution where the whole desktop is already decided

Category: Development environments (https://aiarabicdev.com/dev-environments)
Canonical page: https://aiarabicdev.com/dev-environments/omarchy
Tags: linux, arch, hyprland, wayland, desktop

Omarchy is a full Linux distribution built on Arch and the Hyprland tiling compositor, installed from its own ISO rather than layered onto a machine you already have. It hands you a coherent Wayland desktop on the first boot. The price is accepting one person's taste and giving up ordinary Arch package management.

## Facts

- Licence: MIT
- Language: Shell
- Cost: Free and open source
- Self hostable: yes
- Added: 2026-09-12
- Last checked: 2026-09-12

## Links

- Website: https://omarchy.org
- Source: https://github.com/omacom/omarchy
- Docs: https://omarchy.org/manual/

## It replaces the machine, it does not decorate it

This is a distribution with an installer, not a dotfiles repository you clone over an existing setup. You write the ISO to a stick, answer a few questions and let it take the drive. As of the version 4 rewrite the project's own internals ship as packages rather than a git checkout, and there is no supported route to add Omarchy to an Arch install you already run.

That framing matters before you download anything. Your current dotfiles do not come with you, the default configuration is the starting point and your overrides live alongside it. The firmware requirements are real too: Secure Boot and TPM have to be off, and because the disk is encrypted by default you need a wired keyboard to type the password at boot.

## Updates go through Omarchy, not through pacman

The system will stop a direct pacman upgrade and send you to its own update command, because that path also runs the snapshots and migrations that keep a rolling release from breaking underneath you. The stable package mirror deliberately trails upstream Arch by roughly a month for the same reason.

So an experienced Arch user gives up two things they probably chose Arch for: the package tooling they know, and immediate access to the newest packages. What they get back is a system where an update is expected to be survivable, with boot menu snapshots and a documented reinstall as the recovery path. That reinstall resets your changes to the default config files, which is worth knowing before you need it.

## Reach for it when

- you want a tiling Wayland desktop that is finished on the day you install it
- you are setting a machine up from scratch and would rather not make every decision yourself
- you work mostly in a terminal and want the desktop to stay out of the way

## Watch out for

- the installer takes the whole drive, and there is no supported way to add it to an Arch install you already have
- Secure Boot and TPM must be switched off in firmware, which rules out a lot of managed work machines
- it blocks a direct pacman upgrade in favour of its own command, and the stable mirror sits about a month behind Arch
- hybrid Intel and Nvidia laptops still need manual work, and regressions in that area land between releases
- M series Macs are not supported, and the desktop assumes a 2x display, so a 1x screen needs scaling set by hand

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