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A hacking game where the operating system is the game.
Aurora OS.js is an experimental, open‑source OS‑simulation / hacking game framework built entirely with modern web technologies: React, Vite, Tailwind, and Electron.
It’s not a finished game, yet. It’s the foundation: a playable, extensible virtual operating system designed to host hacking mechanics, scripting, multiplayer systems, and emergent gameplay.
Even in its current proof‑of‑concept state, Aurora OS already solves the hard problems:
- 🗂 Virtual filesystem (persistent, sandboxed)
- 🧠 App lifecycle & OS‑level user flow
- 💻 Functional bash‑like terminal
- 🧩 Modular app architecture with context-aware Menu Bar system
- 📝 Notepad app with syntax highlighting for: .txt, .md, .js, .jsx, .css, .html, .sh, and more
- 🎛 Window management & desktop UX
Aurora OS is developed in clear evolutionary steps:
- Stage 0 (0.x.x) — Foundation & Usability: Functional desktop OS with real applications and natural usability.
- Stage 1 (1.x.x) — Single-Player Hacking Game: Playable single-player hacking experience (Steam Early Access).
- Stage 2 (2.x.x) — Multiplayer Hacking World: Persistent multiplayer hacking environment (Steamworks).
The long‑term vision is an OS that feels real, but behaves like a game.
I’m deeply inspired by hacking and programming‑driven games:
- Hackmud — brilliant multiplayer scripting
- Grey Hack — ambitious PvP and persistence
- Bitburner — elegant JavaScript sandboxing
- else Heart.break() — unmatched atmosphere and immersion
Each of them nailed something important — and each of them also felt like they stopped just short of broader reach or replayability.
When I discovered OS.js, a thought clicked instantly:
What if the OS itself is the game engine?
Aurora OS.js began as that experiment — inspired by OS.js and Puter, but reshaped into a game‑first system.
- Actively developed
- Architecture stabilizing
- UX polishing in progress
- Looking for early testers, contributors, and curious minds
This is the ideal phase to influence direction, architecture, and gameplay systems.
Aurora OS.js is open-source and community-friendly, with a long-term vision that will include commercial releases.
Contributions of all kinds are welcome — code, design, documentation, ideas, and feedback.
To keep things transparent and fair for everyone, contributions are made under clear contribution terms.
Before submitting a Pull Request, please read:
- CONTRIBUTING.md — how to contribute, expectations, and contribution terms
- CONTRIBUTORS.md — permanent credit for everyone who helped shape the project
In short:
- You keep authorship of your work
- Your contribution is credited permanently
- Your contribution may be used in open-source and future commercial versions of Aurora OS.js
- There are no retroactive license changes or hidden transfers
If anything feels unclear, open a discussion — transparency matters here.
- Framework: React 19 (Vite 7)
- Engine: Electron 39 (Node 25) / ESNext
- Language: TypeScript 5
- Styling: Tailwind CSS v4
- UI Library: shadcn/ui (Radix UI, Sonner, Vaul, CMDK) + Custom Components
- Icons: Lucide React
- Animation: Motion (Framer Motion)
- Audio: Howler.js
- Testing: Vitest
Prerequisite:
Node.js 24.0.0+ is required.
Chromium-based browsers (Chrome, Edge, Brave, etc.)
npm install
npm run devOr use the GitHub Pages (LIVE DEMO)
- Gamified Resource Monitor: Implemented a global RAM monitoring system that simulates resource usage based on active/inactive user sessions, open windows, and background throttling.
- Memory Applet: Added a new applet that displays memory usage and provides a way to see memory usage in real-time.
- Debugging Tools: Exposed
window.aurora.checkRamUsage()for real-time resource analysis in the console. - Internationalization (i18n): Complete translation support for Battery Applet and Audio Applet across 6 languages (en, es, fr, de, pt, ro).
- Battery Metrics: Added detailed battery health, cycle count, temperature, and voltage metrics (visible on supported hardware).
- Browser: Added support for multiple tabs (add, close, switch), and implemented bookmark storage, a toggleable star icon, and a bookmark bar that appears when items are saved.
- Terminal: Added the
historycommand to show command history and clear it. - Support for Chinese (simplified) language
- Realistic App Resources: Recalibrated all applications with "heavy" modern resource footprints (e.g., Browser ~450MB, DevCenter ~800MB) for better simulation accuracy.
- Desktop Detection: Battery applet now intelligently hides sensor data on desktop environments while preserving basic status.
- Audio Applet: Refactored to support dynamic localization keys.
- Browser: Added a simulated progress bar (loads to 80% -> pauses -> finishes) for better UX.
- Menu Bar time: Clicking the time switches from server time to local time.
- Support for small screens: Improved support for 1366x768 resolution, adapting the apps spawning position and size relative to the screen size.
- Music App and applet: Added seek bar control.
- Docker: is now responsive with an "show all apps" features for over 3 apps in the first section.
- Code Quality: Enhanced linting rules, resolved React hook dependency warnings, and standardized storage key management in
memory.ts.
- Tooltip Alignment: Fixed tooltip alignment for Docker (vertically centered).
- Calendar: Fixed date navigation alignment.
- Discord (soon)
- mental.os() Universe
- CONTRIBUTORS.md
- GitHub
- GitHub Pages (LIVE)
- GitBook (soon)
- Licensed as: AGPL-3.0e
- Open-source code: OPEN-SOURCE.md
- Contributing: CONTRIBUTING.md
This project, "Aurora OS," is human-written, with AI tools assisting in documentation, GitHub integrations, bug testing, and roadmap tracking. As soon as this project is ready for release, all the AI tools will be removed and the generated content (audio, images, etc.) will be human-created.