Editions
One AI infrastructure, multiple uses¶
Underneath every edition of EmptyOS is a single AI infrastructure — one kernel, the same 16 capabilities, one event bus. Nothing is forked. An edition is just a curated set of apps (and sometimes a brand) packaged for a specific audience. Once loaded, every app is equal — the runtime is identical no matter which edition you started from. Build it once; use it many ways.
That gives two kinds of edition:
- Platform tiers — the open foundation everyone shares. Public.
- Distribution packages — branded builds for a concrete audience or operating context. Private by default.
The open platform — public¶
Two platform tiers ship in the open and are what you get from the public project:
| Tier | What it is |
|---|---|
| EmptyOS Core | The kernel-level minimum — vault basics, task management, search, and a generic home. The smallest thing that is still EmptyOS. |
| EmptyOS Standard | The full community OS — productivity, AI, and creative apps on top of Core. The default install for end-user value. |
Both are open source. A fresh clone of the public repo gives you Core + Standard, with personal and engineering apps filtered out.
Distribution packages — private by default¶
On top of the platform, EmptyOS is packaged into distributions aimed at specific people and jobs:
- a personal daily office for one person's work and life;
- a team daily office for a group sharing the same workspace;
- a power-systems engineering build with the calculation and modelling apps;
- a language-learning build for English learners;
- a coding-agent build for people who drive AI coding tools.
These reuse the exact same runtime — they differ only in which apps are bundled and how they're branded. They are private by default: a distribution stays internal unless and until it's deliberately reviewed and opened. Nothing private is published by accident; the public surface is always Core + Standard plus whatever has explicitly passed review.
Why split it this way¶
Keeping the platform open and the distributions private means the foundation can be shared and inspected by anyone, while curated, audience-specific bundles — and anything personal inside them — stay where they belong. Same code, same kernel, same guarantees about your data; only the packaging changes.
Want the open platform? Get started with Core + Standard, or read the architecture.