# VibeOS

> Source: <https://github.com/hansstam86/wibeos/tree/main>
> Published: 2026-06-06 15:41:02+00:00

A fully hallucinated operating system for macOS, inspired by Steve Sanderson's
[vibeOS](https://vibeos.sh/) from BUILD 2026.

The desktop shell is real and local (menu bar, dock, draggable windows, menus —
all instant, zero API calls). The *apps* are not: each app window is hallucinated
by Claude as a self-contained interactive HTML mini-app running in a sandboxed
iframe. Claude writes working JavaScript on the fly, so a calculator actually
computes locally; only actions that need fresh imagination (navigating the fake
Safari, etc.) trigger a regeneration. Opened apps are cached, so reopening is
instant.

- macOS 13+
- Swift toolchain (Xcode or Command Line Tools:
`xcode-select --install`

) - An Anthropic API key (
[https://console.anthropic.com](https://console.anthropic.com))

```
make run          # build & launch
make app          # build WibeOS.app, then: open WibeOS.app
```

On first launch it asks for your API key (stored in the app's preferences;
or set `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`

in the environment instead).

The dock has an App Store stocked entirely with apps invented for whoever is logged in — Get installs them to the dock permanently (per persona; right-click a dock icon to remove). On first login each persona also gets a full OS theme hallucinated for them — wallpaper, accent, menu bar, dock, window chrome, fonts — and apps are told the accent/dark-mode so they match.

Boot lands on a login screen. Who you log in as changes *everything*: the
persona is injected into every hallucination, so Grandma's Mail is chain
letters in giant fonts while the hacker kid's whole machine is neon-on-black
1998. Each persona gets its own app cache. Click **+** to invent new personas
("a medieval wizard discovering computers"); right-click an avatar to remove
it. Log out via the menu.

- Click dock icons to "launch" apps — you watch the HTML stream by as Claude hallucinates the app, then it becomes real(ish). Click ✨ to imagine any app.
- Option-click a dock icon (or View → Re-imagine) to force a fresh hallucination instead of the cached version.
- Menu bar, window dragging/minimize/zoom, Cmd+W close — all local and instant.
`Cmd+R`

reboots.`Cmd+Ctrl+F`

for full screen — recommended for the illusion.- Right-click → Inspect Element works for debugging the generated HTML.
- Camera/photo-booth apps use your real webcam (macOS will ask once). For the
permission prompt to be attributed correctly, run as a bundle:
`make app`

then`open WibeOS.app`

— with`make run`

the prompt belongs to your terminal.

**Persistent cache**: each app is hallucinated once, then stored in`~/Library/Application Support/wibeOS/cache`

— reopening is instant, even across reboots. Option-click a dock icon or View → Re-imagine to regenerate.**Prefetch**: at boot, the dock apps are pre-hallucinated in the background (2 at a time), so most apps are ready before you click. Disable with`WIBEOS_PREFETCH=0`

(first boot prefetch costs roughly 8 app generations).**Patch updates**: data-wibe actions (browser navigation, opening an email…) return only the changed region as`<wibe-patch select="…">`

blocks instead of the whole app — a fraction of the tokens, applied live without remounting.**Prompt caching**: the system prompt is cached server-side across calls.** Model**: defaults to`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`

(fast). For fancier apps:`WIBEOS_MODEL=claude-sonnet-4-6 make run`

.

- System prompt: edit
`systemPrompt`

in`Sources/WibeOS/AppDelegate.swift`

to change the OS's personality, default dock, look, etc.

```
open app ─▶ shell asks Claude for ONE self-contained HTML app (streamed)
         ─▶ injected bridge script added, mounted in sandboxed <iframe>
         ─▶ app runs locally (its own JS) — most clicks cost nothing
         ─▶ controls marked data-wibe / data-wibe-enter round-trip to Claude
            for fresh hallucinated content (whole-window re-render)
```

Each window keeps its own small conversation history (creation pair + last 6 messages), so updates stay consistent and cheap. The Swift layer is a stateless streaming proxy to the Anthropic API.

Only app generation and data-wibe actions cost tokens; everything else is local.