Manual
How to use WolOS, one step at a time.
Start at the top and climb as far as you like: the first pages need no commands at all, the terminal is taught from its first word when you get to it, and every step comes with a picture of the real screen.
Where to start
- I want to try or install WolOSWhat you need, the USB stick, and the first start.
- I just installed itSigning in, the first minutes and what to set up first.
- Where is everything?The menu bar, the Dock, Search, windows and desktops.
- Change how it looksLight or dark, an accent colour, themes and wallpapers.
- Add appsThe Store: get an app with one click, and remove it again.
- Keep my files safeUndo a change, go back after an update, keep copies of your files.
- Learn the terminalWhat it is, why you might want it, and your first commands.
- The computer will not startEvery way back, one step at a time.
Every page has the same shape: what the thing is, why WolOS does it this way, how to use it in numbered steps that match the numbers on the pictures, and what to do when something goes wrong. A word with a dotted line under it explains itself when you point at it or tap it.
1 · Start here
Install WolOS and find your way around. No commands.
- Getting startedWhat WolOS is, what you need, and the way from the download to your own desktop, in five steps.
- Installing WolOSErase a disk, share it with Windows or Linux, or lay out partitions by hand. Nothing is written before you confirm the summary.
- Installing next to Windows or LinuxShare a disk: your other system keeps its files, gets smaller, and you pick one at start. What to do first, and what to do when the installer refuses.
- Your first daySign in for the first time, finish the setup, and spend ten minutes making WolOS yours: Wi-Fi, updates, looks and your first apps.
- The desktopThe menu bar, the Dock, windows, Search, switching apps and the four desktops: what each part of the screen is for and how to use it.
- Control CenterThe panel at the top right for the things you change every day: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Focus, Dark Mode, brightness, sound, music and quick switches.
- System SettingsThe one window for everything you can change: how to open it, find any setting by typing, what every pane holds, and how to take a change back.
- The StoreFind an app, get it with one click, keep it up to date or go back to the version before, add a Kit, and remove what you no longer use.
- Files and foldersFind, open, copy, move, rename and delete your files in Files, get them back from the Trash, and check one for malware.
- UpdatesKeep WolOS and your apps up to date from System Settings and the Store, what happens while an update installs, and how WolOS goes back by itself when an update fails.
- Backups and undoTake back a setting you changed, go back to the system from before an update, and keep copies of your own files on a USB disk.
- Privacy and permissionsWhat apps may use and how you allow it, the questions WolOS asks on screen, the firewall and the malware check, and where to take any permission back.
2 · Everyday
Apps, the web, games, music, sharing and the rest of a normal day.
- AppsThe apps that come with WolOS, how to open, switch, quit and remove apps, and which apps open by themselves when you log in.
- Web appsTurn a website you use every day into an app of its own: its own window and icon, in Apps, in Search and in the Dock.
- Clipboard historyThe last 25 things you copied, searchable, with pins for the snippets you paste every day. One-time codes are never kept.
- Screenshots and markupPictures and recordings of the screen from the keyboard or the capture toolbar, and a pen to mark up a picture before you send it.
- NotificationsBanners at the top right, Notification Center for what you missed, Do Not Disturb and Focus for quiet, and what stays visible even then.
- Sharing and devicesYour computer's name on the network, Bluetooth headphones and mice, playing sound from an iPhone, sending files, and showing your screen on a second display.
- SoundVolume, speakers and headphones, the microphone, voice effects for calls, and what to do when there is no sound or it crackles.
- Music and video formatsPlay and make MP3, AAC, H.264, HEVC and AC3 files, and get the common fonts, with one click in the installer or the Store. Never added without you.
- Battery and sleepMake the battery last or get full speed, what happens when you close the lid, the battery warnings, and Memory Saver.
- Lock Screen and login windowLock the screen when you step away, choose when it locks by itself, and sign in from the login window, with a hint after three wrong passwords.
- GamesWhich games run on WolOS and where to get them: the Store's Play shelf, Steam with your existing library, Windows games from elsewhere, and the Gaming module.
- Steam and your game libraryOpen Steam, sign in and play the games you already own. Windows games run through Steam's own compatibility tool, which Steam keeps up to date.
- Playing full screenWhat WolOS does while a game fills the screen: banners wait, frames go out at once, the refresh rate follows the game, and Force Quit still opens.
- When a game will not startOne command checks everything Steam and Windows games need on this computer and prints the exact fix for each missing piece.
- Creative apps in one stepThe Creative module adds nine apps for drawing, photos, video, 3D, streaming and music in one step, with colour management and low-latency sound.
3 · Make it yours
Looks, Dark Mode, Night Shift, the Dock, wallpapers and the keyboard.
- Dark ModeLight text on dark backgrounds everywhere, all the time or only in the evening, switched in one click from Control Center.
- Night ShiftWarmer screen colours for the evening, on and off from Control Center, the keyboard or System Settings > Displays.
- WallpapersChoose the picture behind your windows: one that changes with the time of day, one of WolOS's own, or a photo of yours, and make a matching theme from it.
- The Dock and the menu barMake the Dock bigger or smaller, let it grow under the pointer or hide until you need it, choose what the menu bar shows, and place windows side by side with tiling.
- The keyboardHow fast keys repeat, keyboard layouts for other languages, and changing or adding a keyboard shortcut.
- Looks and themesLight, Dark or Auto, an accent colour, a gallery of themes that restyle the whole desktop and your apps, and a theme made from your wallpaper.
- Arranging widgetsEdit Widgets: add cards from the gallery in three sizes, drag them where you want them, and take them off again.
4 · Power user
The terminal, taught from the first word, then scripts.
- What a terminal isThe window where you type instead of click: what the prompt, a command, an argument and a path are, how to copy and paste, Tab, Ctrl+C, and your first five commands.
- zsh basicsThe shell in every WolOS terminal: history, Tab, suggestions, the colours of a command line, wildcards, pipes, saving output to a file, and your own settings.
- PowerShell basicsUse PowerShell on WolOS: add it, open it, the Verb-Noun commands, objects in the pipeline, help, and making it the shell of every new terminal window.
- Your first Ruby scriptWrite a small Ruby script in a text editor, check it with wol script check, run it with wol script run, and see what WolOS asks before a script changes anything.
- The terminal and the wol commandOpen Terminal, ask wol for help, read before you change, undo a change, and see why some commands ask for your password. Ten commands worth knowing.
- Scripts and shellsRun sh, bash and Ruby scripts with wol script: checked before they run, as you, every change asked on screen and every run recorded. And choose the shell new terminal windows open in, PowerShell included.
5 · Advanced
Plugins, modules, security and starting the computer in detail.
- Modules: tools for what you doDeveloper tools, AI assistants, creative apps, games and a richer terminal, each added in one step from Settings > Modules and removed in one step.
- Plugins: add to the desktop itselfWeather in the menu bar, a timer in Control Center, a clock on the desktop: get a plugin in the Store, see what it asks for, turn it on and off, and make your own.
- Secure BootAn option in the installer. Every computer makes its own start-up keys; at most one blue key screen, once, with the password boot.
- Startup SecurityThe Settings page that says how this computer starts: Secure Boot, whose keys it trusts, kernel lockdown, the security chip, the sealed system, and the one button that finishes a waiting setup.
- Sessions: reopen last time's windowsWith the Sessions module, WolOS remembers your terminal and coding-agent windows and offers once at login to reopen them on their desktops, in their folders.
- Low-latency soundSet the sound delay for recording, live monitoring and music apps in Settings > Sound > Pro Audio, down to 64 samples (1.3 ms), and see dropouts.
- Recovery: when something does not startThe disk will not unlock, an update went wrong, a screen stays black, or a setting broke the desktop. What WolOS does on its own and what you can do.
6 · Developers
Building apps for WolOS. The full developer documentation is the Reference.
- Set up for developmentThe Developer module adds Git, a code editor, containers, runtimes for every language and Crystal with Cryswol in one step, and makes ~/Work for your projects.
- Your first app in CrystalWrite, build and run a small WolOS app in Crystal with Cryswol: it reads the system, tries to post a notification, and handles a refusal the way every app must.
- Cryswol and Wolkit: apps made for WolOSWhat Cryswol, Wolkit and Crystal are, how they fit together, where to start, and where the complete developer documentation lives.
The Reference has the complete developer documentation.