Show HN: 3 years and 1M users later, I just open-sourced my "Internet OS"

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

An open‑source “Internet OS” called Puter — a desktop-like environment that runs entirely in the browser — is drawing attention for its slick execution, jQuery‑based codebase, and AGPL licensing. Commenters praise how fast and polished it feels, explore use cases from cloud development and VR workstations to simple web hosting and shared storage, and highlight its SDK that lets apps piggyback on Puter’s auth and filesystem instead of building their own backend. At the same time, there is active debate over the choice of vanilla JS/jQuery versus modern frameworks, questions about security, self‑hosting and the proprietary backend, and calls for a better mobile UI and clearer positioning around the “OS” label.

Overall impressions

  • Many commenters find the project “insanely cool”, slick, and surprisingly fast, including on mobile and low-end devices.
  • Others are skeptical of the real-world utility, asking “why would someone use it” instead of a normal OS, remote VM, or ChromeOS-like setup.

Tech stack: vanilla JS + jQuery

  • The explicit choice of vanilla JS and jQuery (no React/Vue/Angular) is a major talking point.
  • Supporters praise the simplicity, performance, direct DOM control, and readability of the codebase.
  • Critics argue this will hurt maintainability, shows misunderstanding of modern frameworks, and that complex UIs benefit from VDOM/state frameworks.
  • There is extended debate on:
    • DOM performance vs virtual DOM.
    • State management complexity in large apps.
    • TypeScript’s cost/benefit and “zero-cost abstractions”.

Use cases & integrations

  • Proposed uses: remote desktop to servers/workstations, interface to cloud storage or niche CMS, Chromebook/education dev environment, VR “virtual workstation”.
  • Third-party devs report using puter.js as a turnkey backend: cloud storage, auth, and user accounts without running their own infra.
  • Integrations include:
    • VSCode in-browser (with an integration to be open-sourced).
    • Apps like design editors, games (including Half-Life/Xash3D via iframe), and other web tools.

Architecture, backend, and licensing

  • Frontend/“desktop” is now open source under AGPL; this is widely praised.
  • The backend “kernel” (cloud storage, user management) is currently proprietary but maintainers say an open-source, self-hostable kernel is a priority.
  • Hosted service offers limited free storage, with referral-based expansion; future monetization is expected to target end users.

UX: desktop, mobile, shell

  • Desktop UX is lauded for smooth windowing and responsiveness; some rough edges: tiny resize handles, missing mobile optimizations, limited terminal features.
  • Multiple people request a proper mobile mode/PWA behavior and note that desktop-style UI is clumsy on phones.

Security & sandboxing

  • Concern raised about clicking arbitrary app links (e.g., games) inside the desktop.
  • Others point to docs: apps run sandboxed (iframes + scoped backend access) with restricted filesystem access and explicit APIs; details for full threat model remain somewhat unclear.

Comparisons & nostalgia

  • Compared to earlier and current “web desktops” (EyeOS, Synology DSM, Kera Desktop, daedalOS, WebOS, etc.).
  • Many express nostalgia for bootable toolkits (BartPE, Knoppix, netboot.xyz) and see this as the “Internet-era” take on a portable environment.