kairos-io/kairos resource
The immutable Linux meta-distribution for edge Kubernetes. observed · 2026-08-28
Health v2 · maintenance only
99/100
- Activity 99
- Release rhythm 98
- Longevity 100
How is this computed?
round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10) — computed 2026-09-02. Adoption (stars, forks) is never an input.
- gap_med: 8.0
- age_days: 1860
- days_rel: 15
- days_push: 7
- n_releases_24m: 39
Adoption not part of the score
1809 stars · 140 forks observed · 2026-08-28
What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-30, confidence not recorded
Kairos is an immutable Linux meta-distribution (CNCF sandbox project) that builds bootable, container-based OS images for edge, bare-metal, and cloud machines, with optional bundled Kubernetes (k3s/k0s). It provides a full machine lifecycle — install, A/B atomic upgrades via OCI registries, recovery, and optional P2P mesh bootstrapping and TPM-backed trusted boot.
Use cases
- build an immutable bootable Kubernetes OS image from a Dockerfile
- provision a k3s cluster on Raspberry Pi edge devices
- manage OS upgrades for a fleet of machines via container registries
- install Kubernetes on bare metal with atomic A/B updates
- run a secure immutable Linux with TPM trusted boot and full disk encryption
- deploy reproducible OS images to cloud VMs on AWS, Azure, or GCP
- bootstrap multi-node clusters across regions with P2P coordination
When to choose
- you need immutable, reproducible OS lifecycle management for edge or bare-metal Kubernetes nodes
- you want to define your node OS in a Dockerfile and upgrade via CI/CD image pushes
- you run heterogeneous hardware (Raspberry Pi, Jetson, x86 servers, cloud VMs) and want one lifecycle model
- you need trusted boot, secure boot, and measured boot for tamper-resistant edge devices
When to avoid
- you just need a general-purpose desktop or server Linux distribution without immutability
- your workloads run entirely in the cloud with managed Kubernetes and no OS management needs
- you need a non-Linux platform or a Kubernetes distribution other than k3s/k0s without community providers
- you want a lightweight tool without adopting an immutable OS model
Facets
infra-config · maturity active
container-orchestration deployment infrastructure-as-code security configuration-management cloud-computing iot self-hosted operating-systems cloud self-hosted go immutable-linux edge-computing kubernetes k3s k0s atomic-upgrades bare-metal-provisioning p2p-mesh trusted-boot raspberry-pi cncf containers devops linux docker
10 sources
- readme: https://github.com/kairos-io/kairos · fetched 2026-08-28 · f759afc45c94
- homepage: https://kairos.io · fetched 2026-08-29 · 57bb9626fc85
- site_page: https://kairos.io/docs/v4.2.0 · fetched 2026-08-29 · a8e3ad1c918e
- site_page: https://kairos.io/quickstart · fetched 2026-08-29 · 280e6c04cd30
- site_page: https://kairos.io/docs/v4.2.0/reference/byoi · fetched 2026-08-29 · 2dd4353478ab
- site_page: https://kairos.io/docs/v4.2.0/installation/trustedboot · fetched 2026-08-29 · aebcc8f72ee5
- site_page: https://kairos.io/docs/v4.2.0/examples/without-kubernetes · fetched 2026-08-29 · 9ae002c6c51a
- site_page: https://kairos.io/docs/v4.2.0/installation/cloud-servers · fetched 2026-08-29 · 5863ab0634f1
- site_page: https://kairos.io/docs/v4.2.0/installation/edge-devices · fetched 2026-08-29 · 472145120fa3
- site_page: https://kairos.io/docs/v4.2.0/examples/choosing-kubernetes-distribution · fetched 2026-08-29 · 0a00b67ee07d
Member repositories
| Repository | Role | Health v2 |
|---|---|---|
| kairos-io/kairos | main | 99 |
For agents
markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="kairos-io/kairos")
Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00 · Report a problem