Dev tools · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to Vekos – a Rust OS with Built-In Cryptographic Verification

VEKOS(Verified Experimental Kernel OS) is a Rust-based experimental kernel that focuses on runtime verification and security. Every filesystem operation and memory allocation generates cryptographic proofs that can be verified in real-time, ensuring system integrity. Think of it like a blockchain for OS operations rather than just storage verification. Key features: - Merkle tree-backed filesystem with operation verification - Memory manager with CoW and proof generation - Buddy allocator with zone-based memory management - Shell with VT100 support - Verified boot sequence with stage…

Vekos is an experimental Rust-based operating system kernel that generates cryptographic proofs for every filesystem operation and memory allocation, enabling real-time verification of system integrity. It features a… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Vekos – a Rust OS with Built-In Cryptographic Verification launched in 2024; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

1
Anos – a hand-written ~100KiB microkernel for x86-64 and RISC-V▲115
I pretty much always have a kernel project going on, and have been that way for decades. Over the past couple of years, that's been Anos, which has gotten further along than any of my previous hobby kernels, supporting IPC, multitasking, SMP (x86-64 only right now) and running on real hardware. LLMs (mostly Claude Code) have been used during development, but I learned early on that it's not _great_ at code at this level, so I've restricted its use to mostly documentation and tests. There's _a little_ AI code in the user space, but I have a strict "no AI code" rule in the kernel itself. I…
Apr 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
2
We made our own inference engine for Apple Silicon▲186
We wrote our inference engine on Rust, it is faster than llama cpp in all of the use cases. Your feedback is very welcomed. Written from scratch with idea that you can add support of any kernel and platform.
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
3
Munal OS: a graphical experimental OS with WASM sandboxing▲313
Hello HN! Showing off the first version of Munal OS, an experimental operating system I have been writing in Rust on and off for the past few years. https://github.com/Askannz/munal-os It's an unikernel design that is compiled as a single EFI binary and does not use virtual address spaces for process isolation. Instead, applications are compiled to WASM and run inside of an embedded WASM engine. Other features: * Fully graphical interface in HD resolution with mouse and keyboard support * Desktop shell with window manager and contextual radial menus * PCI and VirtIO…
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
4
Talos – Open-source WASM interpreter for Lean▲106
At Cajal (YC W26) we’re excited to share Talos (https://github.com/cajal-technologies/talos), an open source framework for formal verification of WebAssembly modules in Lean. AI is now writing tons of the code that gets pushed to production. As code generation gets cheaper, verification becomes the bottleneck. We believe in a future where every piece of software comes with a mathematical proof that it does what its author intended - in doing so, eliminating many classes of exploits. Talos is part of the foundation for that. Talos provides a Wasm interpreter optimized for…
Jun 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
5
Sub-millisecond VM sandboxes using CoW memory forking▲311
I wanted to see how fast an isolated code sandbox could start if I never had to boot a fresh VM. So instead of launching a new microVM per execution, I boot Firecracker once with Python and numpy already loaded, then snapshot the full VM state. Every execution after that creates a new KVM VM backed by a `MAP_PRIVATE` mapping of the snapshot memory, so Linux gives me copy-on-write pages automatically. That means each sandbox starts from an already-running Python process inside a real VM, runs the code, and exits. These are real KVM VMs, not containers: separate guest kernel, separate guest…
Mar 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
6
My microkernel-based OS built from scratch now has basic Unix commands▲69
This project contains no code from Linux, BSD, Minix, or any other OS. Everything up until this point is written entirely from scratch, including a pure microkernel (that only implements multiprocessor priority scheduling, memory management, and interprocess communication), a work-in-progress implementation of the standard C library, and a variety of servers that provide drivers and other essential OS functionality. At the time of writing this post, the servers provide drivers for the keyboard, NVMe SSDs (that works on real hardware), a Unix-like virtual file system (with a single root…
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
7
Cuq – Formal Verification of Rust GPU Kernels▲94
A pipeline that translates Rust GPU code into formal Coq models, as a foundation for memory model proofs - neelsomani/vericuda
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
8
Turbolite – a SQLite VFS serving sub-250ms cold JOIN queries from S3▲185
I built a SQLite VFS in Rust that serves cold queries directly from S3 with sub-second performance, and often much faster. It’s called turbolite. It is experimental, buggy, and may corrupt data. I would not trust it with anything important yet. I wanted to explore whether object storage has gotten fast enough to support embedded databases over cloud storage. Filesystems reward tiny random reads and in-place mutation. S3 rewards fewer requests, bigger transfers, immutable objects, and aggressively parallel operations where bandwidth is often the real constraint. This was explicitly inspired…
Mar 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
9
Kameo – Fault-tolerant async actors built on Tokio▲105
Hi HN, I’m excited to share Kameo, a lightweight Rust library that helps you build fault-tolerant, distributed, and asynchronous actors. If you're working on distributed systems, microservices, or real-time applications, Kameo offers a simple yet powerful API for handling concurrency, panic recovery, and remote messaging between nodes. Key Features: - Async Rust: Each actor runs as a separate Tokio task, making concurrency management simple. - Remote Messaging: Seamlessly send messages to actors across different nodes. - Supervision and Fault Tolerance: Create self-healing systems with actor…
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
10
Venator – Open-source threat detection▲91
a flexible threat detection platform that simplifies rule execution and management with k8s cronJobs and helm. flexible enough to run standalone or with other schedulers like hashicorp nomad.
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
11
Minikv – Distributed key-value and object store in Rust (Raft, S3 API)▲71
Hi HN, I'm Emilie, I have a literature background (which explains the well-written documentation!) and I've been learning Rust and distributed systems by building minikv over the past few months. It recently got featured in Programmez! magazine: https://www.programmez.com/actualites/minikv-un-key-value-st... minikv is an open-source, distributed storage engine built for learning, experimentation, and self-hosted setups. It combines a strongly-consistent key-value database (Raft), S3-compatible object storage, and basic multi-tenancy. Features/highlights: - Raft…
Feb 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
12OT
On the security of the Linux disk encryption LUKS▲31
In the past few days, there have been uncertainties and concerns about the LUKS (“Linux Unified Key Setup”) disk encryption, which is widely used on Linux. We publish our assessment of this here.
2023 · dys2p.com · its alternatives →
13
I Built a Groth16 ZK-Proof Verifier from Scratch Using Rust▲6
I've always been fascinated by cryptographic principles, so I decided to dive deep into zero-knowledge proofs and implement a Groth16 proof verifier entirely in Rust. This project validates cryptographic proofs and demonstrates how succinct, verifiable computations can be achieved. Using Rust's powerful libraries like arkworks, I implemented pairing checks, public input commitments, and proof validation logic while ensuring the code remains modular and efficient. I handled the complexities of affine group operations, scalar multiplications, and optimized public input verification to make…
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
14
cuTile Rust: Safe, data-race-free GPU kernels in Rust▲106
cuTile Rust provides a safe, tile-based kernel programming DSL for the Rust programming language. It features a safe host-side API for passing tensors to asynchronously executed kernel functions. - NVlabs/cutile-rs
Jun 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
15CS
Checksum.sh verify every install script▲119
The pattern of downloading and executing installation scripts without verifying them has bothered me for a while. I started messing around with a way to verify the checksum of scripts before I execute them. I've found it a really useful tool for installing things like Rust or Deno. It's written entirely as a shell script, and it's easy to read and understand what's happening. I hope it may be useful to someone else!
2022 · checksum.sh · its alternatives →
16
A 10KiB kernel for cloud apps▲68
BareMetal for the private/public cloud. Contribute to ReturnInfinity/BareMetal-Cloud development by creating an account on GitHub.
Jan 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
17OA
Obelisk – a WASM-based deterministic workflow engine▲103
A lightweight engine for durable execution / deterministic workflows I built with Rust, wasmtime and the WASM Component Model. Its main use is running reliable, long-running workflows that can automatically resume after failures. Looking for feedback on the approach and potential use cases!
2025 · obeli.sk · its alternatives →
18
Rust framework for advanced file recognition and identification▲46
Alternative to magic.h and infer. Zero dependencies. Fully extensible. Works in no_std, async, and embedded contexts.
2025 · crates.io · its alternatives →
19
VeloFiler▲70
Keyboard-first dual-pane file manager for macOS
Aug 2026 · velofiler.vercel.app · its alternatives →
20
CambiOS – a new Rust-based, sovereign identity, zero-trust OS▲8
Hello HN, What is CambiOS? A microkernel OS built in Rust, that boots in QEMU under x86_64, AArch64, and RISC-V - targeting formal verification. Processes are assigned unforgeable cryptographic identity and IPC gates access to only allowed endpoints. What does it want to be? Ambitious. Cutting away latent security issues, corporate surveillance, centralized identity and data hosting, and OPEN. With the advent of the coding tools, building the things we want is a bit less of a lift. Could it replace Windows? Sure. That's where the idea was born. Secure and intuitive, in a nutshell. I've been…
Jun 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
21
Kern – container and resource runtime in a 1.5 MB binary, no daemon▲70
A fast, rootless sandbox and virtual resource runtime for any workload, including untrusted and AI-generated code. Daemonless: a real, kernel-enforced container in ~3.5 ms from an OCI image, out of one static binary - getkern/kern
Aug 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
22GA
Grsh – A high-performance shell for FreeBSD written in Rust▲50
I built GRSH because I wanted a modern, memory-safe shell that feels native to FreeBSD but works seamlessly on macOS. While there are many shells out there, GRSH is my take on a minimal, fast, and secure command interpreter written entirely in Rust. It's designed for users who want the safety guarantees of Rust without the overhead of more bloated alternatives. I'm currently working on the official FreeBSD port. I’d love to get feedback on the shell's behavior and performance from the community. Github: https://github.com/antoniomalara301289/grsh
Jan 2026 · grimreaper.icu · its alternatives →
23
SpecOS – A 64 bit OS kernel from scratch▲45
I've been working on this for ~3 months now, with pretty slow progress to be honest. So far I've got an ATA PIO mode hard disk driver, a FAT32 file system, a real time clock driver, and of course the essentials (interrupts, keyboard, pixel graphics). Kernel panics also cause a blue screen of death xD. It uses a bitmap physical memory allocator, and I'm fixing some issues with paging at the moment as a work towards running userspace applications. I'd be interested to see your thoughts on it :D
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
24VO
Velo – Open-source, keyboard-first email client in Tauri and Rust▲7
I built Velo because I wanted Superhuman's speed and keyboard workflow without the $30/month price tag or sending all my data through someone else's servers. Velo is a local-first desktop email client. Your emails live in a local SQLite database - no middleman servers, no cloud sync. It works offline and your data stays on your machine. What makes it different: - Keyboard-driven - Superhuman-style shortcuts (j/k navigate, e archive, c compose, /search). You can fly through your inbox without touching the mouse - Built with Tauri v2 + Rust backend - ~15MB binary, low memory…
Feb 2026 · its alternatives →

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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →