Many people assume Mycelium OS is either a replacement for Zero-OS (ZOS) or a completely separate project. In reality, it’s closer to an evolution.
Mycelium OS is the next generation of Zero-OS.
Both systems share the same goal: an autonomous operating system that turns a regular computer into a self-managing cloud infrastructure. You don’t manage packages, patch services, or configure servers manually. You install the OS, and the machine becomes a node capable of deploying workloads.
They also run on the same hardware. Today, that means any x86-64 machine with an Intel or AMD processor. ARM support is planned, but for now, the hardware requirements are effectively identical.
So if they do the same job, what changed?
The difference is architectural.
Zero-OS was designed around larger system services. It worked well and proved the concept in real-world deployments, but over time, we learned that tightly coupled components make extending the system harder. Adding new capabilities often meant modifying core behavior.
Mycelium OS takes the lessons learned from two full generations of ZOS and rebuilds the internals around a much smaller core. Instead of big, one-shot system components, functionality is broken into independent modules. The OS itself stays minimal, and features are composed on top of it.
These modules can then be connected using Rhai scripts, effectively acting as glue logic between components. Rather than hard-coding behavior into the operating system, functionality can be assembled dynamically. This makes the system more flexible and easier to evolve without destabilizing the base layer.
In practical terms, nothing changes for the purpose of the machine — it still deploys cloud workloads autonomously. But under the hood, almost everything changes:
- more modular architecture
- easier upgrades and maintenance
- faster feature development
- clearer separation between core infrastructure and services
So the simple way to think about it is:
Zero-OS proved that autonomous infrastructure works.
Mycelium OS is the refined architecture designed to carry that idea forward long-term.
More technical insights and differences on Mycelium OS and Zero OS coming soon.