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00 – Overview

Cosmos is a minimal, statically-linked, vendor-agnostic package management system designed for resilience, portability, and clarity.

Originally born from Comet, Cosmos takes the core ideas of ultra-simple packaging and expands them into a clean, modular architecture that can scale from embedded systems to full operating systems.

🚀 Goals

  • Fully static binaries — no dynamic linking, no runtime dependencies beyond libc
  • Bootstrappable from nothing — only needs libc and a filesystem to operate
  • Human-readable package definitions — star.toml, constellation.toml, etc.
  • Multiple install sources — install packages from:
  • HTTP (enabled by default)
  • HTTPS (optional feature)
  • Cached tarballs
  • Local mirrors
  • Mounted drives or USB sticks
  • No interpreters — Cosmos does not depend on Bash, Python, Perl, etc.
  • No TLS or crypto stacks required by default — optional transport features available via cosmos-transport
  • Deterministic install flows — installs and uninstalls are traceable and safe
  • Nebula and Constellation support — virtual meta-packages and install presets
  • Self-contained system state — all installed packages tracked in universe.toml
  • Cross-arch and cross-host capable — runs equally well on tiny embedded systems and full desktops

🧰 Core Concepts

  • Star: a single package (with metadata, source, dependencies, and install logic)
  • Nebula: a virtual dependency-only Star with no installable files
  • Constellation: a list of Stars used as an install preset
  • Galaxy: a folder containing one or more Star packages and a meta.toml
  • Universe: local system state (installed Stars, versions, and file paths)

🔍 Design Principles

  • No shell required: Nova scripting allows safe, portable install logic
  • No TLS required by default: HTTP and file-based installs work out of the box; HTTPS is available as an optional feature
  • No interpreter required: Rust binary only; works even if /usr is broken
  • No central server required: everything can run from local or offline storage

Cosmos is not just a package manager—it is a foundation for building, deploying, and repairing entire operating systems in minimalist or constrained environments.