bootstrapper-js

A browser-based desktop environment ("web OS") built with TypeScript, React and BrowserFS. It boots a virtual file system in the browser, exposes a window manager/desktop shell, and runs a set of bundled mini-apps as isolated iframes/windows.

preview

Features

• Virtual filesystem – BrowserFS-backed /, /tmp and /mnt, persisted in the browser. Choose between an IndexedDB backend (default, GB-scale) or a LocalStorage backend (for older saved data) from Settings → Storage.
• Desktop shell & window manager – draggable/resizable app windows, a Windows-11 style taskbar with pinned launchers and live window previews, desktop icons, and a right-click context menu.
• Configurable layouts – switch the desktop's grid arrangement (header/nav/taskbar placement) from Settings → Layout, defined declaratively in /etc/wm/layouts.json.
• Theming – multiple window manager themes (Default, Dark, Light, Ocean, Sunset) plus fine-grained controls for title bar colors, window background, accent color, corner radius, blur and shadow.
• File explorer – macOS Finder-style UI with a favorites sidebar (Home, Mounted, Root), breadcrumb navigation, icon grid, thumbnails, and the ability to mount a local folder from your computer.
• Terminal – tabbed xterm.js terminal with a small shell (history navigation, async commands like sleep, ls, echo, etc.).
• Task manager – lists running app processes (PID, title, uptime, services) with the ability to end tasks.
• Settings app – About, Projects, Contact, Wallpaper, Layout, Window Manager and Storage pages.
• Desktop widgets – a widgets panel (clock, public IP, etc.) defined in /etc/widgets/.

Apps

• File explorer – browse, create and delete files/folders in the virtual file system, and mount a local folder from your computer (see below).
• Terminal (xterm.js) – tabbed terminal with a built-in shell.
• Notepad – simple text/code editor (CodeMirror based).
• VS Code – embedded VS Code-like editor experience.
• Markdown viewer – renders .md files.
• Task Manager – view and kill running app processes.
• XML parser – parse and inspect XML documents.
• Game of Life – Conway's Game of Life demo app.
• Webamp – embedded Winamp-style media player.
• WAMP / FS / TOTP / WebRTC tools – small utility apps under /home/user1/apps.

Development

pnpm install
pnpm start         # webpack dev server
pnpm start:https   # webpack dev server over HTTPS (needed for some browser APIs)
pnpm build:dev     # build bundles into ./docs

File explorer

The file explorer has a left navigation sidebar with quick shortcuts to Home (/home/user1), Mounted (/mnt) and Root (/).

Mounting a local folder

The file explorer can import a folder from your local machine into the virtual file system using the browser's File System Access API. Click the "mount local folder" icon (folder-upload icon) in the header and pick a directory — its contents will be copied recursively into /mnt/<folder name> in the virtual file system, and the explorer will navigate there automatically. This requires a browser that supports window.showDirectoryPicker (e.g. Chrome/Edge) and a secure context (HTTPS or localhost).

Terminal

A tabbed terminal app (xterm.js) with a small built-in shell — supports multiple tabs, command history (up/down arrow), and async commands.

Window manager themes

Settings → Window Manager lets you pick a preset theme or fine-tune colors, corner radius, blur and shadow — changes apply live to existing and new windows.

Task manager

The Task Manager app lists every running window/process with its PID, title, uptime and registered services, and lets you end tasks.

Storage backend

Settings → Storage lets you switch the virtual filesystem between an IndexedDB backend (default, large quota) and a LocalStorage backend (small quota, useful for accessing data saved by older versions of this app). Switching reloads the desktop.