Build your local AI assistants, sync data across places, self-hosted your workspace, stream your own media, and more——all in a true home cloud made possible by Terminus.

Website · Documentation · Download TermiPass · Terminus Apps · Terminus Space

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Motivation and design
• Tech stacks
• Features
• Feature comparison
• Getting started
• Project navigation
• Contributing to Terminus
• Community \& contact
• Staying ahead
• Special thanks

Introduction

Transform your edge device into a true home cloud with Terminus - a free, self-hosted operating system built on Kubernetes. Terminus brings cloud-level capabilities to your home, without compromising on privacy or ease of use. By securely storing your data and accessing your self-hosted services from anywhere via Terminus, you gain complete control over your digital life.

Typical use cases of Terminus include:

🤖 Local AI: Host and run world-class open-source AI models locally, including large language models, image generation, and speech recognition. Create custom AI assistants that integrate seamlessly with your personal data and applications, all while ensuring enhanced privacy and control.

💻Personal data repository: Securely store, sync, and manage your photos, documents, and important files in a unified storage and access anywhere.

🛠️ Self-hosted workspace: Create a free, powerful workspace for your team or family with open source selfhosted alternatives.

🎥 Private media server: Host your own streaming services with your personal media collections.

🏡 Smart Home Hub: Create a central control point for your IoT devices and home automation.

🤝 User-owned decentralized social media: Easily install decentralized social media apps such as Mastodon, Ghost, and WordPress on Terminus, allowing you to build a personal brand without the risk of being banned or paying platform commissions.

📚 Learning platform: Explore self-hosting, container orchestration, and cloud technologies hands-on.

Motivation and design

We believe the current state of the internet, where user data is centralized and exploited by monopolistic corporations, is deeply flawed. Our goal is to empower individuals with true data ownership and control.

Terminus provides a next-generation decentralized Internet framework consisting of the following three integral components:

• Snowinning Protocol: A decentralized identity and reputation system that integrates decentralized identifiers (DIDs), verifiable credentials (VCs), and reputation data.
• Terminus OS: An one-stop self-hosted operating system running on edge devices, allowing users to host their own data and applications.
• TermiPass: A comprehensive client software that securely bridges users to their Terminus systems. It offers remote access, identity and device management, data storage, and productivity tools, providing a seamless interface for all Terminus interactions. Learn more in documentation.

Tech stacks

Features

Terminus offers a wide array of features designed to enhance security, ease of use, and development flexibility:

• Enterprise-grade security: Simplified network configuration using Tailscale, Headscale, Cloudflare Tunnel, and FRP.
• Secure and permissionless application ecosystem: Sandboxing ensures application isolation and security.
• Unified file system and database: Automated scaling, backups, and high availability.
• Single sign-on: Log in once to access all applications within Terminus with a shared authentication service.
• AI capabilities: Comprehensive solution for GPU management, local AI model hosting, and private knowledge bases while maintaining data privacy.
• Built-in applications: Includes file manager, sync drive, vault, reader, app market, settings, and dashboard.
• Seamless anywhere access: Access your devices from anywhere using dedicated clients for mobile, desktop, and browsers.
• Development tools: Comprehensive development tools for effortless application development and porting.

Here are some screenshots from the UI for a sneak peek:

Desktop–AI-Powered Personal Desktop	Files–A Secure Home to Your Data
Vault–1Password alternative	Market–App ecosystem in your control
Wise–Your digital secret garden	Settings–Managing Terminus efficiently
Dashboard–constant Terminus monitoring	Profile–Your homepage on decentralized network
Devbox–Developing, debugging, and deploying	Controlhub–Managing Kubernetes clusters easily