Shelly ALPM v3.2.0, codenamed "The Bug Bash," shipped today as a targeted bug-fix pass over one of the project's most aggressive rewrite cycles. It follows the introduction of RLPM, a from-scratch Zig reimplementation of Arch's libalpm that Shelly quietly developed while it became CachyOS's default package manager. The release corrects real regressions, including a Flatpak elevation break, a stuck tray icon, broken restart detection, and flaky AUR builds, while tucking in features like multi-package downgrades and live download-speed readouts. It's not a feature-heavy update, but the project's candor about its still-incomplete libalpm compatibility makes it worth paying attention to as it now serves hundreds of thousands of users.
Seafoam Labs has released Shelly-ALPM v3.1.10, a refinement release that focuses on more reliable AUR builds, cleaner upgrade dependency resolution, and clearer error messages for its native RLPM engine. RLPM is Shelly's from-scratch Zig reimplementation of libalpm, the library pacman runs on, and it remains work-in-progress with full parity still tracked in a public ledger. The update also adds a shell-style progress bar, a --names-only flag, and fixes for GitHub-triggered download failures and ignored-package config leaks. Built for Arch-based systems and already the default in CachyOS, Shelly is available via the AUR, CachyOS, or from source with Zig 0.17.0.
Shelly 3.1.9, released 23 October 2026, adds "in-place file migration" to RLPM, its from-scratch Zig package engine that lets a new package adopt files already on your system without overwriting them. The feature matters most when one package replaces another, avoiding the old .pacnew/.pacsave nag-and-merge dance, though it only works on RLPM rather than the default libalpm backend. RLPM reached full native maturity just three weeks earlier in v3.1.7, anchoring Shelly as the package-management layer of Seafoam Labs' wider Devario desktop stack.
Shelly ALPM v3.1.8 has been released as a stability patch that fixes an undefined sqlite3_open_v2 symbol which had broken its from-scratch Zig reimplementation of Arch's libalpm engine, known as RLPM. The fix lands on top of the feature-heavy 3.1.7 release, making the native engine actually runnable in the binaries users install. Developed by Seafoam Labs, Shelly is a GTK4-native package manager that has become the default GUI front-end on CachyOS and gathered roughly 1.2k GitHub stars. The project remains honest that complete libalpm parity is unfinished, tracked in a public compatibility ledger, and it ships as split packages with both dual-backend and RLPM-only builds.
Shelly ALPM 3.1.7, released today by Seafoam Labs, introduces RLPM, a native Zig reimplementation of Arch's libalpm that can dispatch package operations alongside the original library. Written under lead engineer Zoey Bauer, RLPM handles the full ALPM workflow while still letting users fall back to libalpm, though the authors openly admit complete compatibility remains unfinished. The project reached well beyond early adopters after CachyOS made Shelly its default GUI package manager in April 2026, amplifying RLPM's impact across a large out-of-the-box user base. With safety features like sealed memfd archives, Landlock/seccomp sandboxing, and openat2 path confinement, Shelly pairs an aggressive rewrite arc with surprisingly honest calls about its own limits.
Shelly ALPM, the visual GTK4 package manager for Arch Linux from Seafoam Labs, shipped two releases in under 24 hours, starting with the feature-rich v3.1.5 on September 25. That release adds an optional Atoll-powered AUR browser, a shelly build --install command that chains dependency fetching, building, and installing into one step, and new repo-db tools for maintaining private repositories. The build system also gets broad compatibility fixes for tricky packages like snapd, CUPS, and Heroic, plus predictable PATH handling and new build.extra_path and build.env settings. A next-day v3.1.6 patch followed on September 26 with a single fix for a UI bug that called the wrong CLI command to fetch data.
Shelly ALPM v3.1.4 shipped on September 13th, bringing a new --aur-cache flag that lets Arch users reclaim disk space by clearing built AUR package archives. The native builder received fixes for real-world PKGBUILD headaches like SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH timestamps and shared source filenames, while isolated builds now use the project's own Shelterstrap helper instead of Arch's pacstrap. Recommended installs flow through CachyOS or the AUR, and the binaries are available now on the project's GitHub release page.
CachyOS has shipped its August 2026 release, headlined by a full rewrite of the default GUI package manager, Shelly, from C# to the Zig programming language. The update pushes Rust into the handheld daemon's kernel backend and the systray updater, while quietly introducing experimental server edition installation profiles through the CLI. Existing users can upgrade immediately with sudo pacman -Syu, and the Noctalia desktop environment now adds mango and niri window manager variants alongside Hyprland. Desktop and Handheld ISOs are live now at iso.cachyos.org and rolling out across global mirrors.
CachyOS has released its June 2026 update, adding the new Hyprland Noctalia desktop, DNS-over-QUIC support, and a GCC branch prediction tuning patch for modern CPUs. The installer now drops paru in favor of Shelly and fixes a lingering 90-second shutdown delay with new user service timeouts. Python gains extended PGO, pacman adds network isolation for hooks, and proton-cachyos has been renamed to proton-cachyos-native. Existing users can update immediately via the standard package manager refresh.
CachyOS April 2026 swaps Octopi for Shelly as the default GUI package manager while automatically creating a permanent post-installation snapshot for easy recovery. Storage performance sees a practical boost by switching the NVMe scheduler to kyber, and AMD laptop display glitches during boot are finally resolved. Privacy and security get a meaningful upgrade with built-in DNS-over-HTTPS support and native fingerprint authentication for administrative commands. The release also patches lingering NVIDIA driver conflicts, removes unstable power management scripts, and sharpens handheld device detection for a smoother overall experience.
The March 2026 CachyOS update delivers three practical upgrades: animated desktop previews that keep people from guessing what Plasma or GNOME feels like, smarter microcode logic that stops firmware mismatches from turning browsers into frozen messes, and a Handheld Edition revamp that finally lets Steam Deck owners patch firmware without an external USB drive.
CachyOS’s January 2026 ISO revamps the installer by moving bootloader selection into Calamares (defaulting to Limine), adding early architecture detection and the “--needed” pacman flag, which together cut download size by about a gigabyte and prevent redundant package installs. The live session now runs on Wayland and uses the new plasma‑login‑manager, giving KDE a more native greeter while dropping X11 dependencies. Gaming gets modest upgrades: Proton‑CachyOS adds FSR 4 ML frame generation for RDNA 3/4 GPUs, d7vk support, DualSense haptics, and an NVIDIA “EnableAggressiveVblank” flag that trims interrupt latency. Overall the release feels like a solid refinement—faster installer, smoother desktop experience, and useful gaming tweaks—though some UI quirks (mirror status page, SDDM migration steps) remain.
The latest version of CachyOS, released in November 2025, marks its seventh major update and includes several significant improvements. One notable change is the addition of Orca and eSpeak-ng to the ISO image and installer tools, which will make it easier for visually impaired users to install and use CachyOS. The update also enhances support for certain hardware configurations, including newer graphics technologies and improved compatibility with AMD/Intel processors and NVIDIA GPUs. Additionally, the installer now features a more streamlined process for installing software and updating the system, making it easier than ever to get started with CachyOS.
CachyOS has released its sixth update for 2025, featuring a new package dashboard, stability improvements with the LTS kernel, and various other enhancements, such as a Niri WM desktop option, S0ix sleep on supported NVIDIA hardware, and improved Proton-CachyOS features. The update also includes several fixes to the Limine bootloader and Launch Installer button, making it easier for users to install and maintain their CachyOS systems.
CachyOS has released its July 2025 release, featuring a new user shell, improvements for chwd, and more. The shell can now be chosen at installation time, and the system will default to Bash if neither is selected. Systemd-oomd has been removed to avoid killing processes too early. Plasma installations are now defaulting to Wayland, and fwupd has been added to Plasma and GNOME environments. Mesa-git now includes the upstream merge request for "Anti-Lag 2," and Proton-CachyOS has gained support for "Anti-Lag 2." The PROTON_FSR4_UPGRADE variable is now supported, and games that support FSR 3.1 can be automatically upgraded to FSR 4. The Handheld Edition now supports the Lenovo Legion Go and has received configuration improvements. The release also includes fixes for keyring, systemd-oomd, and handheld-settings.
The CachyOS Team has announced the May 2025 release of CachyOS, focusing on theming, compatibility, and improving the handheld edition. The first major change is the addition of a mechanism to the Live-ISO that automatically loads the correct NVIDIA module when booting. This resolves issues with older GPUs, such as 10xx NVIDIA or lower, due to the switch to the "open module". All new installations will automatically use a new boot animation that unifies the theming and design language. Existing installations can migrate to Firefox or other browsers with their profile.
Cachy-Browser has been deprecated, and users will receive a popup when starting it, providing a link to how to migrate to Firefox or other browsers with their profile. The Handheld Edition has been enhanced with several new features and improvements, including automatic detection during ISO boot, Plymouth animation, the deprecation of Cachy-Browser, and the integration of SteamOS-Manager.
Cachy-Browser has been deprecated, and users will receive a popup when starting it, providing a link to how to migrate to Firefox or other browsers with their profile. The Handheld Edition has been enhanced with several new features and improvements, including automatic detection during ISO boot, Plymouth animation, the deprecation of Cachy-Browser, and the integration of SteamOS-Manager.
CachyOS has issued a bugfix update for the prior version, resolving kernel issues and incorporating the OCCT tool for isolated stress testing environments. The update incorporates audio profiles for Ally X and Legion Go, along with a transition to the upstream Gamescope implementation to enhance the overall experience.
CachyOS has announced the launch of its March 2025 release, emphasizing enhanced hardware support. The update features the incorporation of a new bootloader, Limine, which is compatible with both BIOS and UEFI, along with direct Btrfs snapshot support.
The package "cachyos-samba-settings" is included to provide support for Samba. The GSP firmware for the closed-source kernel module has been reactivated, and the ASUS Armoury driver has been incorporated for fan and power management. The Wine package has been tailored to utilize "WoW64" for removing dependencies from lib32 libraries, with Wine and Wine-Staging set to default to NTSync rather than winesync. Support has been introduced for RDNA4, RTX 5070 Ti, and 5070. The latest kernel has eliminated the "crc32c-intel" module, which was previously preloaded by mkinitcpio when utilizing an Intel CPU. The package updates consist of linux-cachyos 6.14.0, NVIDIA 570.133.07, Gnome 48, Plasma 6.3.3, mesa 25.0.2, linux-api-headers 6.14.0, and linux-tools 6.14.0.
