Shelly ALPM v3.1.2 Lands: Bug Fixes and Polish for the Zig-Backed Arch Package Manager
Shelly ALPM has released version 3.1.2, the latest in a rapid succession of updates for the visual package manager designed as a modern alternative to pacman. Released today, this bug-fix build addresses parsing headaches, Flatpak detection issues, and AUR build failures affecting legitimate packages.
The project, originally built in C# and .NET, underwent a complete rewrite starting with v3.0.0 in late July. That shift moved the entire codebase to Zig, a systems language known for performance and safety. The v3 architecture stripped out the .NET runtime dependency entirely, replacing it with native Zig libraries for the core package management logic, command-line interface, and GTK4 desktop UI.
What Actually Changed in 3.1.2
The new release merges 18 pull requests from contributors including the project's co-founders ZoeyErinBauer and Caroline Snyder, along with several first-time contributors. Most fixes target the AUR integration, where Shelly's native builder was throwing errors like UnsupportedVcsChecksum and PrivilegedPackageOperationUnsupported on packages that should have worked fine.
Flatpak users won't need to deal with broken UI states when Flatpak isn't installed. The app now detects the absence cleanly instead of showing error dialogs. Search, sorting, and focus management improvements round out the update, along with support for .crate archive extraction used by Rust packages.
The native package builder introduced in v3.1.0 remains a standout feature. Unlike makepkg wrappers, Shelly's builder parses PKGBUILDs directly without sourcing them, reviews builds for suspicious commands and homograph attacks, and supports optional Landlock filesystem sandboxing for untrusted packages. It produces standard pacman-compatible archives with structured audit logs.
The Team and the Ambition
Seafoam Labs operates as a small open-source team with four core members. The project has accumulated roughly 1,100 GitHub stars despite being less than two months into its v3 development cycle. That pace is remarkable, even for Arch's ecosystem where contributors tend to move fast.
The team is also developing Devario, an enterprise managed Linux workstation platform. It sits on three layers: Remora Control for defining device groups and rollout channels, Shelly Execute for verifying and applying package transactions, and Active Directory integration for identity management. The site suggests the core OS and installer are implemented, with development builds ready and local AD enrollment validated. It's a pivot from pure open-source tools toward managed Linux infrastructure for small businesses, which is a notable strategic move.
The project maintains internationalization in 15+ languages including Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese (Simplified), French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish. Contributors have also added shell completions for Bash, Fish, and Zsh.
Where to Get It
Shelly is available through the AUR as shelly, pre-packaged on CachyOS via sudo pacman -S shelly, or buildable from source with Zig 0.16.0, vala, and libalpm. The Flatpak backend exists as a separate shelly-flatpak-backend package.
Head here to the full changelog for detailed release notes. Keep in mind that the rapid iteration pace means future releases will likely land quickly, so watch the GitHub discussions if you're tracking feature development.
