Moving to Omarchy

Last May, I made the announcement that we were switching to Linux as the new developer default for 37signals. Since then, the case has only gotten even stronger. Omakub has been superseded by Omarchy, and we now essentially have our own 37signals Linux distribution that's rapidly gaining steam and improving quickly. 

So it's time to make an even bigger commitment for developers and technical roles here. Over the next three years, everyone working in Ops and on the Ruby programmer teams should be moving to Linux with Omarchy — unless there are specific, compelling reasons not to. That means that by 2028, the vast majority of programmers and all of ops should be on Linux.

There's no rush. We can tie this to the normal churn of hardware upgrades. So if you have a perfectly fine M3/M4 Mac, it's ok to wait a little longer. But if you're sitting with an M1 or M2 that's due for an upgrade, you should be looking at a Linux machine instead.

This naturally does not apply to the native teams that need Macs to do the work. It also doesn't apply to designers (where Linux will remain a mere invitation). Nor does it cover support or admin. We need solid coverage of all the important platforms that our customers use in play at 37signals. The Mac remains a key platform and I'd wish we would have more folks switching to Windows too!

In terms of specific hardware, I'd also like to see us support Framework and Beelink as the default options. I've developed strong relationships with both, and they make excellent computers. So here are the recommendations:

I'm also keen to see that we align all the current Linux machines around Omarchy. I've been plundering Shipyard for all the setup steps we used to need on Ubuntu and just made them the straight defaults in the distro. We should all be putting our efforts towards improving the same code base, solve the same problems, and share the solutions with the world.

So if you've been running Omakub or another distro, please pick a suitable moment to switch over to Omarchy. Again, no rush, but by the meetup (or at the meetup!), I'd like to see all the folks who are already on Linux running Omarchy. If there's something that's preventing that from happening, please reach out, and we'll simply change Omarchy until it works. That's the power of being in the driver's seat of our own distro!

As mentioned, I've been plundering Shipyard for the developer prep needed to be productive here at 37signals. Omarchy ships with the same ufw firewall setup, it uses 1password by default, and of course has PWAs for both HEY and Basecamp in the box. The list little bit of setting up our repositories is going to be done by running this single command: 

wget -qO- https://setup.37signals.works/install | bash

Then you'll see the app-setup process run like so:

I've hired the developer of archinstall on contract to work with me on turning Omarchy into a full ISO-based Linux distribution. That'll speed up the entire setup process even more. The goal is that you can go from having a fresh Framework or Beelink, a USB key with Omarchy, and then be committing changes and deploying them to production in 15 minutes flat. That includes that 37signals setup script. 15 minutes and it's kamal deploy time!

Also worth noting is that 37signals is the first corporate sponsor of Hyprland, which is the window manager that sits on top of the Arch Linux distribution and forms the core of Omarchy.

We're also going to take the design and marketing around Omarchy up a notch. We're registering the trademark now, we already have some merch in the 37signals Supply Store, and we'll be redesigning the omarchy.org site soon to be even more compelling. And of course everything is signed as Omarchy being created at 37signals, pointing to our apps, driving attention and awareness to the fact that this is fully-supported company effort, like Rails, Hotwire, Kamal, and the many other open source projects we're involved in.

I know that for long-time Mac users (like I was, up until 2024!), this is going to be a bit of a change! It took me at least a week or two before I stopped cursing the fact that terminals on Linux require you to use Ctrl + Shift + C/V for copy/pasting, and about as long to develop an acquired taste for Neovim (don't worry, no corporate mandates to run a specific editor 😂). But I ask you approach the transition with an open mind. Give it five minutes, then another two weeks.

If, for some reason, you simply can't make the jump, we'll find a way to work it out. It's more important that you stay long-term productive in your environment than we get 100% adoption here. But to get a waiver, you have to have made a proper, determined effort to switch. Work through the frustration for at least two weeks. Accept a temporary drop in productivity to get there.

So that's it. That's the plan. We're going to make The Year of Linux on The Desktop a thing here. And more than that, we're going to make Omarchy fucking awesome together. Let's go!