Hey everyone! 👋

I'm a software developer from Hungary, and I've been working on a pretty ambitious side project: a full desktop environment that runs entirely in the browser, built with SvelteKit and Svelte 5.

It's called **Racona** — and it's open source (MIT license).

## What is it?

A web-based desktop environment that runs in the browser: window management (drag, resize, snap, minimize, maximize), taskbar, start menu, desktop shortcuts, right-click context menu — basically the classic desktop experience, built entirely with web technologies.

It's modular and extensible: you can build your own apps as plugins using an SDK (`@racona/sdk` available on npm), and the whole system is self-hostable with a single `docker compose up` command.

## Tech stack

- **Frontend:** SvelteKit 2, Svelte 5 (runes), TypeScript, Tailwind CSS 4
- **Backend:** SvelteKit server + Express + Socket.IO (real-time chat)
- **Database:** PostgreSQL + Drizzle ORM
- **Auth:** better-auth (email/password, OTP, Google, 2FA TOTP)
- **Runtime:** Bun
- **Infra:** Docker + Docker Compose
- **Testing:** Vitest + Playwright

The marketing/landing page (racona.hu) is also built with SvelteKit — so both the system itself and its website are fully within the Svelte ecosystem.

## Key features

- Full window manager (drag, resize, minimize, maximize, snap-to-edge)
- Taskbar & Start menu (customizable position, search, grid/list view)
- Plugin system — CLI scaffolding, custom SDK, Web Component-based loading
- Built-in apps: Settings, User Management, Chat, Logs, Plugin Manager, Notifications, Help
- Internationalization (database-backed i18n with runtime locale switching)
- Dark/light mode
- Real-time chat (Socket.IO)
- Self-hosting with Docker (single command)

## Links

- 🌐 Website: [racona.hu](https://racona.hu)
- 🎮 Live demo: [demo.racona.hu](https://demo.racona.hu)
- 💻 GitHub: [github.com/Racona-webOS/racona-core](https://github.com/Racona-webOS/racona-core)
- 📖 Docs: [docs.racona.hu](https://docs.racona.hu)

## Why Svelte?

Honestly, reactivity and performance. In a window manager where multiple windows are being dragged, resized, and each running its own app, Svelte 5's runes-based reactivity fits perfectly. No VDOM overhead, clean state management (`$state` classes), and the bundle size stays small.

## Current status

I'm actively developing it (solo dev), there's a public GitHub repo, and the plugin SDK + CLI are published on npm. The system works, it's self-hostable, there's a live demo — but there's obviously still a lot to do.

Happy to answer any questions! Feedback, ideas, or even a ⭐ on GitHub would mean a lot. 🙏


[Self-Promotion] I built a full web-based desktop environment with SvelteKit — Racona (open source)