Runink RiverRIVER · Raft-Integrated Validated Event Runtime
Put the machines you already own to work on your data.
Runink River is a free, open-source operating system from Runink for the data, analytics and AI workstations you already own. The disk is locked from the first boot, a bad update rolls back with one reboot, and a long data job keeps its pace under load. There is no per-seat licence, and every line is public.
MIT userspace · GPL-2.0-only kernel · CDDL-1.0 ZFS · CC-BY-4.0 artwork
You shouldn’t have to trust an operating system you can’t look inside. So we opened ours.
A new laptop shouldn't cost days of setup.
Someone in IT, or the analyst themselves, loses days getting a new machine ready. The River installer is written for someone who has never installed an operating system. It reads the processor, memory and disks, and plans the install before it touches anything. You answer a few plain questions: language, keyboard, network, a name and a password.
That is staff time back, for IT and for the person waiting on the machine.
- You approve the erase. The disks it will erase are listed with their serial numbers, and you type a word to confirm.
- With or without internet. It copies the running system onto your disk, so it needs nothing from the network.
- A recovery key, shown once. Write it down or save it to a second stick before you go on.
The bad days it is built to prevent
Each card starts with a day your team already knows. Then it says what River does about it. The technical name is on the label, and the docs page behind each card has the detail.
An update breaks, and the day is gone
Take a snapshot of the system before an update. If the update goes wrong, one reboot takes you back to it, and your files are not touched. The fix is a restart, not a rebuild.
encryptionSensitive data on a laptop that can walk away
The whole disk is encrypted from the first boot, and /home is encrypted separately from the rest of the system. The key is typed at start-up, so a lost machine that is switched off holds files nobody can read without the key. Swap lives in RAM, so nothing spills to disk unlocked.
A long data job slows to a crawl
The kernel keeps a long data job running instead of switching away from it, hands out memory in larger blocks for big data sets, and keeps network transfers fast under load.
sandboxRunning code you didn't write
A build script from a pull request, a tool an AI assistant wrote, a dependency’s install hook. river-sandbox runs it with no network unless you ask, and no way to reach your keys or secrets. A request for one of those folders is refused, not trimmed.
Something on the network you never opened
Nothing gets in unless you open it, and everything you start can go out. The firewall loads before the network does. Wi-Fi, DHCP and printers keep working, and SSH stays closed until you list it.
init · s6 · securityNobody can say what is running
One program, s6, starts the machine and watches every service. Services are plain directories IT can read, not unit files. Hardening stays on, modules are signed with a key made for each build, and secret files are checked again at every boot.
What it's worth to your budget
We put no number here. Your own records show what each line costs you today.
No per-seat licence
River is free and open source. Adding an analyst adds hardware, not an operating-system bill. Opex.
Hardware you own, put to work
Data and AI work that would go to a rented cloud workstation can run on the laptops and desktops you already bought. Capex you have spent, and Opex you don’t add.
Fewer lost days
Less time setting up machines, rebuilding after a bad update, or waiting on a slow job. Count it in staff hours. Opex.
See it for yourself
Want Runink River on your team's machines?
Tell us about the work your developers and analysts do, and the hardware they do it on. We will walk you through Runink River on a machine like theirs.
Data You Can Trust. Decisions You Can Defend.
runink.org/river/