System Overview

NØNOS is a zero-trust operating system with cryptographic verification at every layer.

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Design Principles

1. Zero Trust | No component trusts another without cryptographic proof

2. Minimal Attack Surface | Small codebase, minimal dependencies

3. Post-Quantum Ready | Quantum-resistant algorithms throughout

4. Capability-Based Security | Fine-grained, unforgeable access tokens

5. Verifiable Execution | ZK proofs for privacy-preserving attestation

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Architecture Layers

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│              Applications                   │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│           Desktop / Terminal                │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│    Capability System │ Encrypted FS         │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│   Memory Mgmt │ Scheduler │ Drivers         │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│            Kernel Core (x86_64)             │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│           UEFI Bootloader                   │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│            UEFI Firmware                    │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

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Components

UEFI Bootloader (~300KB)

• Ed25519 signature verification

• BLAKE3 hashing

• Hardware detection

• Memory map preparation

• Optional ZK proof verification

Kernel (~221KB)

• Bare-metal x86_64

• Capability-based security

• Encrypted filesystem

• Network stack (IPv4/IPv6, TCP)

• Desktop environment

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Memory Layout

Region	Address	Purpose
Kernel Load	0x100000	Physical load address
Kernel Text	Higher-half	Executable code
Kernel Heap	Dynamic	Memory allocation
Stack	64KB	Per-task stacks

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Security Model

Chain of Trust

UEFI Secure Boot
       ↓
NØNOS Bootloader (verifies signature)
       ↓
Kernel (capability tokens)
       ↓
Applications (sandboxed)

Cryptographic Primitives

Use Case	Algorithm
Signatures	Ed25519
Hashing	BLAKE3, SHA-512
Encryption	AES-256-GCM, ChaCha20-Poly1305
Key Exchange	ML-KEM-768 (post-quantum)
ZK Proofs	Groth16 (BLS12-381)

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Kernel Subsystems

Subsystem	Purpose
arch/x86_64	CPU, GDT, IDT, paging
memory	Heap, physical allocator
process	Scheduler, tasks
capabilities	Access control tokens
drivers	PCI, GPU, storage
fs	VFS, encrypted storage
network	IPv4, IPv6, TCP
crypto	All cryptographic operations
zk_engine	Zero-knowledge verification
ui	Desktop, windows, terminal

Binary Sizes

Component	Size
Bootloader	~300KB
Kernel	~221KB
Total	~521KB

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