Just shipped

The Kiro ISO Builder is out

Building your own Kiro ISO is now a clickable app, bundled on the Kiro ISO. A Pre-flight → Configure → Packages → Add apps → Build → Done wizard fixes common host problems with one click, lets you pick your desktop, kernel(s) and NVIDIA driver, remove packages to slim the image or add extra apps — the same build, without the terminal.

Watch in action Prefer the terminal?

Watch it in action — detailed explanation

New · KIRO 114

From 6.5 GB to 3.4 GB — still every bit Kiro

One kernel. No browsers, no editors, none of the things you never asked for — yet the colourful Kiro K logo and the Simplicity login screen are right where you expect them. Deselect what you do not want in the Kiro ISO Builder, and Calamares no longer trips over the services you left out.

Deselect any package
Your kernel, your call
Full-disk LUKS encryption
Btrfs + Snapper snapshots
One-click rollback
Education first, no black boxes

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Build a custom Kiro ISO, then explore KDE Plasma and every twm

A full run through the Kiro ISO Builder, then a tour of KDE Plasma and every tiling window manager Kiro ships.

Want to try it out?

Kiro is a rolling release, so you don't need a fresh ISO — stay rolling and grab the builder from the terminal:

$ sudo pacman -Syu kiro-iso-builder

All suggestions and questions go to GitHub Discussions.

Not on Kiro? Add the repo first

On any other Arch-based system the builder lives in the nemesis_repo. Add it to your pacman.conf, then run the install command above.

Easiest — one line

$ curl -sL bit.ly/nemesis-repo | sudo bash

Or by hand — append to /etc/pacman.conf

[nemesis_repo]
Server   = https://erikdubois.github.io/$repo/$arch

Then trust the Kiro Signing Key, install kiro-keyring + kiro-mirrorlist, refresh with sudo pacman -Syu and grab the builder above. PGP-signed — details in the FAQ.

What it does

One window, one click

A front-end, not a reimplementation: the proven kiro-iso build-scripts stay underneath, and it runs on any Arch-based host. The script-driven flow further down is the same build, written out.

Pre-flight, fixed for you

It checks the build host and fixes common problems with one click — no chasing missing tools or settings before you can start.

Configure the build

Pick your kernel(s) and the NVIDIA driver from dropdowns. Detect available kernels and choose what gets baked in.

Untick to slim

Start from the full Kiro package set and remove what you don't want — the image gets exactly as lean as you like, all before the build runs.

Build & verify

Run the build and verify the finished ISO from the same window — no terminal needed end to end.

CLI

Prefer the terminal? — kernel-agnostic by design.

The Builder just drives this. The full ISO builder is public. Clone kiro-iso, run one script, and the build asks which kernel(s) you want baked in — mainstream Arch, the CachyOS family, XanMod, pinned LTS, or just stick with the shipped default. Every Kiro tweak — sysctl, udev, systemd drop-ins, tmpfiles — is written to work on any kernel you pick, no hardcoded kernel names anywhere.

The shipped ISO defaults to linux-cachyos as the live-boot kernel, with linux-zen available from the boot menu — both pulled from repos Kiro already trusts (Arch [extra] and Chaotic-AUR). Building your own? Set kernel="ask", pick anything from linux-hardened to a pinned LTS, and the rest of the system carries on unchanged.

Start building View kiro-iso on GitHub

Run the build script as a normal user from build-scripts/ — it calls sudo internally.

kernel="ask" · dialog (default), gum (modern alternative) — pick the one you like click to enlarge

Why build it yourself

A distro you can read

The build is plain bash and plain package lists — nothing hidden. That makes it a great way to learn how an Arch-based ISO is actually assembled, and to bend it into your own distro.

Composed, not stripped

The ISO ships exactly what's on the list — one package per line, clearly commented. The list starts lean and curated, every package a deliberate choice.

Reproducible

Script-driven and consistent: the same repo and config produce the same ISO. No manual clicking through a builder.

Yours to customize

Swap the kernels, pick an NVIDIA driver, add or drop packages — all from a config block at the top of one script, or by editing one list.

Educational

Every phase is readable bash — no magic. It's the build many distros hide, written out so you can follow it.

Before you begin

What you'll need

Very little — the build prepares its own host. If you're not on an Arch-based system, run it inside a VM.

An Arch-based host

Arch, Kiro, EndeavourOS, CachyOS or Garuda — or any of them inside a VM on Windows/macOS.

A normal user

Run as your regular user with sudo — not as root. The script calls sudo itself when it needs to.

~10–15 GB free

Space for the build tree and the finished ISO. archiso and grub are installed for you if missing.

An internet connection

Packages download from the Arch mirrors plus Kiro's public repos — set up automatically on first run.

Clone the repo

Everything lives in one public repository — no account or special access needed.

In a terminal

$ git clone https://github.com/kirodubes/kiro-iso.git

$ cd kiro-iso/build-scripts

Run the build

One command does everything — host prep, repository setup, version stamp, package and kernel handling, then the ISO squash with mkarchiso.

From build-scripts/

$ ./build-the-iso.sh
# run as your normal user — it calls sudo when needed

What to expect

Roughly 30–60 minutes the first time, faster after that — most of it is downloading packages.
Lots of text scrolls past. That's normal. A few warning lines along the way are normal too — leave it running.
The first run sets up the Chaotic-AUR and CachyOS repos on your host automatically; later runs skip what's already done.

Collect your ISO

When the build finishes, your ISO and its checksums are waiting in ~/kiro-Out/.

# ~/kiro-Out/
kiro-vYY.MM.DD-x86_64.iso
kiro-vYY.MM.DD-x86_64.iso.sha256
kiro-vYY.MM.DD-x86_64.iso.md5
kiro-vYY.MM.DD-x86_64.iso.pkglist.txt  # everything that's inside

Write it to a USB stick and boot it just like the official download — the Get Started guide covers flashing and installing.

Make it yours

A few knobs at the top

Open build-the-iso.sh and you'll find a small config block near the top. The common choices live there — change a line, rebuild.

Kernels

Ships linux-cachyos + linux-zen by default. List any space-separated set — the first one boots the live ISO — or set kernel="ask" for an interactive picker.

NVIDIA driver

Pick the driver set that matches your card: open for modern GPUs (default), or the 580xx / 390xx legacy sets.

Packages

Edit packages.x86_64 — one package per line, commented. Add what you want shipped, remove what you don't.

More options — same-day version rebuilds, parallel-download count, where the build folder lives — are documented inline. The full walkthrough is the step-by-step BYOI guide in the repo.

Ready to build?

Clone the repo, run one script, and you've made your own Arch-based ISO.

View kiro-iso on GitHub Read the full guide