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I tried Umbrel, CasaOS, and StartOS. They work β€” but it started feeling like I was running an OS just to host apps. So I built Yantra. Lightweight, isolated, no system takeover. Runs on a Pi or laptop without hijacking your machine. Still early β€” what app should I add next?
GitHub
GitHub - besoeasy/yantra: We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow update cycles made self-hosting unnecessarily painful. Yantra takes a different approach:
We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow up...

Replies (84)

Good review
besoeasy's avatar besoeasy
I tried Umbrel, CasaOS, and StartOS. They work β€” but it started feeling like I was running an OS just to host apps. So I built Yantra. Lightweight, isolated, no system takeover. Runs on a Pi or laptop without hijacking your machine. Still early β€” what app should I add next?
GitHub
GitHub - besoeasy/yantra: We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow update cycles made self-hosting unnecessarily painful. Yantra takes a different approach:
We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow up...
View quoted note →
don't forget to DYOR
besoeasy's avatar besoeasy
I tried Umbrel, CasaOS, and StartOS. They work β€” but it started feeling like I was running an OS just to host apps. So I built Yantra. Lightweight, isolated, no system takeover. Runs on a Pi or laptop without hijacking your machine. Still early β€” what app should I add next?
GitHub
GitHub - besoeasy/yantra: We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow update cycles made self-hosting unnecessarily painful. Yantra takes a different approach:
We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow up...
View quoted note →
jeah looks fine
besoeasy's avatar besoeasy
I tried Umbrel, CasaOS, and StartOS. They work β€” but it started feeling like I was running an OS just to host apps. So I built Yantra. Lightweight, isolated, no system takeover. Runs on a Pi or laptop without hijacking your machine. Still early β€” what app should I add next?
GitHub
GitHub - besoeasy/yantra: We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow update cycles made self-hosting unnecessarily painful. Yantra takes a different approach:
We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow up...
View quoted note →
Nice to be a mode of relay of this information. Peace
besoeasy's avatar besoeasy
I tried Umbrel, CasaOS, and StartOS. They work β€” but it started feeling like I was running an OS just to host apps. So I built Yantra. Lightweight, isolated, no system takeover. Runs on a Pi or laptop without hijacking your machine. Still early β€” what app should I add next?
GitHub
GitHub - besoeasy/yantra: We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow update cycles made self-hosting unnecessarily painful. Yantra takes a different approach:
We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow up...
View quoted note →
↩ replying to npub1ac9d...xeaz
I get the point about servers and sovereignty β€” but that’s exactly why I’m critical of Umbrel. If you’re doing anything serious, you shouldn’t be running a β€œnode OS” at all. You run Debian, understand your system, use Docker/Portainer, and write your own configs. Umbrel doesn’t give you sovereignty there β€” it hides Debian behind a UI skin. And if someone just wants easy installs, running a full OS is overkill. Umbrel isn’t a custom OS anyway, it’s still Debian underneath β€” just with opinions baked in. Yantra sits in the middle: it’s just a Docker container (~155MB) that gives you an app-store experience without touching or taking over your system. No lock-in, no pretending to be an OS, no loss of control. Sovereignty isn’t about running more layers β€” it’s about knowing what’s actually running.
Lo and behold
besoeasy's avatar besoeasy
I tried Umbrel, CasaOS, and StartOS. They work β€” but it started feeling like I was running an OS just to host apps. So I built Yantra. Lightweight, isolated, no system takeover. Runs on a Pi or laptop without hijacking your machine. Still early β€” what app should I add next?
GitHub
GitHub - besoeasy/yantra: We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow update cycles made self-hosting unnecessarily painful. Yantra takes a different approach:
We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow up...
View quoted note →
↩ replying to npub1mt8h...2gfm
TrueNAS is primarily geared for data management & centered around ZFS arrays with many disks. Yantra is targeting the dude who's got an SBC and a dream, but not the chops. Managing custom jails is a pain on TrueNAS. Don't even really need yantra unless you just want a GUI to hide away the complexity. It's all just docker compose files that take in environment variables.
GitHub
yantra/apps at main Β· besoeasy/yantra
We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow up...
 Proxmox VE, and a single VM for hosting docker would be plenty to get Yantra up and going; though I prefer Portainer. Doesn't funnel you down into just using ZFS for storage either.
It's just docker btw.
besoeasy's avatar besoeasy
I tried Umbrel, CasaOS, and StartOS. They work β€” but it started feeling like I was running an OS just to host apps. So I built Yantra. Lightweight, isolated, no system takeover. Runs on a Pi or laptop without hijacking your machine. Still early β€” what app should I add next?
GitHub
GitHub - besoeasy/yantra: We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow update cycles made self-hosting unnecessarily painful. Yantra takes a different approach:
We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow up...
View quoted note →
New kid on The block
besoeasy's avatar besoeasy
I tried Umbrel, CasaOS, and StartOS. They work β€” but it started feeling like I was running an OS just to host apps. So I built Yantra. Lightweight, isolated, no system takeover. Runs on a Pi or laptop without hijacking your machine. Still early β€” what app should I add next?
GitHub
GitHub - besoeasy/yantra: We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow update cycles made self-hosting unnecessarily painful. Yantra takes a different approach:
We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow up...
View quoted note →
Muy interesante
besoeasy's avatar besoeasy
I tried Umbrel, CasaOS, and StartOS. They work β€” but it started feeling like I was running an OS just to host apps. So I built Yantra. Lightweight, isolated, no system takeover. Runs on a Pi or laptop without hijacking your machine. Still early β€” what app should I add next?
GitHub
GitHub - besoeasy/yantra: We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow update cycles made self-hosting unnecessarily painful. Yantra takes a different approach:
We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow up...
View quoted note →
Very good!!
besoeasy's avatar besoeasy
I tried Umbrel, CasaOS, and StartOS. They work β€” but it started feeling like I was running an OS just to host apps. So I built Yantra. Lightweight, isolated, no system takeover. Runs on a Pi or laptop without hijacking your machine. Still early β€” what app should I add next?
GitHub
GitHub - besoeasy/yantra: We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow update cycles made self-hosting unnecessarily painful. Yantra takes a different approach:
We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow up...
View quoted note →
excellent comment about the system
besoeasy's avatar besoeasy
I tried Umbrel, CasaOS, and StartOS. They work β€” but it started feeling like I was running an OS just to host apps. So I built Yantra. Lightweight, isolated, no system takeover. Runs on a Pi or laptop without hijacking your machine. Still early β€” what app should I add next?
GitHub
GitHub - besoeasy/yantra: We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow update cycles made self-hosting unnecessarily painful. Yantra takes a different approach:
We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow up...
View quoted note →
Another alternative to umbrel πŸ‘Œ
besoeasy's avatar besoeasy
I tried Umbrel, CasaOS, and StartOS. They work β€” but it started feeling like I was running an OS just to host apps. So I built Yantra. Lightweight, isolated, no system takeover. Runs on a Pi or laptop without hijacking your machine. Still early β€” what app should I add next?
GitHub
GitHub - besoeasy/yantra: We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow update cycles made self-hosting unnecessarily painful. Yantra takes a different approach:
We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow up...
View quoted note →
Umbrel works very well.
besoeasy's avatar besoeasy
I tried Umbrel, CasaOS, and StartOS. They work β€” but it started feeling like I was running an OS just to host apps. So I built Yantra. Lightweight, isolated, no system takeover. Runs on a Pi or laptop without hijacking your machine. Still early β€” what app should I add next?
GitHub
GitHub - besoeasy/yantra: We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow update cycles made self-hosting unnecessarily painful. Yantra takes a different approach:
We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow up...
View quoted note →
Very interesting
besoeasy's avatar besoeasy
I tried Umbrel, CasaOS, and StartOS. They work β€” but it started feeling like I was running an OS just to host apps. So I built Yantra. Lightweight, isolated, no system takeover. Runs on a Pi or laptop without hijacking your machine. Still early β€” what app should I add next?
GitHub
GitHub - besoeasy/yantra: We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow update cycles made self-hosting unnecessarily painful. Yantra takes a different approach:
We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow up...
View quoted note →
building on nostr
besoeasy's avatar besoeasy
I tried Umbrel, CasaOS, and StartOS. They work β€” but it started feeling like I was running an OS just to host apps. So I built Yantra. Lightweight, isolated, no system takeover. Runs on a Pi or laptop without hijacking your machine. Still early β€” what app should I add next?
GitHub
GitHub - besoeasy/yantra: We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow update cycles made self-hosting unnecessarily painful. Yantra takes a different approach:
We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow up...
View quoted note →
I guess I'll will give it a try...πŸ‘‡
besoeasy's avatar besoeasy
I tried Umbrel, CasaOS, and StartOS. They work β€” but it started feeling like I was running an OS just to host apps. So I built Yantra. Lightweight, isolated, no system takeover. Runs on a Pi or laptop without hijacking your machine. Still early β€” what app should I add next?
GitHub
GitHub - besoeasy/yantra: We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow update cycles made self-hosting unnecessarily painful. Yantra takes a different approach:
We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow up...
View quoted note →
Nice to see more ideas like this..
besoeasy's avatar besoeasy
I tried Umbrel, CasaOS, and StartOS. They work β€” but it started feeling like I was running an OS just to host apps. So I built Yantra. Lightweight, isolated, no system takeover. Runs on a Pi or laptop without hijacking your machine. Still early β€” what app should I add next?
GitHub
GitHub - besoeasy/yantra: We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow update cycles made self-hosting unnecessarily painful. Yantra takes a different approach:
We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow up...
View quoted note →
Thank you for sharing the content.
besoeasy's avatar besoeasy
I tried Umbrel, CasaOS, and StartOS. They work β€” but it started feeling like I was running an OS just to host apps. So I built Yantra. Lightweight, isolated, no system takeover. Runs on a Pi or laptop without hijacking your machine. Still early β€” what app should I add next?
GitHub
GitHub - besoeasy/yantra: We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow update cycles made self-hosting unnecessarily painful. Yantra takes a different approach:
We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow up...
View quoted note →
Epa epa .. demasiadas cosas nuevas y yo quedΓ‘ndome muy atrΓ‘s πŸ‘€
besoeasy's avatar besoeasy
I tried Umbrel, CasaOS, and StartOS. They work β€” but it started feeling like I was running an OS just to host apps. So I built Yantra. Lightweight, isolated, no system takeover. Runs on a Pi or laptop without hijacking your machine. Still early β€” what app should I add next?
GitHub
GitHub - besoeasy/yantra: We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow update cycles made self-hosting unnecessarily painful. Yantra takes a different approach:
We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow up...
View quoted note →
stay humble!
besoeasy's avatar besoeasy
I tried Umbrel, CasaOS, and StartOS. They work β€” but it started feeling like I was running an OS just to host apps. So I built Yantra. Lightweight, isolated, no system takeover. Runs on a Pi or laptop without hijacking your machine. Still early β€” what app should I add next?
GitHub
GitHub - besoeasy/yantra: We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow update cycles made self-hosting unnecessarily painful. Yantra takes a different approach:
We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow up...
View quoted note →
I'm running my node on StartOS, but Yantra looks dope, thanks for sharing.
besoeasy's avatar besoeasy
I tried Umbrel, CasaOS, and StartOS. They work β€” but it started feeling like I was running an OS just to host apps. So I built Yantra. Lightweight, isolated, no system takeover. Runs on a Pi or laptop without hijacking your machine. Still early β€” what app should I add next?
GitHub
GitHub - besoeasy/yantra: We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow update cycles made self-hosting unnecessarily painful. Yantra takes a different approach:
We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow up...
View quoted note →
Interesante
besoeasy's avatar besoeasy
I tried Umbrel, CasaOS, and StartOS. They work β€” but it started feeling like I was running an OS just to host apps. So I built Yantra. Lightweight, isolated, no system takeover. Runs on a Pi or laptop without hijacking your machine. Still early β€” what app should I add next?
GitHub
GitHub - besoeasy/yantra: We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow update cycles made self-hosting unnecessarily painful. Yantra takes a different approach:
We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow up...
View quoted note →
Love It, thanks
besoeasy's avatar besoeasy
I tried Umbrel, CasaOS, and StartOS. They work β€” but it started feeling like I was running an OS just to host apps. So I built Yantra. Lightweight, isolated, no system takeover. Runs on a Pi or laptop without hijacking your machine. Still early β€” what app should I add next?
GitHub
GitHub - besoeasy/yantra: We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow update cycles made self-hosting unnecessarily painful. Yantra takes a different approach:
We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow up...
View quoted note →
Great!!!🫣🫣🫣
besoeasy's avatar besoeasy
I tried Umbrel, CasaOS, and StartOS. They work β€” but it started feeling like I was running an OS just to host apps. So I built Yantra. Lightweight, isolated, no system takeover. Runs on a Pi or laptop without hijacking your machine. Still early β€” what app should I add next?
GitHub
GitHub - besoeasy/yantra: We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow update cycles made self-hosting unnecessarily painful. Yantra takes a different approach:
We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow up...
View quoted note →
Build and build and build!
besoeasy's avatar besoeasy
I tried Umbrel, CasaOS, and StartOS. They work β€” but it started feeling like I was running an OS just to host apps. So I built Yantra. Lightweight, isolated, no system takeover. Runs on a Pi or laptop without hijacking your machine. Still early β€” what app should I add next?
GitHub
GitHub - besoeasy/yantra: We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow update cycles made self-hosting unnecessarily painful. Yantra takes a different approach:
We created Yantra as a faster, lighter, and more transparent alternative to Umbrel. Umbrel's heavy apps, forced proxy architecture, and slow up...
View quoted note →
Ever heard of Yunohost? It's around since 2012. Discovered it a couple of months ago and it's powering Nextcloud, n8n, Piped and bunch of other stuff on my RasPi 4 ever since. What immediatly caught my attention is the fact that you connect your own domain or get a free domain with a few clicks in an easy to use interface, certificates included.
YunoHost: garden your own piece of the Internet!
YunoHost is a system that installs itself on a server and allows you to install and maintain - with very little technical knowledge - digital servi...