Apps & the App Store

NextOS ships with a full set of built-in apps - files and code, writing and planning, communication, media, information, and system tools - and you can add more from the App Store at any time.

Built-in apps

Everything you need for day-to-day work is there from the first sign-in: a Finder for your files, a real Terminal, an editor, Notes, Mail, Calendar, a spreadsheet, Photos, a browser, and dozens more. Every app shares the same underlying files, so they compose naturally - a spreadsheet can open a file your terminal created, and an agent can act on any of them.

The App Store

Open the App Store to browse a catalog of apps, agents and automations built by the community and by us. Installing one adds it to your desktop just like a built-in app - it shows up in the strip, keeps its own files, and can be uninstalled cleanly at any time. Updates install automatically and are verified before they replace anything.

Community apps

Apps built in the open, published at jonkum.in/community, are there from the first sign-in - nothing to add, no source to paste in. They show up in the App Store alongside ours, and typing in the bar will offer one you haven't installed yet, so you can find an app you didn't know existed without going looking for it. Each one links back to its own page if you want to read about it first.

Installing a community app is the same approval flow as any other catalogue app: you see exactly what it's asking for before anything runs, and nothing is granted that you didn't tick.

Both parts are switches in Settings > Apps, under App Store:

• Community catalogue turns the whole source off - no community apps in the App Store, and none in your app list.
• Search community apps from the bar keeps the catalogue but stops the bar suggesting anything you haven't installed.

Kinds of apps

Not every app is built the same way, and you don't need to care about the difference to use one - but it explains what you'll see:

• A packaged web app. A self-contained app that runs safely alongside everything else, with clear permissions for what it's allowed to touch.
• A hosted project. An app with its own dev server, started up and framed in for you.
• A native app. An app written directly against the NextOS SDK, installed only after you approve it.

Managing your apps

Settings > Apps lists everything you've installed, where it came from, and what it's allowed to do. You can disable, update, or remove any app there, and review the sources the App Store pulls from.

What's next

• Make your own app with the assistant instead of installing one someone else built.
• Browse templates for ready-made agents, automations and policies alongside apps.