Systems Research
AetherOS
Browser-native AI-oriented operating environment combining a Go backend/kernel with React desktop interface and WebAssembly execution.
Engineering objective
How should intelligent components, sandboxed execution runtimes, and local applications communicate in a browser-native operating environment?
Architecture
AetherOS investigated the infrastructure required around AI models: state, permissions, messaging, failure handling, persistence, and observability. Built around a Go message kernel, React desktop UI, and Wazero/WASI WebAssembly sandbox.
- AI as System Service: Models should be treated as system-level services rather than monolithic ad-hoc applications.
- Structured Message Bus: Central JSON message envelope featuring topic routing, request correlation, and wildcard subscriptions.
- Sandboxed WASM Runtimes: Safe multi-tenant plugin and agent execution isolated from the host file system.
Implementation evidence
Model Orchestration Primacy
OBSERVEDIntelligent systems require rigorous orchestration infrastructure (state, permissions, failure handling) rather than just naked model inference.
JSON Serialization Ceiling
OBSERVEDJSON envelopes are clean for administrative messages but bottleneck high-dimensional embedding transports.