Aurora — User Guide
Everything you need to live inside the OS: desktop navigation, shortcuts, the eight applications, and the complete shell command reference.
Everything you need to live inside the OS: desktop navigation, shortcuts,
the eight applications, and the complete shell command reference.
| Element | How to use it |
|---|
| Desktop icons | Single click selects, double click launches |
| Start menu (◈) | Click the start button; grid of all apps; Lock and Restart in the footer |
| Taskbar | One button per running app; click toggles minimize/restore; active app is highlighted |
| Right-click desktop | Context menu: Open Terminal, New Folder…, New File…, Change Wallpaper, Lock Screen, Restart |
| Double-click wallpaper | Opens a Terminal |
| 📶 tray icon | Virtual network status popup (AuroraNet) |
| Ctrl+Alt+L | Lock the system; click or press any key to unlock |
| Keys | Action |
|---|
Ctrl+Alt+L | Lock screen |
Escape | Close start menu / context menu |
Ctrl+S (in Editor) | Save the current file |
Ctrl+L (in Terminal) | Clear the terminal screen |
Ctrl+C (in Terminal) | Cancel the current input line |
↑ / ↓ (in Terminal) | Command history |
Tab (in Terminal) | Path completion |
| App | Icon | What it does |
|---|
| Files | 📁 | Graphical file manager — breadcrumbs, path input, new file/folder, refresh, up-navigation; double-click files to open them in Editor |
| Terminal | ⌨️ | The shell — full command reference below |
| Editor | 📝 | Plain-text editor with Open / Save and Ctrl+S; accepts a file path as a launch argument (open editor /path/file.txt) |
| Calculator | 🧮 | Expression calculator — operators + − × ÷, parentheses, 30-char limit, error handling |
| Paint | 🎨 | Canvas drawing — 12-color palette, brush size 1–24 px, eraser, Clear, PNG export |
| System Monitor | 📊 | Live CPU and memory graphs, process table with per-process CPU/mem, session stats |
| Settings | ⚙️ | 5 themes, 5 wallpapers, sound toggle, 12/24-hour clock |
| About | ◈ | Version, live session uptime, subsystem statistics, feature grid |
The AURORA shell (aurora-sh) ships 37 commands. Type help in the
terminal for the same list, or man <command> for the manual entry.
| Command | Usage | Description |
|---|
ls | ls [path] | List directory contents (directories in cyan) |
ll | ll [path] | Long listing with type and human-readable sizes |
cd | cd <path> | Change directory (default: home) |
pwd | pwd | Print the working directory |
tree | tree [path] [depth] | Recursive directory tree |
mkdir | mkdir [-p] <dir> | Create a directory (-p creates parents) |
rm | rm [-r] <path> | Remove a file (-r for directories) |
cp | cp <src> <dst> | Copy file or directory (recursive) |
mv | mv <src> <dst> | Move or rename |
| Command | Usage | Description |
|---|
cat | cat <file>... | Concatenate files to stdout |
echo | echo <text> | Print text (supports "quoted" arguments) |
touch | touch <file> | Create an empty file |
head | head [-n N] <file> | First N lines (default 10) |
tail | tail [-n N] <file> | Last N lines (default 10) |
wc | wc <file> | Count lines, words and characters |
grep | grep <pattern> <file> | Search a file for a pattern |
| Example | Effect |
|---|
echo hello > out.txt | Write output to a file (overwrite) |
ls > listing.txt | Redirect any command output |
echo more >> out.txt | Append output to a file |
| Command | Usage | Description |
|---|
date | date | Current date and time |
whoami | whoami | Print the current user (user) |
hostname | hostname | Print the machine name (aurora) |
uname | uname [-a] | Kernel / system information |
uptime | uptime | Time since boot |
neofetch | neofetch | System banner with logo |
df | df | Filesystem usage across the virtual disk |
du | du <path> | Disk usage of a path |
version | version | OS, kernel, shell and window-manager versions |
| Command | Usage | Description |
|---|
ps | ps | Table of running processes (PID, CPU, memory) |
kill | kill <pid> | Terminate a process by PID |
open | open <app> [args] | Launch an application (e.g. open editor file.txt) |
apps | apps | List installed applications with categories |
| Command | Usage | Description |
|---|
help | help [command] | List commands or show help for one |
man | man <command> | Manual entry for a command |
history | history | Show command history |
clear | clear | Clear the screen |
exit | exit | Close the terminal |
sudo | sudo <command> | Execute as root — you already are root |
shutdown | shutdown | Reboot Aurora |
fortune | fortune | Random quote |
- Tab completes paths; type a prefix and press Tab. Multiple matches are
listed inline.
- ↑/↓ cycle through command history;
history shows the numbered list.
- Redirection works with any command, not just
echo.
- Files created in the terminal appear instantly in the Files app — the
filesystem broadcasts
fs:changed over the EventBus.
- The filesystem persists across page reloads (localStorage). Use
rm -r carefully — EPERM protects the root directory.
| Symptom | Fix |
|---|
| No sound | Sound requires a first user interaction (autoplay policy) — click anywhere, then check Settings → Behavior → Sound |
| Files missing after reload | Open Settings → theme change reloads cleanly; if storage was cleared, the seed image is restored automatically |
| Terminal not focused | Click inside the terminal; the app focuses itself on open |
| Windows off-screen | Windows cascade and clamp to the viewport; maximize (□) resets geometry |
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