You Can’t Install Omarchy on Chrome. You Install Chrome on Omarchy.

You typed “install Omarchy on Chrome” into a search box. Official answer is no. You cannot install Omarchy inside the Chrome browser, as a Chrome extension, or as a ChromeOS / Chromebook app. Omarchy is a Linux desktop ISO: Arch underneath, the Hyprland tiling compositor on top, and Quickshell as the desktop kit. That is the official welcome page, not a guess.

The honest how-to flips the question. You do not put Omarchy on Chrome. After the Linux desktop is up, you can put Google Chrome on Omarchy. If you want the “what is this thing” version first, start with Omarchy Isn’t an AI OS. It’s DHH’s Opinionated Linux Desktop.

You cannot install Omarchy ON Chrome

Three versions of this question show up. All three are no.

1. Inside the Chrome browser (a tab, a PWA, an extension). No. Omarchy is a full desktop you boot from USB. It is not a web app.
2. As a ChromeOS or Chromebook app. No. Official docs never list ChromeOS, Chrome OS, or Chromebooks as an install target.
3. “I’ll developer-mode this Chromebook and wipe it.” That is not an official Omarchy path. This post will not invent Crostini, Crosh, or YouTube developer-mode steps. If official pages do not list it, we do not write it.

The real install lives on Getting Started. Download the ISO. Put it on a USB stick (balenaEtcher on Mac or Windows, caligula on Linux). Boot the stick. You must turn off Secure Boot and/or TPM in the BIOS. Pick a full-disk install (it wipes the selected drive) or a free-space install for dual boot. Encryption is on by default. That is a PC-style ISO install. It is not something you click inside Chrome.

The official extra-hardware page is Omarchy on…. Named there: Apple M1/M2 via Asahi Alarm (a user-driven guide), a Parallels VM on Apple, VirtualBox, VMware Workstation on Windows 11, Steam Deck, and a community NixOS port. Chromebooks are not on that list. The last heading is “Something else!” Official wording: if you are trying a configuration that isn’t the default, join the #omarchy-on-other channel on the community Discord. If a normal ISO install gets stuck, the getting-started page points you to #omarchy-help.

Chromebook owners: treat that as the honest answer. There is no official ISO path. Do not follow a random YouTube wipe guide because this post mentioned ChromeOS.

You CAN install Google Chrome ON Omarchy

This is the official Chrome story, and it starts after the Linux desktop is running.

The browsers chapter is blunt. Omarchy ships Chromium as the default browser. It is the plain open-source build, themed to match the rest of your system. Super + Shift + Return opens it. Every web app runs inside it.

If Chromium isn’t your taste, you’re not stuck with it. Under Install > Browser in the Omarchy menu you’ll find Chrome, Edge, Brave, Brave Origin, Firefox, and Zen. Pick one and Omarchy installs it, sets up its policy directory, and applies your current theme to it.

Installing a browser doesn’t promote it. Official next step: Setup > Defaults > Browser. The menu only lists browsers you actually have installed, and marks the current default with a check.

From the terminal it is:

omarchy default browser firefox

Swap in the browser you installed. Run the command with no argument and it tells you the current default. That sets the XDG handler, so it is not just Omarchy’s hotkeys that follow along. Anything that opens a link, from a chat app to a terminal command, goes to the browser you picked.

Chromium-family browsers (Chromium itself, Chrome, Edge, and Brave) get two Omarchy extensions that reach out of the browser and into the rest of the system. Copy URL puts the current tab’s address on the system clipboard with Alt + Shift + L. Download Video hands the page’s video to yt-dlp with Alt + Shift + D and lands the file in ~/Videos. Firefox and Zen do not get those. Chromium is part of the base system, so it is not in Remove > Browser.

Google sign-in on plain Chromium is a known FAQ. The official line: the open-source Chromium build doesn’t ship with the OAuth credentials Google requires for account sign-in. Run Install > Service > Chromium Account in the Omarchy menu, restart the browser, and the sign-in will go through. Or install Chrome from Install > Browser if you want the Google-branded build sitting next to Chromium.

If you’re on a Mac or Windows PC

You’re in the world the ISO was written for. Official Getting Started is still the source of truth. We have sibling how-tos for the machine-specific bits:

• How to install Omarchy on a Mac
• How to install Omarchy on Windows

Intel Macs are the Mac story in the official coming-from-Mac chapter. Apple silicon is the Asahi Alarm community path on the omarchy-on page, not a one-click installer. Windows people: a free-space dual boot exists, and BitLocker has to be off first. Those posts cover that. This one does not.

Chromebook owners, one more time

We searched official omarchy.org pages for ChromeOS, Chromebook, and Chrome OS. There is no official install path. The official “Chrome” chapter is the browser after you already have Omarchy.

If you still want to experiment on hardware that is not the default, that conversation belongs in #omarchy-on-other. Stuck on a real ISO install on a supported-style PC? #omarchy-help. We are not going to write a developer-mode wipe guide in this post.

The short version

1. You cannot install Omarchy on Chrome, in Chrome, or on ChromeOS.
2. You can install Chrome on Omarchy once the Linux desktop is running.
3. Default browser is Chromium. Super + Shift + Return opens it. Install > Browser for Chrome. Setup > Defaults > Browser (or omarchy default browser) to promote it.
4. Chromebooks have no official path. Discord, not YouTube developer mode.

Want the explainer first? Omarchy Isn’t an AI OS. Then read the official browsers, getting started, and omarchy-on pages, and stop guessing.