CachyOS August release adds experimental Server Edition profiles
CachyOS has released its August 2026 ISO refresh, with changes to package management, hardware detection and the installation process. Existing users do not need to reinstall the Arch Linux-based distribution and can receive the changes through the normal update process.
One of the larger changes is Shelly, the default graphical package manager. CachyOS has rewritten Shelly from C# to Zig, removing its dependency on a managed runtime. According to the developers, the native version uses less memory and starts faster , although CachyOS has not provided benchmark data comparing the two versions.
CachyOS moves more tools to Rust
Shelly also gains repository and AUR search, AUR PKGBUILD previews with build output and utilities for database synchronization, cache cleanup and removing orphaned packages. Its command-line interface can now check repositories, the AUR, AppImages and Flatpaks together. Flatpak integration is available through an optional shelly-flatpak-backend package.
CachyOS is also moving more of its own tools to Rust. The kernel-manager backend has been rewritten from C++ to Rust and integrated into chwd-kernel, while the Cachy-Update system tray applet has received its own Rust rewrite. Cachy-Update is now based on Arch-Update 4.x and checks for updates every six hours by default.
The new CachyOS August 2026 release is now available! 🚀
Check out all the changes here: https://t.co/MJco69v2xA
— CachyOS (@CachyOS) August 9, 2026
Better handheld detection and Server Edition preparation
The chwd hardware detection tool now identifies handheld systems using patterns from the DMI board_name field. CachyOS says this improves detection of handheld hardware and includes fixes for missing DMI information and virtual machines. This affects the same detection system used to assign drivers and profiles on handheld installations.
The command-line installer has also gained experimental installation profiles for the upcoming CachyOS Server Edition. There is still no release date for the server version. Other August changes include new Noctalia configurations for mango and niri, Plasma 6.7 theme updates, revised mirror ranking and an updated gaming guide that removes older launch options no longer required with current proton-cachyos-slr releases.
Source: CachyOS
