DHH and Alibaba Cloud plan an Omarchy China edition with its own ISO, no VPN needed
After meeting the Alibaba Cloud team in Hangzhou, DHH promises a China version of Omarchy with Chinese apps preinstalled and a dedicated ISO. No date yet.
Image: DHH (X)
Omarchy is getting a version made for China. On October 24, 2026, after a visit to Hangzhou, DHH wrote on X that “it was a joy to connect with the @alibaba_cloud team in Hangzhou,” and that “we’re going to work together on making the Omarchy China version perfect.” He listed three promises: “No VPN necessary, all the major Chinese apps preinstalled, dedicated ISO.” His verdict: “It’s going to be great!”
It is a plan for now. DHH gave no date and no version, and there is no China ISO to download yet. He didn’t say which apps will be preinstalled either.
What China does have today is a closer download. iso.omarchy.cn currently serves omarchy-4.0.6.iso with its SHA-256 file and signature, described on the page as the “Official Omarchy release ISO, mirrored unchanged.” The page also says “This is not a separate China build.” That is exactly the gap DHH’s dedicated ISO is meant to fill.
The mirror got wired into the Chinese site this week. omarchy-site PR #598 by @emirb, merged on October 22, 2026, points the download, SHA-256 and signature links on omarchy.cn’s homepage at iso.omarchy.cn instead of iso.omarchy.org. According to the PR, the omarchy.cn deploy now fails if the homepage still links the .org host, “rather than publish a download button that leaves China.”
Packages are moving closer too. As we covered, the next Omarchy downloads packages from its China mirrors on installs in China. The pull request behind it says that “China’s preinstalls follow as separate PRs,” which matches the apps DHH is promising.
One open question is the ISO itself. omarchy-iso PR #241 by @xdanger, still open, takes the opposite route: “One ISO for every region,” with the installer picking China’s mirrors from the timezone the user selects. DHH now says “dedicated ISO.” He hasn’t explained how the two approaches fit together.
Alibaba Cloud is no newcomer to the project. It joined as a Founding Corporate Patron on September 22, 2026, pledging “$1 million a year for three years,” and that announcement already said it would help build “Omarchy China,” with a local CDN, hosting, a website, meetups and community for Chinese users.
The community side is moving fast as well. After the Shenzhen meetup in October, Hangzhou’s first Omarchy meetup takes place on November 15, 2026, from 09:30 to 16:30 (UTC+8) at Chongwen Future School, according to the event page: project sharing in the morning, a pizza party at noon, then demos, installation help and open chat. The organizer’s post on X teases “a little surprise with @dhh.” The event page itself doesn’t mention him.
