Development tools

The system image is read-only, so development tools go into containers. Kleinia ships Distrobox, which runs any Linux distribution in a container that shares your home directory, your user and the desktop.

Create a development container

distrobox create --name dev --image registry.fedoraproject.org/fedora-toolbox:44
distrobox enter dev

Inside it, dnf works as on any Fedora system:

sudo dnf install gcc make nodejs python3-pip

You can use other distributions too, for example --image ubuntu:24.04.

Use a container’s apps from the desktop

distrobox-export --app code          # inside the container: add an app to the app grid
distrobox-export --bin /usr/bin/rg   # or a command to your host PATH

Agents in containers

Agents started inside a Distrobox container are recognised like any other: they get an identity, use the model gateway and appear in agenttop.

Layering packages (last resort)

If something really has to be part of the system, such as a driver or a system service, you can layer an RPM onto the image:

sudo rpm-ostree install <package>
systemctl reboot

Layered packages are reapplied on every update, which makes updates slower and can make them fail. Remove a layered package with sudo rpm-ostree uninstall <package>.