Price terms as published
Each line is the vendor’s own wording, split from the price capture checked on 2026-09-28. Nothing here is rounded, converted or re-worded — the full sentences stay in the review below. Lines that carry only a price continue the plan named on the line above, in the vendor’s own order.
| # | Plan / term | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Free and open source on GitHub | 2026-09-28 |
| 2 | install via prompt paste, terminal script, or releases (checked 2026-09-28) | 2026-09-28 |
One-liner: LifeOS is an open-source AI harness by Daniel Miessler that installs into tools like Claude Code, Cursor or Codex and carries your goals, context and standards into every task, organized around moving from a written current state to a written ideal state.
Verified facts (checked 2026-09-28, official site)
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Open-source AI harness / personal operating system |
| Author | Daniel Miessler (GitHub repo danielmiessler/LifeOS linked from the site) |
| Install | Paste an install prompt into your AI engine, run a terminal install script, or download a release |
| Version shown | LifeOS 7.x |
| Cost | Free, open source; no paid tier shown |
| Core loop | Articulate (define done) → Climb (do the next step) → Verify (tool evidence) → Learn (fold it back) |
Concepts the site documents
- TELOS: an interview-driven capture of mission, goals, beliefs and challenges, reused in every task.
- Intent engineering: conveying the WHAT you want rather than scripting the HOW.
- Arbol: small Unix-like composable units — Actions, Pipelines, scheduled Flows.
- Supporting components with dedicated pages include Cortex (memory), the ISA system (testable spec), Helm (terminal setup), Atlas (graph of what you own), plus evals, hooks, security gates, observability and voice.
Who it is for
People who already use an AI coding/execution tool daily and want a durable personal context layer — goals, standards and verification rules — instead of rewriting prompts each session.
Caveats
- The terminal install runs a remote script; security-minded users should inspect it on GitHub before piping to bash.
- The site describes a large surface of components; maturity varies across them, and the page does not state which are complete versus planned.
- The value depends on how accurately you complete the goal/context interviews.
This page is compiled from official-site information only and is not a hands-on test.
What the official site showed on 2026-10-16
LifeOS is presented as “the AI harness that knows who you are and how you like things done”, under the slogan “Tell your AI what, not how.” The site’s framing is the gap between what a model can execute and what you actually want: “Your AI is brilliant at executing. It just doesn’t know what you actually want.”
Installation, exactly as published
| Route | Command or action shown |
|---|---|
| Prompt install | copy the site’s prompt and paste it into Claude Code, Cursor or Codex — the agent installs LifeOS for you |
| Terminal install | curl -fsSL https://ourlifeos.ai/install.sh | bash |
| Source | “Star on GitHub” / “View on GitHub” links in the header |
Two install paths and a public repository are the important detail: the prompt route runs an
install through an agent you already trust, while the shell route is a straight curl | bash.
Anyone evaluating this should read the script before running it — that is true of every harness
that installs itself this way, and the public GitHub link makes it possible.
The loop the product is built around
The site documents a four-move cycle, described as identical for shipping code, writing an essay or fixing your sleep:
- ARTICULATE — write down what done means: criteria you can check, not vibes.
- CLIMB — take the next step toward it (code, words, a decision, a habit).
- VERIFY — prove the step landed with evidence from a tool; “no evidence, no step”.
- LEARN — fold what changed back into the system, so the next climb starts higher.
Named components on the page: TELOS (captures your goals once, so every task carries them), Current → Ideal State (both states written down, the gap closed in checked steps), Intent Engineering (the site’s phrase for productising the “what” layer of prompting — the release line reads “LifeOS 7.x: from prompt engineering to intent engineering”), and a General Hill Climb capability card.
Stated use cases in the site’s own list: building applications, tracking goals, negotiating salary, quitting your job, studying for exams, coding.
What to check before installing
- “Evidence, or it did not happen” is a strong claim. The page says every criterion closes on proof from a tool. How that proof is collected — which tools, what access they need — decides whether this is a note-taking system or an agent with shell and file permissions. The Docs and Skills pages are where that is answered; the homepage does not say.
- State files are the product. A harness that records your current and ideal state, goals and standards keeps a file describing your life on disk. Check where it is written, whether it is synced anywhere, and what leaves the machine.
- Version and cadence: the site advertises LifeOS 7.x with a “Get the latest release” link, so pin the version you evaluate.
Source note: all quotes, commands and component names above were read from ourlifeos.ai on
2026-10-16. We did not run the installer, so no behavioural claim on this page is ours —
reviewType stays official.