Omarchy Quattro 4.0: New Features and Upgrade Guide

Learn what changed in Omarchy Quattro 4.0, including the Quickshell desktop, plugins, installation, and a recoverable upgrade checklist.

Omarchy Quattro, or Omarchy 4.0, shipped on August 14, 2026. The project describes it as its biggest release so far: the desktop shell moved to Quickshell, Omarchy internals became Arch packages, and the system gained a full plugin architecture.

Which release does this page cover?

This page follows the official v4.0.0 release notes. Rolling updates will keep changing details. Verify downloads, checksums, and upgrade actions against the official release and the menu on your installed system.

Stable follow-ups: v4.0.3 and v4.0.4

Checked on 2026-10-02, the latest stable release is v4.0.4 (2026-09-15), introducing linux-omarchy as the default kernel. v4.0.3 (2026-09-08) added Hermes, OpenClaw, and security fixes. The v4.0.0 ISO checksum below is historical and must not validate a v4.0.4 download. Use the current release page and SHA-256 for new installations. See current workflows.

The most important Quattro changes

Area	What changed	User impact
Desktop shell	Bar, launcher, menus, notifications, OSDs, panels, lock screen, and polkit moved into Quickshell	One scriptable long-running process coordinates desktop state and appearance
Plugins	First- and third-party shell plugin architecture	Components can be replaced or added, but third-party plugins execute with user access
System updates	Omarchy internals moved into Arch system packages	System files and user modifications have a clearer boundary
Installation	Free-space dual boot, prepare-for-another-owner, and factory reset for new installs	More installation paths, with the same disk, BitLocker, and recovery risks
Desktop configuration	Hyprland configuration moved to Lua	Paths and syntax from older tutorials may no longer apply
Apps and tools	Omawrite, Omacut, and Omacalc were added; Foot became the default terminal	Some defaults and launch bindings changed

The release also adds unified search, visual theme selection, clipboard and notification history, new control panels, an AI-agent launcher, saved window widths, and capture improvements. See the complete hotkey guide.

How to upgrade an existing installation

The official path is to run Update → Omarchy first so the current system reaches a migration-ready state, then run Update → Omarchy to Quattro. Do not replace your configuration with a copy from somebody else's upgraded machine.

Before upgrading:

commit or independently copy current work;
verify a backup of important /home data instead of relying only on snapshots;
confirm adequate disk space and resolve incomplete pacman operations;
record custom Hyprland, bar, theme, network, and app bindings;
update and reboot the old release once to prove it still works;
run the Quattro migration and retain complete error output;
after reboot, test networking, displays, audio, hotkeys, locking, and recovery.

Fresh installation and ISO

The official v4.0.0 release provides a Quattro ISO with this published SHA-256:

9224fab3720560f771969a99a499e5f7e0f8e2d6a0681d872d52f05fb5003da4

Recheck both the version and checksum on the official release page before following the Omarchy ISO and USB installation steps. Do not obtain operating-system images from file-sharing sites, search ads, or repackaged mirrors.

What Quickshell and plugins mean

Quattro runs the desktop as one long-lived Quickshell process called omarchy-shell. The bar, panels, menus, lock screen, and background services are plugins, so they can be enabled, disabled, cloned, or replaced without editing Omarchy's source.

That power also expands supply-chain risk. A third-party plugin is not a static theme: it is unsandboxed code with access to everything your user account can reach. Review the repository, author, history, license, code, and update diff. See installing Omarchy plugins safely for commands and rollback.

What to verify after the upgrade

Check	Why
`Super + K` hotkey help	Old bindings may have changed
Network, Bluetooth, audio, and display panels	Quattro replaced or consolidated several components
Custom Hyprland configuration	Configuration is now Lua; old snippets should not be pasted blindly
Bar and themes	The shell, 24-color system, and user override model changed maintenance
Third-party plugins	Confirm provenance, enabled state, and behavior after updates
Snapshots and independent backups	System rollback and `/home` recovery remain different jobs

If an upgrade produces a black screen, networking failure, or broken bindings, preserve logs and configuration differences before following the troubleshooting guide.

Should you upgrade immediately?

Schedule a recovery window when the machine does production work. A test device or recoverable separate drive can adopt Quattro earlier. More features do not prove that every device, plugin, and old customization will migrate without work.

Sources: official Omarchy v4.0.0 release, Omarchy Manual, and Shell Plugins.