Built a 1.3M-line agent-native OS in Rust while homeless. What now?

[jamieoglindsey]

I’m going to be straight about my situation because I don’t know where else to turn.

My dad was diagnosed with cancer. While he was in hospital, the council emptied his house. Everything I owned was in that house. £20,000+ of equipment, years of research, a server with thousands of hours of work. Locks of my kids’ hair. Photos. All thrown in a tip.

My family turned my dying dad against me. I ended up living with someone suffering from paranoid psychosis. That’s where I built most of what I’m about to describe. Three days ago, 24 hours of abuse, and now I’m in a tent with my dog. 5°C weather. No money.

The council refused housing. The government won’t recognise my autism. They want me job hunting 35 hours a week from a tent.

I’m not incapable. I’ve raised a family. I’ve worked my whole adult life. Supervising teams, tattooing, freelance programming, building proprietary backend systems across 20 years of working with Linux. My autism isn’t a disability here. It’s the reason I can hold an entire OS architecture in my head and see how every component connects. When I point this brain at a problem, it produces systems that work, at a speed that doesn’t make sense to most people.

Over the past 4 months, I’ve been building OctantOS. An operating system for autonomous AI agents. Not a framework. Not a container wrapper. An actual OS with its own kernel (OctantCore, from-scratch Rust), its own hypervisor (OctantVMM), a single-binary Rust userspace, and a 10-layer security stack enforcing agent permissions at the kernel level.

~1.3M total lines of code. ~800K Rust. 50 crates, ~25 satellite projects. 3,900+ tests. Solo developer. No CS degree. 4 months.

The thesis: application-layer trust is insufficient for autonomous agents. OctantCore makes agent identity, capability boundaries, TTL enforcement, and audit first-class kernel primitives. Manifests compile to kernel enforcement policies. The agent doesn’t decide what it can do. The kernel does.

Rust LSM patches reviewed on lore.kernel.org by Google’s Rust-for-Linux team and the LSM maintainer. OctantCore boots on OctantVMM with memory manager, interrupts, syscall interface, Agent Descriptor Table, and capability enforcer initializing at boot. Built by orchestrating 10-12 parallel AI coding sessions simultaneously.

It goes beyond isolation. Agents identify gaps in their own knowledge and seek out what they don’t know (curiosity subsystem, implemented). Background inference consolidates learned patterns (dreaming). A 7-stage self-evolution pipeline within constitutional safety boundaries. New skills propagate across every OctantOS instance globally via the mesh layer. All kernel-constrained.

Nothing like this has existed before. That’s what dies if I can’t keep going.

I need stability. A place to live and enough to cover basics for 3 months to get OctantOS investment-ready. An angel willing to back me for that runway. A company that says “come work here, we have a place.” I’ll relocate anywhere, tomorrow, with my dog. Or just advice from someone who’s been here.

I just need someone to take a bet on what this brain can do when it’s not freezing in a tent.

https://github.com/MatrixForgeLabs/OctantOS https://octant-os.com https://gofund.me/f554a86ee

[brettgriffin]

> That’s what dies if I can’t keep going.

Your priorities are completely wrong. You need to redirect the time and energy you're spending on this project towards getting back to stable ground, starting with utilizing the safety nets that your government and community make available to you. You need to find psychiatric care and shelter immediately, and eventually, gainful employment of any kind.

[jamieoglindsey]

Are you sure you read the post.

There are no available services. But even if there were, I don't need psychiatric care. I'm perfectly capable of living normally when I do.tnhve the weight of the world on my shoulders.

As the post makes very clear, I have tried to get assistance for years. The UK is a shambles for helping people ony situation. Because I'm classed as high functioning, I get treated like I'm just wierd.

The government will not help me with Housing or shelter.

The government will not provide care for my mental condition.

I don't need a dead end job or a good job eventually.

I just want to do what I'm very good at.

But it seems most people struggle to comprehend that I just want to be given a chance.

[tacostakohashi]

There are services available. People will help. The help and services may not be what you wish they were. You may elect not to use them for that reason, and that's fine.

Everyone just wants do to what they're very good at. Sometimes, it turns out nobody wants to pay you for that though, so they make the decision to do something else instead that pays better, so they can live somewhere nice, and eat.

[jamieoglindsey]

Not sure you're reading the post.

The services that are supposed to be available are not helping me.

Anyone who actually understands what OctantOS is and what it's true capabilities are would be insane to not want to be involved in bringing it to market.

Maybe most people are happy to settle with a dead end job being depressed for life just to eat.

No thanks. I'd rather focus on making something of myself - even if that means temporarily suffering until someone sees the opportunity I bring.

[rl3]

>>Anyone who actually understands what OctantOS is

Hi.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47411267

Not sure if you saw that since you replied to other comments after. It's easy to miss all the way at the bottom.

There's a few questions at the end, curious how you're holding up. Hopefully you're still able to charge your devices.

[ipaddr]

"I don't need a dead end job or a good job eventually"

What do you actually need?

[tuananh]

with no track record, i would imagine it's hard to ask for sponsorship

[reachableceo]

A few comments…

1. You are supposedly some super intelligent autistic person… but you can’t even properly format the last lines of your post , so someone would have to struggle to copy / paste the link to your websites . That’s going to be a barrier for most people in a competitive landscape for attention.

2. You have only been on hacker news for 40 days. Or at least this account. Interesting. I’m not sure when an account crosses the “new account” threshold and stops being green.

3. No contact information in your profile. If someone wanted to help you , they would want to reach out directly and privately , you don’t give them a way to do that. Again, you’re supposedly some super smart autistic but you failed at a very basic thing.

I say all the above as gently and respectfully as possible. I’m trying to reconcile your supposedly genius level of intelligence with some fairly basic major gaffes.

[jamieoglindsey]

I have to be honest. You're not being helpful at all. In fact you're being quite derogatory towards my condition.

"supposedly some super intelligent autistic person"

That is just an insult. And you said it several times.

Yes I can map out complex systems in my mind when I'm creating them.. that doesn't automatically make me good at everything and at understanding everything.

What are you actually trying to say here? Because to me it seems like to you set out to say I'm somehow pretending to Autistic or faking things based on your findings that I don't have contact information on my profile and that to you the links are some kind of barrier. I mean it's really not difficult to copy and paste the URLs if that's what you want to do.

I really don't appreciate the term "supposedly some super smart autistic" with the assumption that I'm not.

You're very rude and obvs not trying to help.

[Dumblydorr]

That’s a tragic story, sorry to hear it.

There’s a lot of big projects posted these days, hard to find traction. You built it all? or AI coded it and you orchestrated? I think look for IT work and get money for housing until the SWE market improves.

Best of luck to you, it’s a brutal job market in tech right now. Try to find local people and help them with tech, I think there are probably enough huge new projects being made for no one specific and no specific use case.

[jamieoglindsey]

Thanks for the kind words.

To answer your question:

I architect everything. Every system design, every architecture doc, every interface contract, every integration decision. The kernel is a from-scratch Rust kernel. The hypervisor is a clean-room Rust implementation. The security model, the cognitive architecture, the 10-layer enforcement stack. All of that comes from 20 years of building systems and an autistic brain that can hold all of it in memory simultaneously.

I then orchestrate upto 10-12 parallel AI coding sessions, each working on a separate component with strict file ownership and interface contracts defined upfront.

It’s closer to being a lead architect directing a development team than it is to prompting ChatGPT and hoping for the best.

You can’t vibe code a kernel. You can’t vibe code a hypervisor. You can’t vibe code a BPF LSM policy compiler.

These things require deep understanding of what they are and how they connect. The AI types fast under my direction.

I’ve developed a methodology around this: roughly 25% of the codebase is architectural markdown that guides code generation, proto files coordinate between sessions, integration happens between batches.

It’s a disciplined process, not random prompting. Nobody accidentally produces 1.3M lines that compile and pass 3,900+ tests (that's the number of tests for the core project only, not the entire 1.3M LoC)

[kingkongjaffa]

Sorry to hear about your situation.

Have you spoken to https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/ you should be able to get some help and advocacy. And they will help you find accomodation and apply for the benefits you are entitled to.

If you can get a proper diagnosis you can also claim PIP for more support: https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/personal-independence-paym...

You're obviously smart and probably present as high functioning to someone working in the job centre who is not motivated to help you and frankly anything they give you, you will be massively underemployed.

---

I will say something feels off with the project itself just by looking at the stats.

Obviously an LLM is doing the heavy lifting to write 1.3m lines in 4 months, but 3,900+ tests seems an order of magnitude too small to me.

What LLM are you using to generate this much code? Priority 1 right now is to get accomodation, not pay for expensive LLM API costs or subscriptions!

Best of luck!

[jamieoglindsey]

I appreciate the thought, genuinely.

But I have to be honest: I’ve been through Citizens Advice and the benefits system for years. CA is a signposting service that directs you to the same services that have already rejected you. PIP requires a formal diagnosis, which requires years of waiting lists and assessments.

I’ve been fighting this system long before I ended up in a tent. The post explains that the state won’t help, and that’s not an exaggeration or an oversight on my part. I’ve tried.

On the test count: fair point. The 3,900+ is the core workspace (50 crates).

Satellite projects have their own test suites not included in that number. Coverage could be better. That’s part of what stability buys me.

On the LLMs: Claude Code for complex Rust architecture. Codex for pattern-heavy work. Gemini for docs and broad context. Qwen for parallel workloads. All running simultaneously with strict file ownership and pre-defined interface contracts.

But to be direct about what I’m actually looking for: I don’t want benefits. I don’t want PIP. I don’t want permanent support from the state. I want to use my brain, build complex systems, and turn AI research into reality.

What I need is 3 months of runway so I can do exactly that.

[kingkongjaffa]

> What I need is 3 months of runway so I can do exactly that.

I think you need to be more realistic about your priorities right now, you need a job, any job, and a roof over your head mate.

The OS and runway for a start up can wait. This is not an investable proposition for anyone, what happens after 3 months of runway on a vibe coded OS?

Where's the go to market plan, where's the viable business here? I'm not saying none of that exists but you need to put yourself on more stable footing before working on it, otherwise it will remain a pipe dream.

[jamieoglindsey]

It's not vibe code.

Please show me a vibe coded OS containing over 20 separate projects all merging together.

A from scratch kernel, from scratch hypervisor, from scratch everything.

Theres a big difference between systema architecture with AI tooling and vibe coding a little app.

This is not a vibe coded application.

I'm a 40 year old man. If I had the option to go get a job I would.

What would I do with my dog while I'm at a job? Do I leave him in the tent while I go off for 8 hours or more each day?

I'm guessing you don't fully grasp the point I'm aiming for here.

I'm hoping someone will see this and understand that I'm better than a dead end job. My brain is very unique and has the ability to do things others can't.

Honestly, if I could just go out and get a job and a place to live in would not be posting things like this.

[ipaddr]

Try this...

Go beg with your dog until you make enough for a case of water and supplies (marker / board). You sell your water for a dollar until you have made enough for a cooler, ice and more water. You keep selling water daily and move locations until you are making $100 a day. You take the money get an apartment and keep saving.

You take your savings and go to every rust conference / local meetup you can afford to travel to. You write blogs, make connections in the rust community.

If you are lucky someone might use it and write a nice tweet which will get more people to notice. One day someone at a large company will use it and pay you for support.

or

Bring the dog with you job hunting do the 35 hours and get support.

[jamieoglindsey]

I'm not going to beg on the streets tbh. I'm not willing to stoop down to begging on the streets.

I'm not looking to sell water.

I have to be honest, i don't think you understand how real life works.

Your suggestion is to to sell water to make a few pennies and that will get me £2000 for a place to live and allow me to travel the world attending rust conventions.

I'm looking for help, not silly ideas that you saw in a movie once.

Besides anything it's literally illegal to sell food based products (drinks included) here in the UK without a proper license and it could literally land me in court for tax avoidance and all sorts.

Maybe in the US things are different but here in the UK we can't just sit at the side tof he road selling water - it's 5°C out, people don't by water from beggars in the UK.

Surely this is not a serious comment?

[what]

It’s just ~8 lines per minute if you work 24/7 for 4 months. Maybe they don’t sleep.

[jamieoglindsey]

10-12 parallel AI coding sessions running simultaneously.

1.3M lines over 4 months at ~18 hours a day works out to roughly 600 lines per hour total, or about 60 lines per hour per session. One line per minute per session.

The methodology is documented on the repo.

[-1]

I'm going to try to provide what I think is the most practical advice I could give, because I don't think you're being realistic. You are at the bottom of Maslow's hierarchy of needs right now. You need proper shelter, food etc. You need to get yourself above the second level ("safety needs") before spending time on highfalutin efforts like monetizing an OS or trying to get angel investors to swoop in and save you. I think you should try to get a job unrelated to IT (since the job market sucks), perhaps as a tattoo artist since you have experience in that? Get yourself and your dog out of the tent and safe first. Good luck to you.

[jamieoglindsey]

I wish it were that simple.

How do I get a job while homeless? What would I do with my dog while I work 8 hours a day?

I struggle with normal jobs. I can't cope working jobs I dont like doing. It makes me depressed on top everything else.

[-1]

You have some tough choices to make, that's for sure.. I have no experience with this so I might be talking rubbish. But you did say you have tattoo artist experience right? Why not try walking in to a tattoo place and offer your services? If you get the job, THEN you can start thinking about what to do about your dog. They might even be cool about it and let you keep the dog in the shop or just outside.

It makes most people depressed to do a job they don't like, frankly. Do it with a goal in mind - saving funds you might need for marketing your OS, cashing cheques so you can buy food, getting out of the tent.. etc. Accept it as a (hopefully) temporary situation, like a long layover between trips. I think you ought to be more realistic though.

[reachableceo]

Also the only activity on your account is this submission / comments on it.

Not sure if this is some kind of guerrilla marketing / feel bad for me approach to stand out from the crowd or what.

[jamieoglindsey]

What?

This is genuine. This a real life story and the life I'm currently living.

I'm not out here scamming or promoting.. I'm literally asking for a way out of the hell hole I've landed in.

I have zero support from anyone or anywhere and I'm trying to make something of my self and my life.

Have you ever been homeless on the streets?

If you need proof I can happily provide pictures of me in my tent.

[reachableceo]

Why do you have zero support from anyone / anywhere ? What caused you to be in that situation? What happened to family / friends ? How have you made money in the past ? Freelancing I presume ?

I’m just pointing out some things I’ve observed. You didn’t really address them, you skillfully redirected.

[matternous]

Don't post generated comments or AI-edited comments. HN is for conversation between humans.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47340079

[jamieoglindsey]

I'll be absolutely honest.

Sometimes I can come across as rude or arrogant or a bit "in ya face" so sometimes I do ask Claude etc to review and rewrite my posts and comments.

It's the autism creeping out and I think it's better to use AI to rewrite a comment than come across as a d*k unintentionally.

I assume nobody is particularly bothered by an autistic person using AI to make sure he's not a d*k by accident?

It's still my comment, just with the miscommunication removed.

[rl3]

What makes you think anything this person wrote contains generated or AI-edited comments?

That'd be like me assuming you don't have a soul. A rather callous assumption, really. Admittedly one with a better evidentiary foundation than your accusation.

[hilti]

Thank you! Totally agreed.

[jamieoglindsey]

Cheers

[tuananh]

where's the code? i can't see it. https://github.com/MatrixForgeLabs/OctantOS is just some docs.

[jamieoglindsey]

yeah. that's the public facing repo with docs only.

Making it open-source would like of defeat the object here and render it worthless.

A project like this isn't worth much when it gets cloned 1000 times and people start using all my code for free.

The whole point is to create a proprietary software system that will be able to help me make something of my life.

[rl3]

Hey, how are you holding up?

Your GoFundMe is still at $0. Putting myself in your shoes, to say that's probably demoralizing is an understatement.

I noticed that donating requires a real surname that matches the card info provided, which is then available to the organizer. That might be giving people here cold feet since you're a new account; the anonymous donation option just removes the name from public visibility.

Beyond that, having spent the better part of my day yesterday vetting this, I'd say the other items are:

a) Lack of source code that essentially proves you've got it working.

In a nutshell: imagine if the OpenClaw author took your approach, under your circumstances. I highly doubt it would've went anywhere. The way it went however, he ended up joining OpenAI.

Point being: from that same position, he could've instead raised funds no problem. That's the position you could be in if you take the OSS route, and indeed most startups these days begin as open source since proprietary is losing favor rapidly.

That said, myself being a fan of monolithic Rust binaries that do crazy stuff and having authored several professionally to great effect, I know precisely what you're building and indeed some of your competitors in the agentic isolation space are getting large funding rounds right now.

The point there being: you're not wrong that it could work, it's just that from your current position this is by far the riskiest path. With velocity what it is right now, witholding source might not matter all that much; you already have a project architecture description up that makes it easy enough unfortunately.

Please understand I'm not trying to trivialize your work here; I read all of your kernel.org correspondence. Nor am I trying to pressure you in bad faith into something you're not comfortable with. What I'm saying that if you take the OSS route, while you might not necessarily end up a rock star, you open up a hell of a lot of doors you otherwise wouldn't because you have people actually using it and going "Hey, this is pretty cool."

That moves your moat from technical (withholding source) to a social one.

If your project is as good as you say, even if it's alpha quality, there's a chance your project ends up the de-facto agentic isolation choice that people reach for. In the midst of a gold rush, that's an enviable position that might even exceed the best outcome on your current [proprietary] course.

b) A perceived attitude issue. Let me explain: I understand where you're coming from there, and were I an angel I'd personally select for a level of belief that borders on irresponsible and crazy. Most people don't think like that, so: respect.

However, it can come across as you saying you're too good for drudgery, essentially. I get that, you want to use your potential to its fullest and not doing so feels maddening. I had to bite the bullet and get a job in a similar situation that fell just short of total financial ruin, but what made that palatable to my belief system at the time (which was eerily similar to your current one), is this: the job was an instrumental objective in ensuring startup success. It's the same thing.

Regarding dead-end jobs, those might be what you want. If you're accustomed to working 18 hours a day recently, working one for 8 hours to put a roof over your head that has a lot of [safe] downtime—where most people aimlessly scroll on their phone—sounds like it'd work out pretty well for you relative to your current situation.

---

OK, now that I've had my turn at being insufferable and heaping on a bunch of unsolicited advice, some questions:

1. Has anyone reached out privately to help, or is the situation radio silence right now?

2. How is your food security? Shelter isn't doing great right now obviously, but I'm worried things might get truly dire.

3. Do you have any friends that can help? It doesn't sound like family is, given that awful situation you described. You mentioned autism, and having been a family man. I imagine your support network might not be all that great given you're here.

4. What's the status on your AI subs/compute? Putting myself in your shoes again, losing that capability would be terrifying in those circumstances.

---

I'm sorry you're going through this, it's truly heartbreaking. While I don't have angel-level resources and am dealing with my own issues currently, I'll be doing everything in my power to ensure you don't fall through the cracks.

Cheers

[jamieoglindsey]

Hey, I just wanted to stop in briefly to say I will respond to you, I want to respond properly but things have just been tight as expected.

I will come later today and get back to you.

I will say I appreciate you though.