Umbrel OS is the operating system of Umbrel Bitcoin and Lightning node. It's based on Raspberry Pi OS (formerly Raspbian) and uses [pi-gen](https://github.com/RPi-Distro/pi-gen) for customization.
1. [Raspberry Pi 4 with 4GB or 8GB RAM](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08C4SK5C3/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B08C4SK5C3&linkCode=as2&tag=umbrel08-20&linkId=d3f17fd4813568c4863d239839311d67)
2. Download the [latest release of Umbrel OS](https://github.com/getumbrel/umbrel-os/releases/latest), or [build the image from source](#-build-umbrel-os-from-source).
3. Use an image flasher such as [Balena Etcher](https://github.com/balena-io/etcher) to flash the image to a microSD card.
4. Put the microSD card in your Raspberry Pi, attach an external SSD or HDD (to USB 3 port), connect the Pi to your router with an ethernet cable.
5. Turn on the Pi and open http://umbrel.local from any device connected to the same network (it might take a while for it to be accessible).
> If you're running Umbrel OS on Bitcoin mainnet (default), the external SSD or HDD should be at least 750 GB in size (we recommend 1 TB+) so it can store the whole Bitcoin blockchain.
-`UMBREL_REPO` - A custom git repo used to download Umbrel. `UMBREL_VERSION` is ignored if this is set, but it is required to also set `UMBREL_BRANCH`.
-`UMBREL_BRANCH` - The git branch or commit SHA in the custom repo that should be checked out.
Other Raspbian-related stuff can be found in [Raspbian's documentation](https://github.com/RPi-Distro/pi-gen/blob/master/README.md) which is still applicable.
> Umbrel is still in an early stage and things are expected to break every now and then. We **DO NOT** recommend running it on mainnet with real money just yet, unless you want to be really *#reckless*.
If you're a developer looking to help but not sure where to begin, check out [these issues](https://github.com/getumbrel/umbrel-os/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3A%22good+first+issue%22) that have specifically been marked as being friendly to new contributors.
If you're looking for a bigger challenge, before opening a pull request please [create an issue](https://github.com/getumbrel/umbrel-os/issues/new/choose) or [join our community chat](https://t.me/getumbrel) to get feedback, discuss the best way to tackle the challenge, and to ensure that there's no duplication of work.
_"Being open source means anyone can independently review the code. If it was closed source, nobody could verify the security. I think it's essential for a program of this nature to be open source." — Satoshi Nakamoto_