The Tebian Handbook

What Tebian Is

Debian + one folder. Delete the folder, you have pure Debian. Keep it, you have a working desktop, server, or both.

Not a fork. Not a rebrand. A script that turns Debian into the OS you actually wanted.

The Law of Zero

Zero bloat. Zero telemetry. Zero friction.

If a process isn't serving the user's goal, it doesn't run.

One Question

No choice paralysis. The installer asks one thing: Desktop or Server?

One ISO, ~1GB, three outcomes: Desktop (Sway + fuzzel + audio), Bare Server (SSH + Debian), Secure Server (SSH + UFW + fail2ban + monitoring).

Why Debian

30+ years of stability. No corporate agenda. The base everything else copies. We don't reinvent — we package what's already best.

The User is Root

Every config is visible. Every script is readable bash. Nothing hidden, nothing locked, nothing phoning home.

If we can't explain why something exists, it doesn't ship.

The Fleet

One config across PC, Raspberry Pi, server, phone. T-Link (Tailscale mesh) connects them. Your OS isn't a machine — it's a fleet.

What We Don't Kill

Tebian respects genuine difference. Alpine (musl, embedded), Tails (amnesic, RAM-only), and Proxmox (datacenter hypervisor) do things Tebian can't. We kill redundancy, not innovation.

Keybinds to Get Started

Sway + fuzzel. A handful of keys gets you everywhere.

Super + Enter

Open a terminal

Super

Open fuzzel — launcher, settings, and search

Super + Shift + Q

Close the focused window

Super + 1…9

Switch workspace

Super + ← ↓ ↑ →

Move focus between windows

Super + F

Fullscreen the focused window

Hold Super on the Minimal feel to peek at the bar. Full cheat-sheet lives in Tebian Protocol.