openSUSE has long been known for its technical excellence, enterprise-grade tools, and robust community. One of its most defining tools, YaST (Yet another Setup Tool), has served as the backbone of openSUSE’s installation and system configuration process for decades. But as the Linux world evolves toward cloud-native, immutable, and automated deployments, the old YaST installer has started to show its age.

Enter Agama—openSUSE’s modern, modular, and web-based installer built for the next generation of Linux systems. And it’s not just new—it’s better.

🧭 What Was YaST?

YaST was both powerful and complex. It could configure nearly every aspect of a system—networking, partitions, services, software, and more. But that power came with trade-offs:

• Outdated UI: YaST relied on Qt (GUI) and ncurses (TUI), both of which felt clunky and unintuitive by today’s standards.
• Monolithic structure: It was a single, tightly-coupled system, making it harder to customize or adapt for new use cases.
• Limited automation: While Autoyast existed for scripted installs, it lacked the API-first flexibility modern infrastructure demands.
• Not cloud-friendly: YaST wasn’t built with containers, immutable systems, or remote installs in mind.

YaST did the job well for traditional systems, but it wasn’t future-proof.

🌱 What Is Agama?

Agama is the new web-based installer framework being developed by the openSUSE and SUSE teams to replace the traditional YaST installer. It’s not a simple rewrite—it’s a complete reimagining, built from the ground up with modern technologies and workflows in mind.

• Written in Rust for safety and performance
• Uses a REST API (D-Installer) to enable automation and flexibility
• Provides a local web interface, usable even from a remote machine
• Designed for modularity, letting developers build custom frontends or backends
• Cloud- and container-aware, optimized for modern workloads

🚀 Why Agama Is Better

✅ 1. Modern Web-Based Interface

Agama ditches the aging Qt/ncurses UI for a clean, intuitive web-based interface. It runs a local web server during install, so you can point your browser—locally or remotely—to configure the system.

• Easier to use on headless machines
• Accessible on phones, tablets, or remote laptops
• Cleaner user experience, no GTK or Qt dependencies

⚙️ 2. Built with Rust

Agama is written in Rust, a language celebrated for:

• Memory safety
• Concurrency support
• Speed and efficiency
• Modern tooling and testing frameworks

This means fewer crashes, faster development, and better long-term security and maintainability.

🧩 3. Modular and API-Driven

Unlike YaST’s monolithic design, Agama is modular and built on a RESTful API (D-Installer). Each part of the installer (partitioning, users, packages) is its own module, making it easier to extend or customize.

• Create custom install flows
• Integrate with automation platforms
• Perform unattended or headless installs with simple API calls

☁️ 4. Cloud-Native and Immutable OS Ready

Agama is designed from day one for modern workloads:

• Supports cloud-init and other automation tools
• Works seamlessly with immutable operating systems like MicroOS and Kalpa
• Tailored for virtual machines, containers, and minimal installs

YaST wasn’t built with these use cases in mind—but Agama thrives in them.

🚧 5. Easier to Maintain and Contribute To

Agama’s codebase, built in Rust and separated by clear module boundaries, is:

• Easier for new contributors to understand
• More maintainable over time
• Faster to evolve and adapt

This sets the stage for a more vibrant, responsive development process compared to YaST’s slower-moving legacy base.

🔁 Side-by-Side Comparison

📌 Try It Out

Grab the most recent build of Agama here:
👉 https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/systemsmanagement:/Agama:/Devel/images/iso/

These development ISOs let you explore the latest Agama features and improvements—perfect for testing, feedback, or just seeing where openSUSE installation is headed.

🖥️ The current build includes install options for:

• Kalpa – openSUSE’s Plasma-focused immutable desktop
• Leap 16 Beta – an early preview of the next Leap generation
• Leap Micro 6.2 Beta – a minimal, container-friendly server OS
• MicroOS – the fully immutable, atomic update desktop/server OS
• Slowroll – a hybrid between Leap and Tumbleweed, offering a stable rolling release
• Tumbleweed – the bleeding-edge rolling release with the latest packages

Whether you’re setting up a workstation, server, or cloud image, Agama has something tailored to your needs.

🎯 Final Thoughts

Agama is more than just a new installer—it’s a future-proof platform for deploying openSUSE systems across a range of environments. With its modern design, modularity, and flexibility, it positions openSUSE as one of the most forward-thinking Linux distributions in the installation experience space.

I’ve been using the Agama installer quite a bit lately, and I very much like it. Even though it isn’t as powerful or feature-complete as the old YaST installer (yet), I think it’s a great step forward for the openSUSE project. It’s simpler, more modern, and easier to use, which makes it a much better experience—especially for new users who might be intimidated by YaST’s depth and complexity.

I recently made a video on YouTube covering Agama v16, where I demonstrate installing Kalpa, the Plasma-based immutable desktop. You can watch it here:

If you’re curious to see Agama in action, it’s a great way to get a real-world look at how it performs and what the new experience feels like.

YaST served well for decades, but the future is clearly Agama.