What if your operating system was React Native?

Amazon launched Vega OS, a Linux-based operating system for Fire TV devices with React Native built directly into the platform. By embedding React Native as a system library, apps become smaller and launch faster since they share a common runtime instead of bundling it separately. The OS uses Skia for rendering, supports Expo libraries, and keeps JavaScript runtimes pre-loaded with common modules, loading only app-specific code on demand. This architecture mirrors optimization patterns used in gaming consoles and represents a significant engineering achievement, with React Native requiring over 200 engineers at Meta compared to around 15 for core React.