The discussion centers on whether to adopt AR glasses, with users split between those viewing them as useful display devices or privacy risks versus those fearing inevitable corporate surveillance and social intrusion. Strong disagreement exists over the inevitability of ad-driven degradation and hardware lock-downs, contrasting with hopes for open-source alternatives and personal utility.
180 readable replies · Supporting reply 1 · Supporting reply 2 · Supporting reply 3 · Supporting reply 4Mentra-Community
MentraOS
TypeScript2025–2025
Mentra-Community / MentraOS
MentraOS
MentraOS is the leading smart glasses OS. See live captions, stream your view, talk to AI, and capture photos hands-free on compatible glasses.
3Distinct people
7Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
2.4KGitHub stars
What to know before exploring
What it is
MentraOS is the leading smart glasses OS. See live captions, stream your view, talk to AI, and capture photos hands-free on compatible glasses.
GitHub
Where it is used
No documented product use has been verified yet.
What people are saying
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Also in these discussions
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This week on Hacker News
Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 5:04:57 PM UTC.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by 3-hour interval7 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2025-09-05 16:25:48 UTC to 2025-09-07 01:11:47 UTC.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 5, 15:00 | 2025-09-05 15:00:00 UTC | 2025-09-05 18:00:00 UTC | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Sep 5, 18:00 | 2025-09-05 18:00:00 UTC | 2025-09-05 21:00:00 UTC | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Sep 5, 21:00 | 2025-09-05 21:00:00 UTC | 2025-09-06 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Sep 6, 00:00 | 2025-09-06 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-09-06 03:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 6, 03:00 | 2025-09-06 03:00:00 UTC | 2025-09-06 06:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 6, 06:00 | 2025-09-06 06:00:00 UTC | 2025-09-06 09:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 6, 09:00 | 2025-09-06 09:00:00 UTC | 2025-09-06 12:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 6, 12:00 | 2025-09-06 12:00:00 UTC | 2025-09-06 15:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 6, 15:00 | 2025-09-06 15:00:00 UTC | 2025-09-06 18:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 6, 18:00 | 2025-09-06 18:00:00 UTC | 2025-09-06 21:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 6, 21:00 | 2025-09-06 21:00:00 UTC | 2025-09-07 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 7, 00:00 | 2025-09-07 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-09-07 03:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
What Hacker News says
7 sourcesALalex1115alex·Sep 7, 2025
It has always been possible, we've even seen someone in our Discord host it directly on their phone using Termux:
https://github.com/Mentra-Community/MentraOS/tree/main/cloud
In MentraOS – open-source Smart glasses OSMentraOS is a cloud OS (there doesn't exist a good way to build this on the edge, we've tried). Users don't need our cloud service, however, as it can be self-hosted:
https://github.com/Mentra-Community/MentraOS/tree/main/cloud
https://cloud-docs.mentra.glass/
In MentraOS – open-source Smart glasses OSAOSP (or even a minimal fork) is way too heavy to be running on the glasses. It looks like the firmware is quite minimal and the "OS" is the app.
https://github.com/Mentra-Community/MentraOS/tree/main/mcu_c...
In MentraOS – open-source Smart glasses OSIt's all open-source:
https://github.com/Mentra-Community/MentraOS
In MentraOS – open-source Smart glasses OSHey, thanks for commenting, but this isn't true. You can check out our glasses compatibility list here:
https://github.com/Mentra-Community/MentraOS/blob/main/glass...
We're also looking to support the Brilliant Labs Halo glasses once they release later this year.
Regarding Ray-Bans: We'd love to support those, but the Ray-Bans are extremely locked down. Nobody has found a jailbreak yet. We're always open to support more glasses provided they're all-day wearable and have an SDK.
In MentraOS – open-source Smart glasses OSThe "Even Realities G1" and "Vuzix Z100" options listed in the compatibility doc look interesting.
https://github.com/Mentra-Community/MentraOS/blob/main/glass...
https://www.evenrealities.com/g1
https://www.vuzix.com/products/z100-smart-glasses
In MentraOS – open-source Smart glasses OSMentraOS – open-source Smart glasses OS
206 points · Open discussion