Debian, minus the week of setup.
Based is Debian 13 with the desktop already picked, installed and themed. Boot the live image, look around, and install it from the desktop if you like what you see. The apps, the login screen and the boot splash all arrive agreeing with each other.
Pick a desktop
Twelve editions. They share the installer, the update path and most of the apps underneath, so the desktop is the real choice you're making.
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Based GNOME
GNOME the way GNOME draws it, with the apps already picked.
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Based Plasma
Plasma 6 on Wayland, with KDE's own apps.
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Based sway
A tiling desktop that's set up before you log in.
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Based SwayFX
Based sway with rounded corners, blur and shadows.
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Based Zorin look
Zorin OS's layouts and themes, on Ubuntu.
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Based Dev on SwayFX
Tiling, plus a developer's toolbox that already works.
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Based Dev on Zorin look
The Zorin look with the developer toolbox.
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Based Chicago95
XFCE in the Windows 95 look, down to the installer.
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Based WhiteSur
A menu bar up top and a dock below.
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SwayOS
sway exactly as Debian ships it, and nothing of ours.
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Omarchy on Debian
Upstream Omarchy, packaged the Debian way.
What every Based edition does
Stays Debian
Packages come from Debian's own archive, or Ubuntu's for the Zorin look, plus the Based repository. Whatever Debian doesn't carry comes through ours, so there's no stranger's apt source on your machine. Docker's own repository on the Dev editions is the one exception.
Updates itself
Once a day it installs the newest Based packages and your base's security updates in the background, then tells you what changed. It never reboots on its own.
Undoes a bad upgrade
Keep btrfs, the installer's default, and a snapshot is taken before every package change. If an update breaks something, start the computer from the snapshot before it in the boot menu.
Boots with Secure Boot on
The image carries Debian's signed shim and GRUB (Ubuntu's, on the Zorin look), so you don't have to turn anything off in the firmware settings first.
Two editions skip all of that on purpose. SwayOS and Omarchy on Debian are the pure ones: stock upstream, with no Based layer on top.
Help
Support covers getting unstuck and finding out which edition you're running. Report a problem is for bugs.