Nova - AI-Powered Development Assistant

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⚡ Quick Start

npm install -g @compass-ai/nova
nova setup
nova

IDE Integration via ACP (Agent Client Protocol)

Nova can be used as an AI agent server in IDEs that support the Agent Client Protocol (ACP), such as Zed and JetBrains IDEs.

Important: Run nova setup first to configure your API keys and preferences before integrating with any IDE.

Zed IDE

To configure Nova in Zed, open your settings file (zed: open settings) and add the following to your settings.json:

"agent_servers": {
  "Nova": {
    "type": "custom",
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["@compass-ai/nova@latest", "acp"]
  }
}

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🌟 The All-In-One AI Development Platform

Nova is part of the Compass Platform ecosystem — a unified AI development solution:

Platform Component	Description
🖥️ Desktop App	Full GUI experience with rich visualizations
🌐 Web Platform	Access your projects from anywhere
💻 CLI (Nova)	Terminal-first power user experience
💻 Excel Add-In	Transform how your organization works with spreadsheets.

One subscription. Four ways to work. Complete flexibility.

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🚀 Why Nova?

Nova isn't just another AI coding tool. It's built from the ground up for developers who want power without surrendering control.

Stay in flow: No browser tabs, no copy-pasting, no context switching. Describe what you need in plain English and Nova handles the rest — reading files, writing code, running commands, and managing git — all from your terminal.

Feature	Nova	Typical AI Assistants
Multi-Platform	CLI + Desktop + Web	CLI only
LLM Flexibility	Anthropic + Ollama + GLM	Vendor-locked
Context Window	200K tokens	Limited
Approval System	3-tier: Manual/Auto/Strict	All-or-nothing
Codebase Indexing	Automatic semantic search	None or basic
Skills & Agents	Full ecosystem support	Limited
Session Management	Save/load/export/compact	Ephemeral
Cost Tracking	Real-time token & cost stats	None
Privacy	Local-first, GDPR compliant	Cloud-dependent

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✨ Key Differentiators

🔐 Compass Platform Integration

Connect Nova to the Compass Platform with a single API key:

Benefits:

• 🔄 Sync sessions across Desktop, Web, and CLI
• 📊 Unified usage analytics and billing
• 🎯 Centralized agent and skill management
• 🛡️ Enterprise SSO and team management

Learn more: Compass Agentic Platform

🤖 Multi-Model Support

Choose your model based on the task:

• ⚡ Speed → Claude Haiku 4.5 or Ollama for quick iterations
• 💪 Power → Claude Sonnet 4.5 for balanced performance
• 🧠 Reasoning → Claude Opus 4.5 for complex analysis
• 🔧 Alternatives → GLM 4.7, Minimax, Kimi, Gemini

Switch models mid-session with /model — no restart required.

🛠️ Skills & Agents Ecosystem

Nova is fully compatible with the Compass agent ecosystem:

Skills System

Reusable, composable AI capabilities:

skills/
├── code-review/
│   ├── description: "Comprehensive code review"
│   └── actions: [analyze, suggest, report]
├── refactor/
│   ├── description: "Safe code refactoring"
│   └── actions: [identify, plan, execute]
└── test-gen/
    ├── description: "Generate unit tests"
    └── actions: [scan, generate, validate]

Note: For information about the Agent Skills standard, see agentskills.io.

Agents Configuration (agents.md)

Define specialized agents for different tasks:

---
name: security-audit
description: "Security-focused code analysis agent"
model: sonnet-4-20250514
approval-mode: strict
allowed-tools:
  - FileTools(Read)
  - Bash(git:*)
---

Focus on: OWASP Top 10, dependency vulnerabilities, secret detection

Subagents System

Spawn specialized agents for complex tasks:

❯ /agent security-audit
→ Spawns security-focused subagent with strict approval mode

❯ /agent refactor-expert
→ Spawns refactoring specialist with auto-save checkpoints

Check out: Awesome Skills & Agents Repository

🔒 Safety First with Three-Tier Approval

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Manual Mode (Default)                                  │
│  → Review every change before it's applied              │
│                                                         │
│  Auto Mode                                              │
│  → Safe operations auto-approved, risky ones reviewed   │
│                                                         │
│  Strict Mode                                            │
│  → Maximum safety, all ops require explicit approval    │
│                                                         │
│  🔐 Compass Platform users get additional:              │
│  → Team approval workflows                              │
│  → Audit logs for compliance                            │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Built-in safeguards:

• Automatic file backups before every modification
• /undo command to rollback changes instantly
• External modification detection prevents overwrites
• Token usage limits to control costs

🧠 Deep Codebase Understanding

Nova automatically indexes your project with a 200K token context window and understands:

• File relationships and dependencies
• Function calls and imports
• Project structure and architecture
• Semantic code patterns for intelligent search

❯ nova: "Find all files that handle user authentication"

→ auth.service.ts (primary)
→ jwt-utils.ts (utility)
→ middleware/auth.ts (middleware)
→ tests/auth.spec.ts (tests)

💬 Natural Conversations

Describe what you want in plain English. Nova handles the implementation with 20+ built-in tools for file operations, shell commands, and git integration.

❯ "Refactor the authentication module to use JWT tokens"

→ Analyzes current implementation
→ Creates secure JWT-based auth
→ Updates all dependent files
→ Preserves backward compatibility

Your conversation history persists with auto-save, and you can export sessions as Markdown, JSON, or HTML for documentation.

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⌨️ Slash Commands

Stay in flow with quick commands:

Command	Description
/model	Switch models on-the-fly (Opus, Sonnet, Haiku)
/commit	Generate conventional commits from staged changes
/approve	Toggle between Manual, Auto, and Strict modes
/undo	Rollback the last file modification
/compact	Summarize conversation to free up context
/export	Save conversation as Markdown, JSON, or HTML
/tokens	View current session token usage
/cost	Display estimated API costs
/index	Reindex project for semantic search
/agents	Switch to specialized agents

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🎯 Use Cases

Code Refactoring

❯ "Convert this callback-based code to async/await"

Debugging

❯ "I'm getting a null pointer error in checkout.ts line 45"

Security Auditing

❯ /agent security-audit
→ Spawns specialized security agent

Code Understanding

❯ "Explain how the payment processing flow works"

Documentation

❯ "Generate JSDoc comments for all functions in src/utils/"

Git Operations

❯ "Create a commit with a descriptive message for my changes"

Testing

❯ "Write unit tests for the payment processing module"

Custom Agent Workflows

❯ /agent code-review --strict
→ Specialized agent with custom configuration

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📸 Screenshots

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🏆 Why Developers Choose Nova

"Nova's integration with the Compass Platform is seamless. I switch between CLI and Desktop depending on my task, and everything syncs perfectly." — Full-Stack Developer

"The ability to use Ollama for quick tasks and Anthropic for complex reasoning gives me the perfect balance of speed and power." — Senior Engineer at ScaleUp

"The skills ecosystem is a game-changer. I built custom agents for our team's specific workflows." — Tech Lead at Enterprise

"Finally, an AI tool that respects my privacy with local Ollama support while giving me access to top-tier models when needed." — Security-Conscious Developer

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🤝 Contributing & Feedback

Found a bug or have an idea? We use structured GitHub issue templates to keep things organised:

• Report a Bug
• Request a Feature

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🔗 Links

• npm Package
• Compass Platform
• All Issues

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Nova - Built for developers, by developers. Part of the Compass Platform ecosystem.

Date: 2026-01-29

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Co-authored by Nova