Nova

Your own team of autonomous, always-on AI teammates.

Every bot gets a continuous thread, its own isolated computer, persistent memory, routines, and full tool connectivity — running on hardware you control.

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🌟 What Nova Is

Nova is a self-hosted, full-stack platform designed to manage and run autonomous AI teammates. Unlike simple chatbot interfaces, each Nova bot acts as a persistent digital worker equipped with execution capabilities, long-term memory, and public service integrations.

• 🤖 One Thread Per Teammate: No tab sprawl or context resets. Each bot maintains an ongoing, contextual working relationship.
• 🖥️ Isolated Sandbox Environment: Bots receive dedicated execution environments with full web browsing, file manipulation, and execution capabilities. You can step in to take control, sign into services, or let the bot run headlessly.
• 🧠 Persistent Long-Term Memory: Preferences, facts, and conversation history persist safely in Postgres across app restarts.
• ⏰ Automated Schedules & Routines: Configure automated wakeups and tasks in plain language (e.g., "Check unread emails and draft summaries every weekday at 9 AM").
• 🔌 Extensive Plugin Ecosystem: Connect to public services (Google Workspace, Slack, GitHub, Linear, WhatsApp, Notion, etc.) with real authentication & webhook handling.
• 🔒 Privacy & Security First: Zero intermediary vendor control plane. Your keys, your data, your database, your infrastructure.
• 📱 Multi-Platform Support: Responsive web application, native Electron desktop app, and mobile companion via Expo.

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⚙️ Architecture & How It Works

   Browser (Vite)      Electron Shell       Expo Mobile App
         └──────────────────┼──────────────────┘
                            │  oRPC over HTTP / Cookie Session (Better Auth)
                            ▼
                    @nova/api  (Hono + Node 22)
                            │                    ┌──────────────────────┐
                enqueue turn │  ◄── LISTEN ────►  │  Postgres (Prisma)   │
                            ▼                    └──────────────────────┘
                    @nova/worker  (Graphile Worker)
                            │  runs turn loop through Pi runtime
                            ▼
                    Sandbox Supervisor  (owns Docker socket / E2B)
                            │
            ┌───────────────┴───────────────┐
            ▼                               ▼
    Docker Container (Local)        E2B Sandbox (Remote)

1. Client Interaction: Clients communicate with the backend via type-safe oRPC contracts over HTTP/WebSocket using secure authentication.
2. Turn Management: The API enqueues turns in Postgres. Background worker processes (Graphile Worker) process tasks asynchronously.
3. Execution Safety: Commands, browser actions, and file modifications execute in sandboxed environments supervised by a private supervisor service.
4. Durable Storage: Conversations, routine schedules, memory vectors, and plugin integrations are durably stored in PostgreSQL.

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🔌 Plugins & Integrations

Nova features a unified plugin framework supporting real-world service connections with official logos and secure OAuth/API-key auth flows.

Plugin Category	Supported Services & Connectors	Capabilities
Messaging & Workspace		Webhook triggers, channel messaging, direct notifications, interactive bot responses.
Google Suite		Email reading & drafting, calendar scheduling, event reminders, document search.
Developer Tools		PR reviews, issue management, commit tracking, ticket status updates.
Productivity & Docs		Live web search, document parsing, workspace knowledge base management.

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🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Node.js: 22.0 or higher
• pnpm: 9.x
• Docker Desktop: Running locally (for Postgres & Sandbox containers)

Setup Steps

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/Henilt31/nova.git
   cd nova

2. Configure Environment Variables:

   cp .env.example .env

   Generate long random strings for BETTER_AUTH_SECRET and ENCRYPTION_KEY inside .env.

3. Initialize Database & Services:

   docker compose -f infra/compose/docker-compose.yml up postgres -d
   pnpm install
   pnpm db:generate
   pnpm db:migrate
   pnpm sandbox:build

4. Start Development Stack:

   pnpm dev

   Open http://127.0.0.1:5173 in your browser to start using Nova.

(On Windows, you can also launch the full stack instantly by executing scripts/start-nova.cmd)

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📱 Desktop & Mobile Applications

• Desktop (Electron):

  pnpm --filter @nova/desktop dev     # Run desktop application
  pnpm --filter @nova/desktop pack    # Build installer packages

• Mobile (Expo):

  pnpm --filter @nova/mobile start    # Launch Expo dev server

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🔒 Security & Confidentiality

Nova is designed for complete privacy and local sovereignty:

• All sensitive tokens, API keys, .env files, database credentials, and session secrets are strictly ignored by .gitignore.
• Authentication secrets use industrial-grade encryption (Better Auth + AES-256 key encryption).
• All command executions occur inside non-privileged sandboxed containers.

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🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read CONTRIBUTING.md before submitting pull requests.

pnpm lint        # Run Biome linter
pnpm check       # Check TypeScript types
pnpm verify:fast # Run unit & integration tests

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📜 License

Distributed under the Apache 2.0 License.

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Built and maintained by Henil Thakkar