System requirements
glibc 2.17+ or musl
Apple Silicon or Intel
x86-64; MSVC 2022 toolchain
Clang 17+ or MSVC 2022
Installation
Download the installer script
The installer downloads a pre-built binary, verifies the checksum, and places nova in ~/.local/bin.
curl -fsSL https://nv-lang.org/install.sh | shOr download a release tarball and unpack manually.
Add to PATH
If ~/.local/bin is not already on your PATH, add it to your shell profile:
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrcFor Zsh use ~/.zshrc instead.
Verify
nova --versionExpected output
nova 0.1.0-bootstrap (2026-05-18)
Install via Homebrew
brew tap nv-lang/nova
brew install novaOr use the installer script:
curl -fsSL https://nv-lang.org/install.sh | shVerify
nova --versionExpected output
nova 0.1.0-bootstrap (2026-05-18)
Install via winget
winget install NvLang.NovaOr download the .msi installer from the GitHub Releases page.
Verify (PowerShell)
nova --versionExpected output
nova 0.1.0-bootstrap (2026-05-18)
Prerequisites
Install Rust (stable, 1.78+) and Clang 17+ (or MSVC 2022 on Windows).
rustup update stableClone and build
git clone https://github.com/nv-lang/nova
cd nova/compiler-codegen
cargo build --releaseThe compiler binary lands at target/release/nova-codegen. Add it to your PATH or symlink it as nova.
Run the test suite (optional)
cargo test --libExpect ~300 tests to pass. One known-failing test (fn_static_method) is a pre-existing WIP.
Your first Nova program
Create a file called hello.nv:
module hello
fn main() {
println("Hello, Nova!")
}Compile and run:
nova run hello.nvOutput
Hello, Nova!
Effects in 30 seconds
Nova requires every side effect to be declared in the function signature. The compiler verifies that no undeclared effects are performed — at compile time, not at runtime.
// Effects appear between parameters and return type.
// Io means this function may perform I/O.
// The compiler rejects calls to Io functions from non-Io contexts.
fn greet(name str) Io -> () {
println("Hello, ${name}!")
}
fn main() {
greet("Nova")
}Effects appear between parameters and the return type. The compiler verifies statically that every effect is declared — no hidden I/O, no surprise failures.