Installation

Install the Nib desktop app or the Nib CLI on macOS, Windows or Linux.

Nib ships as a desktop app and as a command-line tool. Both use the same runtime, so you can install either one, or both. Sessions you start in one are visible in the other when they share a data directory.

Nib 0.1 is a preview. Installers and package names may change before 1.0. If something here doesn't match what you see, check the changelog.

Desktop app

Download the installer from nib.gg/download. Installers are available for macOS. Windows and Linux follow in a later release.

  1. Download Nib-universal.dmg. It is a universal build for Apple silicon and Intel Macs.
  2. Open the disk image and drag Nib to Applications.
  3. Open Terminal and run this once: 
    xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Nib.app
  4. Open Nib from Applications or Spotlight.

The macOS app isn't notarized by Apple yet, so macOS won't open a downloaded copy until its quarantine flag is cleared. Step 3 clears the flag for Nib only, and updates install without it.

Closing the window hides Nib; the Dock icon brings it back. Press ⌘Q to quit.

What the desktop app installs

  • Nib, the native shell. It hosts the workspace UI and handles the menu bar, tray, notifications, deep links and the keychain.
  • nib-daemon, the agent runtime, as a sidecar next to the main executable. The app starts it, health-checks it every 10 seconds, and restarts it if it stops responding. It exits when the app exits.

The desktop app keeps its data in the platform's application data folder. On macOS that is ~/Library/Application Support/gg.nib.desktop/.

CLI

The nib command gives you an interactive terminal UI and a headless mode for scripts.

Available with the first public release.

The CLI stores sessions, file checkpoints and worktrees in ~/.nib by default. Use --data-dir or the NIB_DATA_DIR environment variable to put them elsewhere.

Web app

The web app is at app.nib.gg. Sign in with your Nib account to open your synced sessions and control the daemon on your own computer from a browser. Running sessions in cloud sandboxes, and the phone app, are coming soon.

System requirements

Minimum
macOSmacOS 12 Monterey or later, Apple silicon or Intel
CLImacOS (Apple silicon or Intel), Linux with glibc 2.35 or later (x64 or arm64) and Windows x64

You also need access to at least one model provider, or a local model server.

Optional tools that make the agent better at its job:

  • Git. Needed for worktree isolation, diffs and /review.
  • Language servers. tsc or tsgo for TypeScript, and any stdio language server you have installed, power post-edit diagnostics.
  • bubblewrap (bwrap) on Linux. The sandbox is on by default, and without bwrap Nib runs shell commands unsandboxed, with your full user permissions, and says so when the session starts. Set sandbox.failIfUnavailable: true to refuse them instead. macOS uses the built-in Seatbelt sandbox. See Sandbox.

Updating

The desktop app checks for updates at launch and every 4 hours and asks before installing one. Updates are signed, and the app checks the signature before it installs them. To update the CLI, run its install command again, or update it with the package manager you installed it with.

Uninstalling

  • macOS: quit Nib and move it from Applications to the Trash. To remove everything it stored, also delete:
    • ~/Library/Application Support/gg.nib.desktop/: settings, sessions and the daemon's data (daemon/)
    • ~/Library/Logs/gg.nib.desktop/: logs and crash records
    • ~/Library/Caches/gg.nib.desktop/ and ~/Library/WebKit/gg.nib.desktop/: web view caches
    • ~/Library/LaunchAgents/Nib.plist: only there if you turned on Open at login
  • Windows: use Settings → Apps → Installed apps.
  • Linux: remove the package with your package manager, or delete the AppImage.
  • CLI: delete ~/.nib/bin (shell installer), or uninstall it with the package manager you installed it with. Delete ~/.nib to remove sessions, checkpoints and user settings.

Provider keys saved by the desktop app live in the OS keychain under the service gg.nib.desktop (gg.nib.desktop.dev for builds you made yourself). Remove them from Keychain Access, Credential Manager, or your Secret Service keyring.

Next

Introduction

Nib is one place to work with AI, on any model, tuned to each one.

Quickstart

Start your first Nib session in the desktop app or the terminal.

On this page

Desktop appWhat the desktop app installsCLIWeb appSystem requirementsUpdatingUninstallingNext