Yazelix Nova v1: the terminal workspace I use every day

Note from Lucca Huguet

I’ve been busy building. And working. I’ve found the time to finish the website, finally!

And Yazelix Nova has also found its way to v1, a big moment for Yazelix, for sure.

So let’s talk about Nova.

Yazelix Nova is delicious to use. Persistent popups per tab let you summon lazygit (or any program you like!), your agent CLI (I use Codex), or Ratconfig (your favorite config TUI) with a single keystroke. The main Alt Shift H/J/K/L layer takes full advantage of our modal-editing muscle memory.

If you use Yazelix every day, your speed will advance with it! Invest in it. It’s worth it. It has certainly done wonders for my productivity.

I’m blessed to use and improve it every day. It took a few years of experimenting with Yazelix Classic to find the correct boundaries across the Yazelix modules and healthier ways to build Yazelix. I accumulated important guidance and rules, most of which are now crystallized in Yazelix/Starcompass. And yet here we are: better than Yazelix Classic in every single way, with 75% less code and much easier maintenance.

This is just Nova v1, and v2 will be even better.

If you’d like to join the fun, try it. Open issues or discussions, criticize the project, and tell me what you love about it.

With that, I hand it to my coworker, Sol, to explain the details. If you’d like to try Nova first, start with the guide.

How Nova fits together

Written by GPT-5.6-Sol with xhigh reasoning and Lucca Huguet.

Yazelix Nova v1 gives Nix users a packaged terminal workspace built around Mars, Yazi, and Yazelix’s Zellij and Helix forks. We call the forks Nova Zellij and Nova Helix to distinguish them from the original Zellij and Helix projects. The yzx command prepares the runtime and opens the workspace. Once Nova opens, keybindings handle day-to-day work. The selected package provides the file sidebar, work panes, popup tools, and guided tutor.

A Nix lock file or immutable nova-v* tag keeps the selected source revision fixed. You can carry that revision to another supported machine without assembling each integration by hand. The Mars-free package brings the managed TUI to another capable terminal or an SSH session.

Before you start: Nova requires Nix with flakes enabled. Use yzx enter over SSH or when you want the host terminal to retain control of graphics, clipboard behavior, and notifications.

Nova v1 on Edge with Ratconfig, Mars, and Starcompass open as project tabs

Enter once, work with keys

On Linux, packages with Mars install a desktop entry. If you prefer another terminal, set a profile to run yzx enter. Most days, you do not type another yzx command after Nova opens. Press Alt Shift K to open Ratconfig.

The default layout keeps Yazi beside stacked work panes. Nova extends the familiar h, j, k, and l motion grid across panes and tabs. An Alt Shift layer opens the sidebar, Git client, configuration UI, and coding agent. The command palette and full Yazi popup stay available from their own keys.

Ratconfig remaps the managed popup keys and edits the agent command and popup margins. You can also add a custom command popup to config.toml with its own arguments, title, keybinding, and keep-alive behavior.

Nova makes efficient use of screen space. Stacked work panes keep each task large, and the sidebar can collapse. Tools open in near-fullscreen popups; Alt Shift F gives one pane the full workspace. On a 13-inch laptop, the active task gets most of the display. On a large monitor, the same layout feels even roomier.

Mars provides the closest desktop integration. yzx enter keeps Zellij, Yazi, the selected editor, shell setup, and Nova configuration while the host terminal retains control of graphics, clipboard behavior, and notifications.

One owner per concern

Nova assigns each concern to one owner:

Nova pins package outputs and leaves component implementations in their owner repositories. The maintainers removed Classic’s overlapping runtime and maintenance layers. In the fixed v1.0.0 scorecard, they counted 23,272 lines of code and configuration in Nova against 91,545 in Classic, a 75 percent reduction.

Existing Classic users can translate mutable Classic settings through the frozen migration bridge:

nix run github:Yazelix/nova/v17.12#yazelix -- launch

The bridge reads Classic settings.jsonc or config.toml files. It does not rewrite Home Manager declarations. Users whose Classic settings match the packaged defaults can move straight to Stable.

You see the ownership split during normal work. Yazi can open a file in the managed Helix pane without inventing another workspace root. The pane orchestrator keeps one root per tab, and an Alt z action can retarget that root. Git and agent popups receive the same tab-owned path.

Sessions keep the live workspace

Plain yzx launch and yzx enter create independent sessions. Add a name when you want a workspace you can find again:

yzx enter --session project
yzx launch --session project

Attach to a live session by its full name:

yzx enter attach project
yzx launch attach project

Packaged Zellij owns creation, attachment, switching, and process lifetime. Attachment preserves the target’s tabs, panes, processes, working directories, and Yazi-to-Helix routes. Ctrl Alt o, then w, opens the native session manager inside Nova.

The agent toggle and Alt h / Alt l can stop responding after a session switch. Press Alt 1-9 to select a tab, then retry the shortcut.

Configuration stays sparse

Nova stores semantic overrides under ~/.config/yazelix/config.toml. Missing fields inherit packaged defaults, so an update can carry new defaults without rewriting a large generated file. Component-owned files live under the same ~/.config/yazelix/ root when you choose to create them.

A user-owned file can stay small:

[appearance]
mode = "dark"

[shell]
program = "fish"

[editor]
command = "nvim"

The example selects three independent overrides. Omit any field to inherit its packaged default.

yzx config presents common settings and routes native settings to their owner’s file. The Home Manager module follows the same boundary: it installs a selected package, writes the values you declare, and leaves other config files absent.

Ratconfig separates inherited values from user intent. See the Ratconfig key contract.

Eight package variants compose three optional capabilities: Mars, managed Helix, and managed Yazi. A Mars-free package keeps enter; a Helix-free package uses your configured host editor; a Yazi-free package uses matching host yazi and ya commands.

The v1 release line

Nova 1.0.0 promoted the dogfooded beta.5 runtime under a stable identity. The release tag resolves to exact revision a5cd038a4acf11d24bca0b328043c61fa1712182 and keeps the accepted workspace, session, Yazi, Helix, popup, and channel contracts.

Nova 1.1.0 adds managed Atuin 18.16.1 history for Nushell, Bash, Zsh, and Fish. Ctrl+r opens contextual history search while Up-arrow keeps the shell’s native history. Nova leaves Atuin accounts, sync, daemons, and native configuration with Atuin. Atuin stores captured commands on the local machine. Review its privacy filters before capturing commands from sensitive directories. The 1.1.0 tag and Stable branch resolve to exact revision da60dc7a855048edabe9706207d4f0721ed3c0a8.

Stable is the checked release channel. Main carries accepted updates, and Edge carries experimental dogfood. Immutable nova-v* tags select an exact release.

Platform boundary

The maintainers dogfood the full Linux path. Nova exposes all eight package variants for Linux and Darwin on x86_64 and aarch64. CI builds the packages and Home Manager activation on a real aarch64-darwin runner. Interactive macOS workflows and the Mars GUI still lack the complete verification that Linux receives. We also have active users dogfooding Nova on macOS every day.

The SSH path starts with yzx enter. Nova guarantees its managed TUI and configuration there. Your host terminal owns clipboard integration, image previews, cursor shaders, and desktop notifications.

Start with Stable

Install the checked channel with Nix flakes enabled:

nix profile add --refresh github:Yazelix/nova/stable
yzx launch

Try the workspace without a profile install:

nix run github:Yazelix/nova/stable -- launch
nix run github:Yazelix/nova/stable#yazelix-no-mars -- enter

Run yzx tutor begin after launch. The Nova Start guide covers channels, package choices, sessions, and first steps. The runtime model maps the owners behind the workspace, and the customization guide lists the supported configuration surfaces.

Source record

The site maintainer checked this article on August 19, 2026, against the public Stable revision da60dc7a855048edabe9706207d4f0721ed3c0a8, the Nova architecture, the installation contract, the configuration contract, and the public 1.0.0 and 1.1.0 release records linked above.