Tools

Nova includes the nova command-line tool for opening files and projects from your shell, which can be installed or uninstalled from the Tools settings. You can also configure the shell environment Nova uses for running Task scripts.

Command Line Tool

Here, you can click Install to install the nova CLI utility to /usr/local/bin/nova. This is a command-line tool you can use to open files or folders in Nova from your terminal, or from a shell script. If the nova CLI tool is already installed, you will instead see an Uninstall button to remove it. The Location field shows you where the tool has been installed.

The nova file added to /usr/local/bin is actually a symlink to the real location of the executable within Nova’s app bundle. Consequently, if Nova.app has been moved since installing the tool, it may need to be reinstalled.

NOTE: Make sure Nova.app is installed in its intended location, such as your /Applications folder, before installing the CLI tool.

Read More:

• Using Nova’s CLI

Environment Variables

Here, you can configure what environment variables Nova uses for the shell environment Task scripts run within.

Automatically request environment from login shell

If enabled, Nova will automatically read the environment variables configured for your login shell. These variables will be checked once upon initially starting Nova. You may need to restart Nova if your shell environment changes.

To help mitigate unintended side effects that may come from starting an interactive shell on behalf of users, Nova uses login shells instead when requesting environment variables.

As a result, variables that are only set by commands or scripts invoked in an interactive shell will not be reflected in Nova. This includes variable modifications made in interactive shell configuration files like .zshrc and .bashrc, which aren’t sourced by login shells.

To ensure that Nova reflects your desired environment variables, you can copy or move the relevant variable modification, command, or script invocation to a startup file that is sourced by a login shell:

• ~/.zprofile or ~/.zlogin for ZSH
• ~/.bash_profile, ~/.bash_login, or ~/.profile for Bash

Custom Global Environment Variables

You can also set custom environment variables specifically for use in Nova. Simply click the + button below the Custom Global Environment Variables field to add an entry to the list, then set both the Variable you wish to assign and the Value you wish to set it to.

NOTE: If you set a custom value for a variable that’s already defined in your shell environment, your custom variable will override it.

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