Commands

Nova includes a small CLI surface:

• nova help: Show usage
• nova ask [preset...]: Open the Ask AI modal in the running Nova app

nova ask

nova ask is not a standalone AI client.

It must be run inside Nova. Nova sets NOVA_TERMINAL=1 for its child shells; the CLI checks that environment variable.

Examples:

nova ask

nova ask explain this error

If you’re not in Nova, you’ll see:

error: 'nova ask' must be run inside Nova terminal

How It Works

The CLI emits a private OSC sequence that Nova’s terminal parser understands.

Details are documented in OSC Integration.