Nova Editor

The last-mile visual editor for AI-generated web apps. Browser-based, Git-native, no lock-in.

AI tools (Bolt, Lovable, v0, Cursor…) generate ~90% of an app from a prompt. Nova is where you do the final 10% by hand — click an element, tweak its layout, color, and copy on a live canvas, and push clean code back to your repo. No tokens spent on micro-tweaks, nothing to install, your Git stays the source of truth.

🟢 Alpha. Actively developed — expect rough edges, and please send feedback.

What it does

• Visual editing on real code — click any element, edit layout / spacing / typography / color in a Webflow-grade inspector. Edits round-trip to your source (Tailwind utility classes or inline styles).
• Bi-directional sync — a built-in Monaco code editor stays in lock-step with the canvas. Edit either side.
• Bring-your-own-AI assistant — an agentic helper that reads and edits your files, with your own key for any provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI, DeepSeek, Mistral, Groq, OpenRouter, or a custom model).
• Run it live — boot the real app in the browser (WebContainers), or run it on your own machine with the optional local-runner agent (npx @novaeditor/runner) for full Node + real git. Either way, click-to-edit it as it runs.
• Git-native — import a public repo or a full clone, edit, review a clean diff, then commit, push, or open a PR. Triggers your existing Vercel/Netlify deploy.
• Sync & collaborate (paid) — Pro backs up and syncs your projects across devices; Studio adds real-time editor collaboration with role-based access. Free stays fully local.

Privacy

Local-first by default. Your GitHub token and AI keys are encrypted and never reach a Nova server — they stay in your browser, or go straight to your own machine (the local agent, over 127.0.0.1) or to GitHub directly. On the free plan your projects stay on-device too; cloud sync is an opt-in paid feature (Pro/Studio), and only then does project data sync to Nova's cloud.

Run it

npm install
npm run dev

Open http://localhost:3000 (this repo's dev preview uses 3011).

Requirements: Node 18+. Folder storage and the live Run mode use the File System Access API + WebContainers, which need a Chromium browser (Chrome, Edge, Arc).

Configuration

Nova runs with zero config for local, on-device use. The cloud features (auth, sync, billing) need the environment variables below — set them in .env.local, or in your host's env for a deploy. Copy .env.example to start. Every NEXT_PUBLIC_* value is safe in the browser; everything else is server-only.

Supabase — auth (magic link) + cloud project sync. Apply supabase/schema.sql to your project.

• NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_URL, NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY — client.
• SUPABASE_SERVICE_ROLE_KEY — server only; bypasses RLS, never expose to clients.

Stripe — Pro/Studio billing. Keys and prices must all be the same mode (test or live), and the Price IDs are recurring prices (price_…, not prod_…).

• STRIPE_SECRET_KEY, STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET — server only.
• STRIPE_PRO_PRICE_ID, STRIPE_STUDIO_PRICE_ID — the Pro/Studio Price IDs.
• NEXT_PUBLIC_STRIPE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY — client flag that turns the billing UI on.
• Point a Stripe webhook at /api/stripe/webhook for checkout.session.completed and customer.subscription.created|updated|deleted.

Tech

Next.js 14 (App Router) · TypeScript · Tailwind · Zustand · Monaco · Babel (@babel/parser) + parse5 for round-tripping · esbuild-wasm + esm.sh for the in-browser component bundler · WebContainers for the live runtime · Supabase for auth/sync · Stripe for billing · the GitHub REST API (plus the optional local agent's real git) for clone/commit/PR.

Documentation

Full guides live in /docs (and in-app at /docs): getting started, importing, visual & code editing, the AI assistant, running live, publishing, and an FAQ. The local-runner agent has its own README.

Status & roadmap

Working today: import (GitHub / folder / paste / clone), visual + code editing, the streaming AI assistant (BYOK or on-device), live run (in-browser or local agent) + click-to-edit, GitHub OAuth + publish (REST or real git), cloud sync (Pro), and editor collaboration (Studio). On the roadmap: managed Nova AI tiers and broader framework coverage.