Install Nookins

Before you begin

Use Linux x86_64 with glibc 2.39+, a terminal, and a new home directory. The current public installer does not establish support for macOS, native Windows, or a public OCI distribution. Provider access and sign-in are separate; downloading Nookins does not include model access.

Check your system:

uname -m
ldd --version

Expect x86_64 and glibc 2.39 or later. Do not use the installer on an unsupported system just because the script downloads successfully.

Download and install

Public alpha 0.42.1-alpha.1 · Linux x86_64 · glibc 2.39+

export NOOKINS_HOME="$HOME/.nookins-new"
curl -fsS https://nookins.app/install.sh -o install-nookins.sh
# Review the downloaded script before running it.
bash install-nookins.sh --home "$NOOKINS_HOME"

Choose a directory that does not exist yet. Keep an existing Nookins home for updates; keep an existing Ward home intact.

The NOOKINS_HOME variable in these guides selects the installation you mean to use. Keep the same value in every terminal. Do not rename a Ward directory, point Nookins at it, or remove ownership records to bypass a refusal.

For inspection: install script · release archive · SHA-256 checksum.

The initial installer is trusted through HTTPS. Checksums detect file changes; the installer verifies the signed release feed before installing the runtime, and updates use that release trust. A successful download alone is not a completed installation.

The current application installer includes defaults, the operator interface, and documentation. Workspace tools are downloaded when enabled execution or document tools need them, then reused across updates. The installer leaves the service stopped for onboarding.

Initialize a text-only trial

After installation succeeds:

"$NOOKINS_HOME/bin/nookins" --version
"$NOOKINS_HOME/bin/nookins" onboard --no-tui --sentinel not-now

This initializes configuration without starting the service or signing in. Keep all messaging accounts disabled in config/channels.yaml. In config/nookins.yaml, set speech.text_to_speech: disabled for a text-only trial. Keep Sentinel disabled until you choose its attention behavior.

Leave generated keys in secrets.env intact; Nookins reads that file itself. Do not post it in a support report.

With the service still stopped, validate and review the configuration before applying it:

"$NOOKINS_HOME/bin/nookins" config validate
"$NOOKINS_HOME/bin/nookins" config apply --offline --dry-run
"$NOOKINS_HOME/bin/nookins" config apply --offline

Confirm the intended agents and disabled messaging accounts in the dry run before applying.

Next: your first reply

Install the managed Codex client, sign in, and talk to your Nookin locally.

If installation refuses or is interrupted, preserve the command output and operation files. Follow the reported recovery instructions before retrying. Troubleshooting explains what to collect.