Nexus — AI Coding Agent Desktop App

By Eulogik · Free. Local. Open Source. The coding agent that actually builds things.

An AI coding agent that runs on your machine, connects to 300+ LLMs, and actually writes code — not just chat about it. Built with Rust + TypeScript. 100% open source.

Install · Quick Start · What Can Nexus Do? · Features · Architecture · Plugins · Docs

Why Nexus?

Most AI coding tools are expensive cloud services that can't actually execute code. Nexus is different — it runs on your machine, has full file system access, executes shell commands, and manages git branches. All for free.

Feature	Nexus	Claude Code	Cursor	Copilot
Cost	Free by default	$20/mo (Pro)	$20/mo (Pro)	$10/mo
Runs locally	✅ Full desktop app	✅ Terminal	❌ VS Code only	❌ Cloud only
Code execution	✅ Read, write, edit, bash	✅	Limited	❌
Git branching	✅ Branch-per-session	❌	❌	❌
Multi-provider	✅ 300+ models	❌ Claude only	❌	❌
Free models	✅ OpenRouter auto	❌	❌	❌
Plugin system	✅ Sandboxed	❌	Extensions	❌
Micro-models	✅ 0.5B on-device	❌	❌	❌
Prompt compression	✅ 30-60% savings	❌	❌	❌
Offline capable	✅	❌	❌	❌
Open source	✅ MIT	❌	❌	❌

What Can Nexus Do?

Actually Build Things

Nexus doesn't just suggest code — it executes tools to read files, write code, run commands, and manage your project:

You: "Build a Next.js blog with admin panel and SEO"
Nexus: ✓ Creates package.json
       ✓ Creates Next.js config
       ✓ Creates admin page with auth
       ✓ Creates frontend with responsive design
       ✓ Generates SEO meta tags
       ✓ Runs npm install
       ✓ Shows git diff of all changes

Work With Any LLM

Connect to OpenRouter (300+ models, free tier), Anthropic, OpenAI, or Google. Auto-routes to the best free model.

Multi-Turn Agent Loop

Nexus runs up to 50 iterations of: think → use tools → observe results → think again. It can explore your codebase, read files, make edits, run tests, and fix issues — all automatically.

Git-Native Sessions

Every conversation gets its own git branch. Changes are tracked, reversible, and never lose your work.

Screenshots

Chat Interface	Code Execution	Diff Viewer

Quick Start

Option 1: Download Desktop App

⬇️ Download for macOS (Apple Silicon / Intel)

⬇️ Download for Windows

⬇️ Download for Linux (.deb / .AppImage)

Option 2: Build From Source

# Clone
git clone https://github.com/eulogik/nexus.git
cd nexus

# Install
pnpm install

# Run desktop app
pnpm --filter nexus-desktop tauri dev

# Or run CLI
pnpm nexus init
pnexus chat

First Run

Open Nexus → Click "Add Project" → Select a folder
Start chatting: "Build something awesome"
Nexus will create files, run commands, and show you a diff

Free tier works! Nexus auto-routes to free OpenRouter models. No API key needed for basic usage.

Installation

Desktop App (Recommended)

Platform	Method
macOS	`brew install --cask nexus` or download `.dmg` from Releases
Windows	Download `.msi` from Releases
Linux	Download `.deb` or `.AppImage` from Releases
Any	`git clone` + `pnpm --filter nexus-desktop tauri dev`

CLI

# npm
npm install -g nexus

# Homebrew
brew install nexus

# pnpm
pnpm add -g nexus

Features

🤖 Agent Loop (50 Iterations)

Multi-step reasoning with tool use. The agent can explore code, make changes, run tests, and fix issues — all in one request.

🛠️ 7 Built-in Tools

read — Read file contents
write — Create or overwrite files
edit — Surgical text replacement
bash — Execute shell commands
glob — Find files by pattern
grep — Search with regex

🌿 Git Operations

stage_file — Stage changes
unstage_file — Unstage changes
discard_changes — Discard unstaged changes
list_unstaged_files — List modified files

💬 Streaming Chat

Real-time token streaming with markdown rendering, syntax-highlighted code blocks, and tool execution badges.

🔍 Diff Viewer

Full project git diff with color-coded additions/removals, file staging, and discard capabilities.

📊 Cost Tracking

Token usage and estimated cost displayed in real-time.

🔌 Plugin System

Extensible with sandboxed plugins:

Git — 7 tools (status, log, diff, commit, branch, push, pull)
GitHub — 6 tools (PRs, issues, review)
Docker — 6 tools (ps, images, run, stop, logs, build)
MCP — 4 tools (connect, list, call, disconnect)
Test — 4 tools (detect, run, run file, watch)

0.5B Local Micro-Model

Intent classification runs on-device for instant routing.

📦 Prompt Compression

30-60% context savings with content-aware compression.

🖥️ Tauri v2 Desktop

Native macOS/Windows/Linux app with system tray, notifications, and keyboard shortcuts.

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                        Nexus Desktop                            │
│  ┌──────────┐  ┌──────────┐  ┌──────────┐  ┌───────────────┐  │
│  │ Sidebar  │  │  Chat    │  │  Diff    │  │   Settings    │  │
│  │ Sessions │  │  View    │  │  Viewer  │  │   Modal       │  │
│  │ Files    │  │          │  │          │  │               │  │
│  └────┬─────┘  └────┬─────┘  └────┬─────┘  └──────┬────────┘  │
│       └──────────────┴─────────────┴───────────────┘            │
│                         React + Vite                            │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                     Tauri v2 (Rust)                             │
│  ┌────────────┐  ┌────────────┐  ┌────────────────────────┐    │
│  │  Session   │  │  Config    │  │  Bridge Script (Node)  │    │
│  │  Manager   │  │  Manager   │  │  Agent Loop + Tools    │    │
│  └────────────┘  └────────────┘  └────────────────────────┘    │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                     Nexus SDK (TypeScript)                      │
│  ┌────────────┐  ┌────────────┐  ┌────────────────────────┐    │
│  │  LLM API   │  │  Compress  │  │  Micro Model Router    │    │
│  │  (4 prov.) │  │  (30-60%)  │  │  (0.5B local)          │    │
│  └────────────┘  └────────────┘  └────────────────────────┘    │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                     Plugin SDK                                  │
│  ┌────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌────────┐ ┌──────┐ ┌─────────────┐  │
│  │  Git   │ │  GitHub  │ │ Docker │ │ MCP  │ │  Custom     │  │
│  └────────┘ └──────────┘ └────────┘ └──────┘ └─────────────┘  │
│                    isolated-vm sandbox                          │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Monorepo Structure

nexus/
├── packages/
│   ├── nexus-ai/          # Multi-provider LLM API
│   ├── nexus-core/        # Agent runtime
│   ├── nexus-compress/    # Prompt compression
│   ├── nexus-micro/       # Local micro-models
│   ├── nexus-tui/         # Terminal UI
│   └── nexus-plugin-sdk/  # Plugin SDK
├── apps/
│   ├── nexus-desktop/     # Tauri v2 desktop app
│   ├── nexus-cli/         # CLI
│   └── nexus-sdk/         # Programmatic API
├── plugins/
│   ├── nexus-plugin-git/
│   ├── nexus-plugin-github/
│   ├── nexus-plugin-docker/
│   ├── nexus-plugin-mcp/
│   └── nexus-plugin-test/
└── docs/

Performance

Metric	Value
CLI cold start	< 200ms
Compression speed	> 10MB/s
Agent loop	50 iterations
Memory	< 150MB
Binary size	~18MB
Tests	571 passing, 40 files

Project Structure

nexus/
├── apps/nexus-desktop/     # Desktop app (Tauri + React)
│   ├── src/                 # React frontend
│   ├── src-tauri/           # Rust backend
│   │   ├── src/lib.rs       # Main Rust code
│   │   └── icons/           # App icons
│   ├── package.json
│   └── tauri.conf.json
├── apps/nexus-cli/         # CLI tool
├── packages/nexus-core/    # Core SDK
├── packages/nexus-ai/      # LLM providers
├── packages/nexus-compress/ # Compression engine
├── packages/nexus-tui/      # Terminal UI
├── plugins/                 # Official plugins
├── docs/                    # Documentation
├── package.json
├── pnpm-workspace.yaml
└── turbo.json

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology	Why
Frontend	React 19 + Vite + Tailwind	Fast, modern UI
Backend	Rust + Tauri v2	Native performance, small binary
LLM	OpenRouter + custom bridge	300+ models, free tier
State	Zustand (implied)	Lightweight
Testing	Vitest	Fast TypeScript tests
Build	Turborepo + pnpm	Monorepo orchestration
CI	GitHub Actions	Automated testing

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
`⌘K` / `Ctrl+K`	Open command palette
`⌘B` / `Ctrl+B`	Toggle sidebar
`⌘W`	Close file / session
`Esc`	Close modals
`Enter`	Send message
`Shift+Enter`	New line

Links

Releases — See what's new
Projects — What we're building

Release Package

Latest Release: v1.1.0

View on GitHub Releases →

Desktop Downloads:

macOS (Apple Silicon): nexus-desktop-aarch64.dmg (18MB)
macOS (Intel): nexus-desktop-x64.dmg (18MB)
Windows: nexus-desktop-x64.msi (16MB)
Linux: nexus-desktop-amd64.deb / .AppImage (20MB)

# Verify checksums
curl -sL https://github.com/eulogik/nexus/releases/download/v1.1.0/SHASUMS256.txt | sha256sum -c -

# Homebrew
brew install --cask nexus

# Snap (Linux)
sudo snap install nexus

# Cargo
cargo install nexus-desktop

Also available as:

npm package: npm install -g nexus
Docker image: docker pull ghcr.io/eulogik/nexus:latest
Standalone binary: Direct download from releases

Try It Now

# Quick demo (no install)
npx nexus-ai chat "Create a hello world in React"

# Full experience
git clone https://github.com/eulogik/nexus.git
cd nexus && pnpm install && pnpm --filter nexus-desktop tauri dev

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Areas we need help with:

Bug fixes and test coverage
New provider integrations
Plugin development
Documentation translations
Feature requests & feedback

See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

# Development setup
git clone https://github.com/eulogik/nexus.git
cd nexus
pnpm install
pnpm test
pnpm --filter nexus-desktop tauri dev

License

MIT © Eulogik

⭐ Star this repo if you find it helpful!

Report Bug · Request Feature

Made with ❤️ by the Eulogik team

GitHub · Releases

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 23 Commits
.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE		.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE
apps		apps
docs		docs
packages		packages
plugins		plugins
scripts		scripts
test/integration		test/integration
.gitignore		.gitignore
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
README.md		README.md
RELEASE_NOTES.md		RELEASE_NOTES.md
nexus_executable_spec_v1.md		nexus_executable_spec_v1.md
package.json		package.json
pnpm-lock.yaml		pnpm-lock.yaml
pnpm-workspace.yaml		pnpm-workspace.yaml
tsconfig.base.json		tsconfig.base.json
turbo.json		turbo.json
vitest.config.ts		vitest.config.ts

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Nexus — AI Coding Agent Desktop App

By Eulogik · Free. Local. Open Source. The coding agent that actually builds things.

Why Nexus?

What Can Nexus Do?

Actually Build Things

Work With Any LLM

Multi-Turn Agent Loop

Git-Native Sessions

Screenshots

Quick Start

Option 1: Download Desktop App

Option 2: Build From Source

First Run

Installation

Desktop App (Recommended)

CLI

Features

🤖 Agent Loop (50 Iterations)

🛠️ 7 Built-in Tools

🌿 Git Operations

💬 Streaming Chat

🔍 Diff Viewer

📊 Cost Tracking

🔌 Plugin System

0.5B Local Micro-Model

📦 Prompt Compression

🖥️ Tauri v2 Desktop

Architecture

Monorepo Structure

Performance

Project Structure

Tech Stack

Keyboard Shortcuts

Links

Release Package

Latest Release: v1.1.0

Try It Now

Contributing

License

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