Installation

Pick the channel that matches your environment. Every channel produces the same nexo binary; the differences are in how it gets onto your machine and which dependencies come bundled.

Channel matrix

Channel	When to pick it	Time to first run	Needs Rust?
Pre-built binary — Linux/macOS (`install.sh`)	Just want `nexo` on PATH, fast	~10 s	No
Pre-built binary — Windows (`install.ps1`)	Native Windows, PowerShell	~10 s	No
crates.io (`cargo install nexo-rs`)	You already have a Rust toolchain	~3-5 min build	Yes
Debian / Ubuntu (`.deb`)	systemd host, `apt` integration	~10 s	No
Fedora / RHEL / Rocky (`.rpm`)	systemd host, `dnf` integration	~10 s	No
Termux (`.deb`, aarch64)	Phone-hosted personal agent	~10 s	No
Docker (GHCR)	Production, CI, "just works" + bundled Chrome/ffmpeg/…	~30 s	No
Nix flake	NixOS, reproducible dev shell	~3-5 min cold	(Nix)
Native (no Docker), from source	Track `main`, full control	~10-15 min	Yes

Quickest path — pre-built binary

Linux / macOS (also Windows from Git Bash):

curl -fsSL https://lordmacu.github.io/nexo-rs/install.sh | bash

Windows (PowerShell):

irm https://lordmacu.github.io/nexo-rs/install.ps1 | iex

Detects your OS + arch (Linux x86_64 / aarch64 static-musl, macOS Intel / Apple Silicon, Windows x86_64-MSVC), downloads the matching release artifact from GitHub Releases, verifies its sha256, drops nexo (nexo.exe on Windows) onto your PATH, then installs the bundled channel plugins + a persona. Falls back to cargo install nexo-rs → cargo install --git if there's no pre-built binary for your platform. Every release artifact is cosign-signed.

Then:

nexo                 # boots the daemon — zero config required

Windows users: download the .zip from Releases, or run the installer under WSL (it then sees Linux).

From crates.io

If you already have a Rust toolchain:

cargo install nexo-rs

Builds + installs the nexo binary into $CARGO_HOME/bin. The whole nexo-* workspace ships to crates.io, so this resolves cleanly without a git checkout.

From source

For contributors and operators who want to track main directly:

git clone https://github.com/lordmacu/nexo-rs
cd nexo-rs
cargo build --release --bin nexo
./target/release/nexo --help

The workspace compiles ~45 crates and produces the nexo binary plus two example smoke-test bins (integration-browser-check, llm_smoke). Toolchain is pinned to Rust 1.80 (MSRV) via rust-toolchain.toml — no manual channel selection needed. For faster iterative builds use cargo build --profile release-fast (same opt-level, no LTO, ~50 % quicker).

Prerequisites

Rust 1.80+ (rustup recommended)
NATS is optional — the daemon defaults to broker.type: local (an in-process stdio bridge, no external server). Run a NATS server only for multi-host clusters:
```
docker run -p 4222:4222 nats:2.10-alpine
nexo set-broker nats --url nats://localhost:4222
```
See broker shapes / broker.yaml.
Git (the memory subsystem uses per-agent workspace-git)
Chrome / Chromium (only if you plan to use the browser plugin)

Verification

./target/release/nexo --version
cargo test --workspace --lib

nexo --version prints the build provenance line (commit + build timestamp) so a bug report carries enough context to reproduce.

Bootstrap script

For native or Termux installs, ./scripts/bootstrap.sh automates the whole process — installs the system deps, downloads NATS if not present, scaffolds config/, and runs the setup wizard.

./scripts/bootstrap.sh           # interactive
./scripts/bootstrap.sh --yes     # accept all defaults

The script auto-detects Termux ($PREFIX set) and switches to pkg install + broker.type: local so you don't need root or NATS on a phone.

Next steps

Quick start — first agent running in five minutes
Setup wizard — pair channels and wire secrets
Docker — compose stack, secrets, GHCR pulls
Nix flake — nix run, dev shell
Native install — detailed no-Docker setup
Termux install — phone-hosted personal agent

Nexo-rs