Install Nodos¶

Three ways to install, most common first: download one file and let it install Nodos for you, run a one-line installer, or drive nodos yourself.

Requirements¶


OS	Windows 10 or later, Linux on x86_64 or aarch64, macOS on Apple silicon.
GPU	A driver supporting Vulkan 1.2.
Windows runtime	Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable. The one-line installer offers to install it.

Additionally, if you intend to build plugins:


CMake	3.24.2 or newer.
Compiler	A C++20-capable toolchain and a CMake generator for it.
git	Used by the `nodos dev` commands and by publishing. The one-line installer offers to fetch it.
Rust	Only if you want to build `nosman` itself from source.

Download and run¶

One file installs Nodos. Download it, run it, and it asks you to accept the Nodos EULA, which bundle you want, and where to put it, before it installs.

Platform	Download
Windows x86_64	nodos.exe
Linux x86_64	nodos
Linux aarch64	nodos
macOS Apple silicon	nodos

On Windows, install the Visual C++ Redistributable first if it is not already present; the wizard does not install it.

On Linux and macOS, mark it executable first:

chmod +x nodos
./nodos

The wizard installs into <home>/Nodos/<bundle>-<version> by default, where <bundle> is the package name after nodos.bundle.. It needs no administrator rights and offers to launch Nodos when it finishes. Outside the folder you choose it writes only to the shared package cache, NACHE, so a plugin two bundles share is downloaded once. The cache is at %ProgramData%\Nodos\NACHE on Windows, ~/Library/Caches/Nodos/NACHE on macOS and ~/.cache/nodos/nache (or $XDG_CACHE_HOME/nodos/nache) on Linux; nodos cache stats shows where it is and its size. Uninstalling is deleting the install folder; the cache stays for other installs.

The same wizard opens from a terminal:

nodos installer

The downloaded file is an installer, not your copy of Nodos

It never updates itself. The nodos inside an installed workspace is the one that keeps that workspace up to date.

The wizard only lists the bundles published for your platform; vs, for instance, is Windows-only and will not appear on Linux or macOS.

Install from the terminal¶

The one-line installers put nodos on your PATH, which the rest of this page assumes, and offer to fetch an engine at the same time.

Windows (PowerShell)Linux and macOS

irm https://nodos.dev/install.ps1 | iex

The script checks for the Visual C++ Redistributable and offers to install it from Microsoft's official redistributable installer. It also offers git through winget — Nodos itself does not need it, so decline if you are not going to build plugins.

curl -fsSL https://nodos.dev/install.sh | bash

The script offers git through whichever package manager it detects on Linux. On macOS, git comes with the Xcode command line tools, so the script does not offer it there. Nodos itself does not need git, so decline if you are not going to build plugins.

Verify:

nodos --version

Running nodos --help prints the command list. Running nodos with no arguments launches the engine installed in the current folder when there is one, and otherwise opens the installer, or prints the nodos get command and exits 1 when there is no display.

Or do it yourself¶

Create a workspace¶

A workspace is a directory that Nodos manages: engine, modules, downloaded packages and generated projects all live inside it. Workspaces are self-contained, so you can keep several side by side at different versions.

mkdir MyNodos
cd MyNodos
nodos init

Nesting and re-initialising

nodos init refuses to create a workspace inside another one. Pass --allow-nested if that is genuinely what you want, or --reinit to reinitialise the current directory.

Fetch an engine¶

nodos get --name nodos.bundle.standard --version 1.4

You must accept the EULA on first run. To accept non-interactively — in CI, for example — use nodos --silently-agree-eula.

Warning

nodos get updates the Nodos release in the workspace, and doing so removes all installed engines in it. Add --clean-modules if you also want modules removed.

Bundles¶

A bundle is an engine plus a preinstalled module set.

Bundle	Contents
`nodos.bundle.minimal`	Engine plus the base packages every other bundle includes: data transfer, variables, and reflection.
`nodos.bundle.standard`	Adds general-purpose nodes over minimal: Vulkan rendering and shader compiling, compositing and image processing, audio, media and webcam I/O, animation, and WebRTC.
`nodos.bundle.broadcast`	Adds broadcast I/O over standard: AJA and DeckLink capture and output, NDI, tracking, and a browser layer (CEF).
`nodos.bundle.vs`	Adds Zero Density virtual-studio nodes over broadcast: cyclorama, lens and camera tracking, keying, media playback and recording, and XR tooling, plus FFmpeg support. Windows only.

Some members exist on Windows only, so what a bundle brings differs by platform; nodos info nodos.bundle.<name> <version> lists what yours gets.

Pick the smallest one that covers your work; anything missing can be installed later with nodos install.

Launch¶

nodos launch

This starts nosLauncher (which hosts the engine and runs graphs) and nosEditor (the UI). If the workspace has several engines installed, you will be asked which to launch, or you can name one:

nodos launch <version>

Manage a running instance with:

nodos engine status
nodos engine restart
nodos engine stop
nodos engine list

Where things end up¶

MyNodos/
├── .nosman/          # workspace index and remote metadata
├── Engine/           # engine installs, one folder per version
├── Module/           # your plugins and subsystems, plus Downloaded/ for fetched ones
├── Package/          # downloaded SDKs and generic packages
├── Toolchain/        # CMake entry point and helpers
└── Project/          # generated CMake project — disposable, regenerate freely

Workspace layout describes each of these in detail.