Chat happens in a terminal, where Claude Code's own interface handles questions, plans and long output properly. Nova's job is everything around it: which sessions exist, how to get back into one, and which account you're on.

Requirements

Nova 10 or later (built against Nova 14)
Claude Code installed (~/.local/bin/claude, Homebrew, or a path you set in settings)

Getting started

Open the Claude sidebar (the starburst in the sidebar rail).
If it says Not signed in, click it and choose how to sign in.
Press ⌘⇧L — the launch command is copied to your clipboard.
Open a terminal in Nova and paste it.

That's a normal claude session, in your project directory, with whatever model and permission mode the sidebar shows.

The sidebar

Claude
  Account          [email protected] · Pro
  Model            Opus
  Permissions      Ask each time
Sessions
  ▾ fix the parser bug                    2h ago
      Copy Resume Command
      Copy Resume + Remote Control
      Reveal Session File
  ▸ add a --version flag                  yesterday

Sessions lists this project's conversations, newest first, labelled with their opening prompt. Sessions you started in a terminal appear here too — it is Claude Code's own store (~/.claude/projects/), not a separate list.

Double-click a session to copy its resume command, or expand it for more:

Action	What it copies
Copy Resume Command	`cd <project> && claude --resume <id>`
Copy Resume + Remote Control	The same, plus `--remote-control`
Reveal Session File	(opens the transcript in Finder)

The list refreshes when the section becomes visible, or from the header button.

Why the clipboard?

Nova provides no terminal API to extensions — an extension cannot open a terminal tab or type into one. So the extension prepares the exact command and hands it to you; you paste it wherever you want it, including Nova's own terminal. One paste, and the session is completely ordinary: resumable from any terminal, and drivable with --remote-control.

Commands

Command	Shortcut
New Session…	⌘⇧L
Resume Session…
Refresh Sessions
Copy File Reference for Claude (Editor menu)
Set Model… / Set Permission Mode…
Sign In… / Sign Out / Show Account Status
Set API Key… / Clear Stored API Key

Copy File Reference for Claude puts @path/to/file on the clipboard for pasting into a session — Claude Code resolves @ paths against the project.

Signing in

Authentication is handled by Claude Code itself; the extension never sees your credentials. Sign In offers your Claude subscription, an Anthropic Console account, or opening a terminal to run claude auth login yourself — use that last one for SSO.

You can also store an API key with Set API Key…. It goes in the macOS keychain and is passed to Claude Code as ANTHROPIC_API_KEY.

Settings

Model, effort, permission mode and the claude executable path are set in Extension Settings; Model and Permission Mode can be overridden per project. They are applied to the commands the extension builds, so a launched session matches what the sidebar shows. Additional CLI arguments are appended verbatim.

What's next

The IDE bridge: a Node sidecar that lets the terminal session see Nova — the current selection, open files, and diffs reviewed in the editor rather than as terminal text.

Development

nova extension validate .   # check the bundle (makes network calls)
nova extension activate .   # load it into Nova for development

See CLAUDE.md for architecture and constraints, and docs/features/ for per-feature detail.