Nio v0.1.258

Nio v0.1.258

Nio now keeps working after it launches a desktop app, instead of waiting for
you to close the app's window.

What changed

• Desktop apps no longer hold up a task. When the model started a desktop
  app with a command that never exits, for example npx tauri dev, Nio waited
  up to five minutes, or until you closed the window, before carrying on. Nio
  now notices once the app has opened a window. It says so ("opened a desktop
  window; it keeps running while the task continues") and moves on. The app
  stays open for you to try, and Nio asks you to check the window, since it
  can't see it. This works for any app, such as Tauri, Electron or a plain
  .exe, on Windows and macOS, and on Linux when wmctrl is installed.

Install

Windows PowerShell:

powershell -c "irm https://github.com/luisMan/Nio/releases/download/v0.1.258/nio-installer.ps1 | iex"

macOS and Linux:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/luisMan/Nio/releases/download/v0.1.258/nio-installer.sh | sh

If you have v0.1.195 or later, Nio offers this update when it starts, or
run nio update.

Downloads

• Windows x64 MSI
• Windows x64 portable ZIP
• macOS Apple Silicon
• Linux x64
• VS Code extension 0.1.258

Each native archive and the MSI include a SHA-256 sidecar. Publishing this
release does not reset account token limits.

Nio v0.1.257

Nio v0.1.257

Your account page on nioai.run is now a proper account console. Nio also no
longer stalls a task when a model starts a server without running it in the
background.

What changed

• A new account page. After you sign in, your account opens as a console
  with a section menu: Overview, Plan & billing, CLI & API keys, Security,
  Data & learning, and Delete account. Plans are listed side by side with
  your current one marked, a new key has a Copy button, and messages such
  as a wrong password now show up on the page. On a phone, the menu becomes
  a row of tabs.
• Key and account changes ask for your password. Generating or rotating
  a key and deleting your account now ask for your current password, plus
  your authenticator code if two-factor sign-in is on.
• Servers started without background no longer hold up a task. When the
  model started a server with a plain command, for example
  .\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m uvicorn, Nio could wait the full five
  minutes for it. Nio now treats a program named by its path as that
  program, recognizes a server once its address or port answers, counts any
  answer below 500 (a 404 on / included) as ready, and says when a wait
  ends without a result.

Install

Windows PowerShell:

powershell -c "irm https://github.com/luisMan/Nio/releases/download/v0.1.257/nio-installer.ps1 | iex"

macOS and Linux:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/luisMan/Nio/releases/download/v0.1.257/nio-installer.sh | sh

If you have v0.1.195 or later, Nio offers this update when it starts, or
run nio update.

Downloads

• Windows x64 MSI
• Windows x64 portable ZIP
• macOS Apple Silicon
• Linux x64
• VS Code extension 0.1.257

Each native archive and the MSI include a SHA-256 sidecar. Publishing this
release does not reset account token limits.

Nio v0.1.256

Nio v0.1.256

Nio can now split a large task into independent pieces that run at the
same time, and the CLI and the VS Code extension no longer block each
other when you resume a saved task.

What changed

• Helpers run pieces of a task side by side. On a large task, the
  model can hand independent pieces to helpers, for example a search
  across the code, or a component and its tests. Helpers run at the same
  time in your project, each with its own conversation, and the main task
  gets back only their reports, which keeps it smaller and faster. In the
  terminal, their progress shows as [helper N] .... Quick pieces use a
  faster, cheaper model unless you picked one with /model. Helpers follow
  your permissions but can't ask you anything: a step that needs your
  approval comes back to the main task, which asks you. Set
  NIO_SUBTASKS=off to turn helpers off.
• The CLI and the extension work together while one of them resumes.
  Before, typing continue in the CLI failed while the extension was
  working, and the extension couldn't even ask a question while the CLI
  resumed the saved task. Now every request runs alongside a resume.
• Resuming waits instead of failing. Only one session resumes the saved
  task at a time. If another session is resuming it or still working on
  it, Nio says which one, for example "The VS Code extension is resuming
  this project's saved task", and starts once that session finishes. It
  waits up to 15 minutes (NIO_RESUME_WAIT_SECS).

Install

Windows PowerShell:

powershell -c "irm https://github.com/luisMan/Nio/releases/download/v0.1.256/nio-installer.ps1 | iex"

macOS and Linux:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/luisMan/Nio/releases/download/v0.1.256/nio-installer.sh | sh

If you have v0.1.195 or later, Nio offers this update when it starts, or
run nio update.

Downloads

• Windows x64 MSI
• Windows x64 portable ZIP
• macOS Apple Silicon
• Linux x64
• VS Code extension 0.1.256

Each native archive and the MSI include a SHA-256 sidecar. Publishing this
release does not reset account token limits.

Nio v0.1.255

Nio v0.1.255

Nio no longer hides ordinary code in command output, so the model sees
every line as it is in your files.

What changed

• Command output shows code as written. Nio hides values that look
  like keys, tokens or passwords in the output of commands. That check
  also caught ordinary code, such as
  const token = localStorage.getItem('token') or
  user32 = ctypes.windll.user32, and the model saw [redacted] in their
  place. Nio now hides a value only when it's a literal (quoted text, a
  token, a URL), not a function call, an attribute like a.b.c, or a
  variable name. Values in settings (API_TOKEN=...) and .env files are
  hidden as before.
• The model can't copy a hidden value into your files. If the model
  writes or edits a file with the [redacted] placeholder, and the file
  didn't already contain it, Nio refuses the change and asks the model to
  read the real file first. Before, a copied placeholder could break a
  build: Vite stopped at const token = [redacted]token').

Install

Windows PowerShell:

powershell -c "irm https://github.com/luisMan/Nio/releases/download/v0.1.255/nio-installer.ps1 | iex"

macOS and Linux:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/luisMan/Nio/releases/download/v0.1.255/nio-installer.sh | sh

If you have v0.1.195 or later, Nio offers this update when it starts, or
run nio update.

Downloads

• Windows x64 MSI
• Windows x64 portable ZIP
• macOS Apple Silicon
• Linux x64
• VS Code extension 0.1.255

Each native archive and the MSI include a SHA-256 sidecar. Publishing this
release does not reset account token limits.

Nio v0.1.254

Nio v0.1.254

Local models such as Qwen through Ollama work much better in Nio, and on
Windows a command that prints to stderr no longer looks like it failed.

What changed

• Requests go to a model that can answer. If a task's model (for a
  role or a level of difficulty) belongs to a provider you have no key for,
  Nio now uses a configured model instead. With a local model as your only
  provider, every step runs on it. Before, a complex request could go to a
  hosted model you hadn't set up and fail three times.
• Prompts fit a local model's context window. For a model on a local
  server, each step's prompt is sized to the context Nio asks Ollama for
  (NIO_LOCAL_GPU_NUM_CTX, 32K tokens by default), leaving room for the
  reply. Before, prompts could be larger than the window, and the model
  lost the start of them: the task and the tool rules.
• Reading a file through the shell is a file read. When the model
  prints part of a project file with a shell command (Get-Content, also
  with Select-Object -Index, cat, type, head -n, sed -n), Nio
  reads it with its file tool: no approval prompt, correct UTF-8, and no
  extra process. Commands that do more than print a file run as before.
• Read-only commands don't ask inside the project. Searches and
  listings (rg, ls, git status, git diff, git log) no longer
  need approval in manual mode, the same as file reads. Commands that
  change anything, or reach outside the project, still ask.
• Re-reading isn't progress. Reading lines the model has already seen,
  in a file that hasn't changed, no longer counts as progress, so Nio's
  "you keep re-reading" nudge and stop now apply to paged reads too.
• Errors are looked up in your project before the web. When a command
  keeps failing with the same error, Nio first finds the names the error
  mentions (a module, a function, a file) in your project and shows the
  model where they appear. It searches the web only when the project has
  nothing on them, or the error survives that. Text that only looks like
  an error, like except Exception: in a file the model printed, no
  longer starts a web search.
• PowerShell stderr no longer looks like failure (Windows). In Windows
  PowerShell 5.1, a program's stderr under 2>&1 came out wrapped as
  PowerShell errors, and a passing run such as python -m unittest 2>&1
  was reported as failed. Nio now shows those lines as the program printed
  them and keeps the program's own exit code. Real PowerShell errors still
  fail.

Install

Windows PowerShell:

powershell -c "irm https://github.com/luisMan/Nio/releases/download/v0.1.254/nio-installer.ps1 | iex"

macOS and Linux:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/luisMan/Nio/releases/download/v0.1.254/nio-installer.sh | sh

If you have v0.1.195 or later, Nio offers this update when it starts, or
run nio update.

Downloads

• Windows x64 MSI
• Windows x64 portable ZIP
• macOS Apple Silicon
• Linux x64
• VS Code extension 0.1.254

Each native archive and the MSI include a SHA-256 sidecar. Publishing this
release does not reset account token limits.

Nio v0.1.253

Nio v0.1.253

Servers of every stack no longer hold up a task, a build no longer ends
before it starts, and long replies can stream their progress.

What changed

• Servers run in the background, whatever the stack. When the model
  starts a server, Nio now recognizes it and keeps working instead of
  waiting for it to exit. That covers npm, npx, pnpm, yarn and bun scripts,
  Vite, Next.js, Nuxt, Astro, Angular, Expo, Storybook, serve, nodemon,
  Flask, Django, FastAPI, uvicorn, gunicorn, Streamlit, Jupyter, Rails, PHP,
  Laravel, cargo run, dotnet run, Spring Boot, Phoenix, Hugo and
  docker compose up. A server that isn't on that list is found by the
  local address it prints once it answers. Before, a command like
  python backend/app.py made Nio wait five minutes. Builds and tests
  (vite build, next build, manage.py migrate) still run to the end.
• A build doesn't end after only a look around. If the model listed the
  folder and then replied with a plan, Nio took the task as done and no
  files were written. Now, while every file the request names is still
  missing, Nio asks the model to start the work, at most three times.
• Per-model settings in one place. Each model's reasoning setting,
  reply budget, time limit, context window and price now come from one
  table, so supporting a new model is a one-line change. Advanced: set
  NIO_MODEL_PROFILES_PATH to a JSON file to override a model's settings,
  for example {"gpt-5.1": {"agent_request_timeout_ms": 600000}}.
• Streamed replies (opt-in). With NIO_ASK_STREAM=1, Nio receives a
  progress signal every 15 seconds while a model is working, and shows
  "the model is still working (N min)" on long replies. Long reasoning
  replies then keep their connection open. It takes effect where the Nio
  gateway offers it; elsewhere Nio uses the usual request.

Install

Windows PowerShell:

powershell -c "irm https://github.com/luisMan/Nio/releases/download/v0.1.253/nio-installer.ps1 | iex"

macOS and Linux:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/luisMan/Nio/releases/download/v0.1.253/nio-installer.sh | sh

If you have v0.1.195 or later, Nio offers this update when it starts, or
run nio update.

Downloads

• Windows x64 MSI
• Windows x64 portable ZIP
• macOS Apple Silicon
• Linux x64
• VS Code extension 0.1.253

Each native archive and the MSI include a SHA-256 sidecar. Publishing this
release does not reset account token limits.

Nio v0.1.252

Nio v0.1.252

GPT-5.1 now reasons while it works in Nio. On our calculator benchmark it
went from an average of 70 to 98 through Nio, above its direct calls (91).

What changed

• GPT-5.1 reasons in agent tasks. GPT-5.1 is the first OpenAI model whose
  API default is no reasoning, and Nio didn't change it. Without reasoning it
  often answered with a plan instead of making the changes. Nio now asks
  GPT-5.1, and later GPT-5.x point releases, for medium reasoning in each
  step of a task, the same as for Claude models, and low for small tasks.
  GPT-5, GPT-5 mini and the o-series already reason by default and are
  unchanged. Set NIO_OPENAI_AGENT_REASONING_EFFORT (none, low, medium
  or high) to choose a level yourself.
• More time for each reasoning reply. Those steps can take longer, so
  each one now gets up to 6 minutes, as Claude replies do, instead of 2.
  Before, slow replies were dropped and retried. Set
  NIO_OPENAI_REASONING_TIMEOUT_MS to change the limit.
• Cost. Reasoning is billed as output, so a GPT-5.1 task costs about twice
  as much as before ($1.79 instead of $0.87 per run on the benchmark).
• Benchmark on nioai.run. The GPT-5.1 row on the landing page shows the
  new results.
  October 21 results.

Install

Windows PowerShell:

powershell -c "irm https://github.com/luisMan/Nio/releases/download/v0.1.252/nio-installer.ps1 | iex"

macOS and Linux:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/luisMan/Nio/releases/download/v0.1.252/nio-installer.sh | sh

If you have v0.1.195 or later, Nio offers this update when it starts, or
run nio update.

Downloads

• Windows x64 MSI
• Windows x64 portable ZIP
• macOS Apple Silicon
• Linux x64
• VS Code extension 0.1.252

Each native archive and the MSI include a SHA-256 sidecar. Publishing this
release does not reset account token limits.

Nio v0.1.251

Nio v0.1.251

Unattended tasks finish more often: replies that only plan, reruns of a
failing test and oddly formatted tool calls no longer end them early. With
these changes GPT-5 mini matches its direct calls on our calculator benchmark,
and Claude Haiku 4.5 averages 96.

What changed

• Plans get turned into changes. When the model describes what it will do
  but makes no tool call while requested work is still missing, Nio asks again
  (up to three times) and asks for the changes themselves, starting with a
  file the request names that doesn't exist yet.
• Nio checks the request item by item. Exact names the request lists, such
  as M+, MR or localStorage, must be in the code, and each item after a
  colon ("square root, power, sine, cosine, and tangent") is checked on its
  own, so missing features are asked for instead of slipping through.
• A failing test gets fixed, not rerun. When the model asks to rerun a
  failing check without changing anything, Nio shows it the failure (the error,
  file and line) and asks for the fix first.
• Restarting a server doesn't pause the task. If the model tries to stop
  every program of one name to restart its server, Nio tells it which
  processes the task started and how to stop only those, instead of waiting
  for your approval. Stopping programs by name still asks first.
• Tool calls aren't dropped for small formatting slips. A call followed by
  a stray quote now runs, and when a call can't be read Nio tells the model
  exactly why.
• Files land in the right folder. A file written into a folder named like
  the project itself (app/package.json inside a project folder app) is
  placed at the project root when the request names it there.
• Benchmark on nioai.run. The landing page shows the latest calculator
  results, including the October 20 runs for GPT-5 mini, GPT-5.1 and Haiku 4.5.
  October 20 results.

Install

Windows PowerShell:

powershell -c "irm https://github.com/luisMan/Nio/releases/download/v0.1.251/nio-installer.ps1 | iex"

macOS and Linux:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/luisMan/Nio/releases/download/v0.1.251/nio-installer.sh | sh

If you have v0.1.195 or later, Nio offers this update when it starts, or
run nio update.

Downloads

• Windows x64 MSI
• Windows x64 portable ZIP
• macOS Apple Silicon
• Linux x64
• VS Code extension 0.1.251

Each native archive and the MSI include a SHA-256 sidecar. Publishing this
release does not reset account token limits.

Nio v0.1.250

Nio v0.1.250

Unattended tasks keep going when an edit couldn't be read or a turn ended
without changing anything, instead of stopping early.

What changed

• An edit Nio couldn't read no longer ends the task. When a model's
  tool call can't be read, Nio tells it why (for example, invalid JSON at a
  given position, or a call that is missing a required field) and the task
  continues. Code with backslashes inside a file, such as /\d+/ or \',
  is now read as written.
• Re-reading files while a test fails gets a nudge, not a stop. If the
  model keeps re-reading files while a check is failing or files the request
  names don't exist yet, Nio shows it the failing output and the missing
  files and asks it to write them, before it would stop the task.
• A turn that changed nothing is checked too. When a turn ran the tests
  but changed no file, Nio still checks the request's list of requirements
  and asks for the missing ones, and the final answer names anything still
  missing.
• Clearer replies when no tool call was made. Nio now tells the model
  that its tools are available, with a call to copy, so it doesn't conclude
  that tools don't work.
• Earlier turns no longer discourage later ones. A turn that changed no
  file is remembered as exactly that, and one project keeps one history
  whichever way its path is written.
• Requested documents count when they exist. A request for a file such
  as docs/design.md is satisfied once that file is there.
• Calculator benchmark on nioai.run. The landing page shows the latest
  calculator benchmark, Nio vs direct model calls on eight models.
  Results and method.

Install

Windows PowerShell:

powershell -c "irm https://github.com/luisMan/Nio/releases/download/v0.1.250/nio-installer.ps1 | iex"

macOS and Linux:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/luisMan/Nio/releases/download/v0.1.250/nio-installer.sh | sh

If you have v0.1.195 or later, Nio offers this update when it starts, or
run nio update.

Downloads

• Windows x64 MSI
• Windows x64 portable ZIP
• macOS Apple Silicon
• Linux x64
• VS Code extension 0.1.250

Each native archive and the MSI include a SHA-256 sidecar. Publishing this
release does not reset account token limits.

Nio v0.1.249

Nio v0.1.249

Your plan in Nio now always matches your Nio account, and Nio asks before
stopping programs by name in more forms of the command.

What changed

• Your plan comes from your account. When you're signed in to Nio
  Gateway, /billing shows the plan, features and limits of your Nio
  account, and that is the plan Nio uses. If Nio can't reach the gateway to
  check, it uses the Free plan's limits until it can.
• Change your plan at nioai.run. To upgrade or change your plan, sign in
  at https://nioai.run and choose a plan there. /billing <plan> in the CLI
  now says so instead of changing a local setting.
• Free plan agents. On the Free plan, asking for a Pro agent (builder,
  coder, consultant, analyst, researcher or operator) runs the free agent
  instead: free-coder for coding work, basic for the rest.
• Self-hosted setups. With no gateway configured, /billing <plan> still
  sets the plan for that machine.
• Asks before stopping programs by name. A command that finds programs
  by name (for example $procs = Get-Process -Name node) and later stops
  them now asks first, including when the command keeps the list in a
  variable, loops over it or calls .Kill() on it. In unattended runs these
  commands don't run. Stopping a program the command started, or the program
  using one port, still runs without asking.

Install

Windows PowerShell:

powershell -c "irm https://github.com/luisMan/Nio/releases/download/v0.1.249/nio-installer.ps1 | iex"

macOS and Linux:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/luisMan/Nio/releases/download/v0.1.249/nio-installer.sh | sh

If you have v0.1.195 or later, Nio offers this update when it starts, or
run nio update.

Downloads

• Windows x64 MSI
• Windows x64 portable ZIP
• macOS Apple Silicon
• Linux x64
• VS Code extension 0.1.249

Each native archive and the MSI include a SHA-256 sidecar. Publishing this
release does not reset account token limits.