Getting started

Nesso is available as a hosted web app, a macOS desktop app, and as open-source code you can run locally. All data is stored in your browser or on your machine; nothing is sent to external servers unless you configure a remote AI endpoint.

Web app

Open app.nesso.how in your browser. The app works offline after the first load. Use Chrome, Edge, Arc, or any other browser with WebGPU if you want to run the AI mentor locally; for the remote API mode any modern browser is fine.

Desktop app (macOS)

Pre-built alpha installers for Apple silicon and Intel are published on GitHub Releases. Download the .dmg for your architecture and open it.

Run from source

Requires Node.js and pnpm.

git clone https://github.com/cedoor/nesso.git
cd nesso
pnpm install
pnpm dev

For a desktop build, Rust is required as well:

pnpm build:desktop

Picking an AI backend

The Socratic mentor uses an LLM. Choose under Settings -> AI:

Local model (default): Qwen2.5 1.5B runs entirely in the browser via WebGPU (powered by WebLLM). The first run downloads ~1.1 GB and caches it; subsequent loads are instant. Nothing leaves your machine.
Remote API: any OpenAI-compatible chat/completions endpoint: local Ollama at http://localhost:11434/v1, an OpenAI-compatible proxy, or a hosted provider. Set base URL, model, and API key if needed.

Either mode can be switched at any time from Settings (⌘, / Ctrl+,).

API keys are stored client-side in localStorage. Do not self-host the web app publicly with secrets baked in.

Local mode tips

WebGPU is required. On macOS, recent Chrome / Edge / Arc work out of the box; Safari support is improving but currently limited.
The first download streams progress into the Settings panel. Closing the panel does not cancel the download.
Settings -> Data -> Delete clears graphs and preferences but leaves the cached model untouched. Clearing browser site data removes everything, including the model weights.

Remote mode with Ollama

Run Ollama locally, then pull a small instruction-tuned model:

ollama pull gemma3:4b

In Settings -> AI, choose Remote API and set:

Base URL: http://localhost:11434/v1
Model: gemma3:4b (or llama3.2:3b, qwen2.5:7b; presets are shown in Settings)
API key: leave empty

Settings auto-probes the endpoint and offers a Pull button if the model is missing.

Keyboard shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
`?`	Show shortcuts dialog
`⌘,` / `Ctrl+,`	Settings
`⌘K` / `Ctrl+K`	Search concepts
`N`	Add concept at viewport centre
`R`	Open review mode
`⌘Z` / `Ctrl+Z`	Undo
`⌘⇧Z` / `Ctrl+Shift+Z`	Redo
`Del` / `Backspace`	Delete selection
`⌘C` / `Ctrl+C`	Copy selection
`⌘V` / `Ctrl+V`	Paste
`↑` `↓` `←` `→`	Nudge selected concept
`Shift` + arrows	Nudge selected concept (large)
`Esc`	Close dialog

Hold ⌘ / Ctrl to add to a selection; drag on empty canvas to marquee-select.