Four chapters of real NMSh: make it yours, see it move, work with your tools, and return to your sessions. Each chapter opens with a featured recording; expand the walkthroughs for the rest.
Watch the reel on YouTube. The preview uses the repository's existing promo poster.
Customization · Color and motion · Tools and shells · Sessions
Every GIF runs the real binary in a disposable home (~/Projects/demo), with an opaque 1440 × 960 capture and neutral demo welcome. VHS provides a clean terminal surface; these are not Ghostty or Zed desktop captures. The clips were recorded on macOS; Linux and Windows/WSL behavior is covered by automated tests. Recording sources and reproduction.
Start here: NMSh in one recording
Type a semantically highlighted command, follow a live test run, then change the theme from /theme.
From input to feedback: a persistent real shell under the NMSh frontend.
Start with Setup Cat, then shape the composer, prompt and colors around the way you work.
First launch opens /setup; Apply completes discovery. Escape discards the draft and leaves setup pending. Completed and legacy onboarding stays completed, explicit presets bypass discovery, and /setup can be reopened anytime.
The same draft-based setup surface on first launch and whenever you return.
Walkthroughs: composer, themes and syntax
/prompt changes the Native prompt to one-line and Soft style; /layout moves the composer to Top, then Flow after the newest output. See prompt customization.
One editor, different placements: Bottom, Top and Flow.
/theme previews built-in themes on the real prompt, interface and syntax roles before applying them, and duplicates one into Custom for editing. See themes, imports and Theme Bridge.
Browse, preview and edit through one shared theme system.
/syntax follows the saved NMSh theme, chooses a family and variant independently, or uses grayscale. Custom appears when a custom theme exists; Catppuccin uses the shared accent from /theme. The same role palettes color input and new submitted command lines. Raw output keeps its own colors.
Family and variant choices with real semantic previews.
Color treatments, command feedback and idle scenes share NMSh’s motion controls. Motion remains live in these recordings.
Chroma controls show whether previews are colorized. Turn Chroma Off to see base theme colors. C in /theme and P in Setup toggle only the local preview; C in /prompt changes its draft. /chroma exposes the full controls.
Change gradient looks, then return to the underlying theme colors.
Walkthrough: Rich motion and live feedback
Real commands show live status, completion and failure feedback. /setup motion previews Rich rendering for each event without running a command.
Command activity and animation previews that give motion a clear purpose.
Screensaver collection: every named scene
Every named saver appears below. Random selects among these scenes rather than adding another visual; any key returns to the composer.
Aurora Drift → Deep Space → Warp Starfield → Rain.
Sparkles → Night Fireworks → Black Hole → Fireworks → Circletastic.
Vespyr’s bounce and the playful raiseCatError scene, with time to see each move.
Choose providers, review tools, ask for local guidance, and use real interactive programs.
/providers shows each job’s provider inline. /tools lists curated tools, project relevance and the exact install plan; Space leaves persistent checked markers as focus moves away. Nothing was installed in the recording.
Choose first, review the plan, then decide whether to install.
Walkthroughs: Ask, Theme Bridge, Fish and Vim
/btw provides typed local guidance in a conversational surface. /llm shows optional local-understanding settings; this recording downloads no model and makes no claim that model inference ran.
Local guidance and a look at the optional understanding controls.
/theme-bridge is opt-in and starts with every tool Independent. Each target shows how NMSh would theme it: environment, managed file or detection only. /integrations reviews managed-tool health. See Theme Bridge.
The control surface and ownership review; external tools are not driven in this clip.
/shell fish switches the existing session while preserving NMSh appearance and archives the old view in /resume. A differing shell leads the default Native prompt; customized ordering remains configurable in /prompt. Vim uses real passthrough and restores the composer on exit.
Real Vim entry/exit, followed by Fish with the NMSh theme preserved. Vim itself is not themed without an enabled Theme Bridge.
Let a command keep running when the window goes away, then return to the same shell.
The frontend receives SIGHUP, as from a closing window. The build continues; nmsh offers the detached session and reattaches with the output that arrived meanwhile.
Detach during a build and return to its live session.
Walkthrough: Keep Awake
/zoomies display starts Keep Awake and immediately returns the prompt. Awake · Display appears on a free composer edge and in the Status Strip. The idle reminder adds elapsed time and /zoomies stop; stopping removes the presentation. See Keep Awake.
Recorded with the inert demo backend: the full UI runs without keeping a machine awake.
The simple stack follows the original artwork: terminal host, NMSh frontend and real shell, with Vespyr beside the NMSh title.
Read the Context Modules guide for the native module pipeline, Context Rail and declarative pack direction. These recordings illustrate the frontend and real-shell relationship; they do not cover every unreleased module setting.
Detailed runtime flow: helpers, geometry, sessions and passthrough
The same central stack, with supporting services and the raw interactive path shown separately.
Full-size views for inspecting details without motion.
| Composer and Native prompt | Theme Studio | Keep Awake idle reminder |
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