nwave-ai 3.8.2

Modern CLI installer for nwave with rich terminal UI

nWave

AI agents that guide you from idea to working code — with human judgment at every gate.

nWave runs inside Claude Code. It breaks feature delivery into seven waves (discover, diverge, discuss, design, devops, distill, deliver). Specialized agents produce artifacts at each wave. You review and approve before proceeding. The machine never runs unsupervised end-to-end.

What's New in v3.5

Full changelog →

• /nw-buddy — Your AI concierge. Not sure where to start? Ask the buddy. It reads your project and gives contextual answers about methodology, commands, project state, and troubleshooting.
• DIVERGE wave — Structured brainstorming before convergence. Explore design options with JTBD analysis, competitive research, and SCAMPER ideation before locking into a solution.
• Three DESIGN architects — Routes to the right specialist for your need: system-level architecture (Titan), domain/DDD modeling (Hera), or application-level design (Morgan).
• SSOT document model — Single source of truth for product documents. Build feature spec once, reuse across requirements, design, testing, and delivery — no document sprawl.

For upgrading from v3.3 or earlier, see Breaking Changes below.

How It Works

  machine        human         machine        human         machine
    │              │              │              │              │
    ▼              ▼              ▼              ▼              ▼
  Agent ──→ Documentation ──→ Review ──→ Decision ──→ Agent ──→ ...
 generates    artifacts      validates   approves    continues

Each wave produces artifacts that you review before the next wave begins. The machine never runs unsupervised end-to-end.

The workflow has seven waves. Entry point depends on your context:

Wave	Command	Agent	Entry?
DISCOVER	/nw-discover	product-discoverer	Greenfield: explore market and problem space
DIVERGE	/nw-diverge	nw-diverger	Greenfield: structured brainstorming before converging
DISCUSS	/nw-discuss	product-owner	All: write requirements and user journeys
DESIGN	/nw-design	system-designer, ddd-architect, solution-architect	All: architecture and domain model
DEVOPS	/nw-devops	platform-architect	All: infrastructure and deployment
DISTILL	/nw-distill	acceptance-designer	All: acceptance tests (Given-When-Then)
DELIVER	/nw-deliver	software-crafter	All: TDD implementation

Wave routing: Entry points vary by context:

• Greenfield project: Start at DISCOVER or DIVERGE, proceed through all waves
• Brownfield feature: Start at DIVERGE or DISCUSS, skip to DESIGN
• Bug fix: Jump straight to DISTILL (write failing test) then DELIVER
• Refactoring: Jump to DELIVER (green already, refactor inside existing tests)

DISTILL → DELIVER is always the terminal pair. See the Wave Routing Guide for the full decision matrix.

40 agents total: 10 wave agents (including 3 DESIGN specialists), 1 concierge, 8 cross-wave specialists, 14 peer reviewers, 7 business agents. Full list: Commands Reference

Quick Start

Requirements

• Python 3.10+ — nWave's DES hooks use match/case statements and X | Y union type syntax introduced in Python 3.10. Verify with python3 --version.

CLI Installer (Recommended)

Full feature support. Install from PyPI:

pipx install nwave-ai
nwave-ai install

Agents and commands go to ~/.claude/.

Don't have pipx? Install with: pip install pipx && pipx ensurepath, then restart your terminal. Windows users: Use WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux). Install with: wsl --install

Full setup details: Installation Guide

Plugin (Limited)

Quick setup, but does not support all features (DES enforcement, hook customization, rigor profiles). Use the CLI installer for full functionality.

/plugin marketplace add nwave-ai/nwave
/plugin install nw@nwave-marketplace

Restart Claude Code and type /nw- to see available commands.

OpenCode Support (Alternative IDE)

nWave also works with OpenCode, an open-source IDE for AI pair programming. Installation requires a few extra steps to configure OpenCode's environment.

Install prerequisites:

npm install -g opencode-ai
pipx install nwave-ai

Configure OpenCode:

mkdir -p ~/.config/opencode
echo '{"model": "openai/gpt-4o-mini"}' > ~/.config/opencode/opencode.json

Set your OpenAI API key:

export OPENAI_API_KEY=your-key-here

Install nWave into OpenCode:

nwave-ai install

Compatibility notes:

• ~67% of nWave features work natively on OpenCode via compatibility paths
• DES hooks integrate via OpenCode's tool.execute.before mechanism
• Some advanced subagent coordination may differ from Claude Code — use the core /nw-discuss, /nw-design, /nw-distill, /nw-deliver commands for best results
• For full feature parity and support, Claude Code remains the primary environment

Which method?

Scenario	Use	Why
First time	CLI	Full features, recommended path
Team rollout	CLI	Automation, full DES enforcement
Contributing	CLI	Dev scripts, internals access
Quick trial	Plugin	Fast setup, but limited features

Use (inside Claude Code, after reopening it)

Start with the buddy:

/nw-buddy What should I do next?

The buddy reads your project and gives contextual answers. Use it anytime you're unsure of the next step, where to find documents, or how a feature of nWave works.

Ready to build? Follow the waves:

/nw-diverge "user authentication approaches"       # Design exploration (optional for greenfield)
/nw-discuss "user login with email and password"   # Requirements
/nw-design --architecture=hexagonal                 # Architecture
/nw-distill "user-login"                            # Acceptance tests
/nw-deliver                                         # TDD implementation

Each wave produces artifacts you review. The machine never runs unsupervised end-to-end.

Full walkthrough: Your First Feature

Keeping nWave Updated

nWave checks for new versions when you open Claude Code. When available, you'll see a note in your context with version details and changes.

Plugin (self-hosted marketplace):

/plugin marketplace update nwave-marketplace

Available immediately after release — no review delay.

Plugin (official Anthropic directory):

The official directory pins plugins to reviewed versions. Updates go through Anthropic's review before reaching users. If you want the latest sooner, switch to the self-hosted marketplace:

/plugin marketplace add nwave-ai/nwave
/plugin install nw@nwave-marketplace

CLI method:

pipx upgrade nwave-ai
nwave-ai install

Adjust check frequency:

# Edit ~/.nwave/des-config.json: "update_check.frequency" = "daily", "weekly", "every_session", or "never"

Uninstalling

Plugin method:

/plugin uninstall nw

CLI method:

nwave-ai uninstall              # Remove agents, commands, config, DES hooks
pipx uninstall nwave-ai        # Remove the Python package

Both methods remove agents, commands, and configuration from ~/.claude/. Your project files are unaffected.

Token Efficiency — Scale Quality to Stakes

nWave enforces proven engineering practices (TDD, peer review, mutation testing) at every step. Use /nw-rigor to adjust the depth of quality practices to match your task's risk level. A config tweak needs less rigor than a security-critical feature.

/nw-rigor                    # Interactive: compare profiles
/nw-rigor lean               # Quick switch to lean mode
/nw-rigor custom             # Build your own combination

Profile	Agent	Reviewer	TDD	Mutation	Cost	Use When
lean	haiku	none	RED→GREEN	no	lowest	Spikes, config, docs
standard (default)	sonnet	haiku	full 5-phase	no	moderate	Most features
thorough	opus	sonnet	full 5-phase	no	higher	Critical features
exhaustive	opus	opus	full 5-phase	≥80% kill	highest	Production core
custom	you choose	you choose	you choose	you choose	varies	Exact combination

Picked once, persists across sessions. Every /nw-deliver, /nw-design, /nw-review respects your choice. Need to mix profiles? /nw-rigor custom walks through each setting.

/nw-rigor lean        # prototype fast
/nw-deliver           # haiku crafter, no review, RED→GREEN only
/nw-rigor standard    # ready to ship — bump up
/nw-deliver           # sonnet crafter, haiku reviewer, full TDD

Understanding DES Messages

DES is nWave's quality enforcement layer — it monitors every Agent tool invocation during feature delivery to enforce TDD discipline and protect accidental edits. Most DES messages are normal enforcement, not errors. They appear when agents skip required safety checks or when your code contains patterns that look like step execution.

DES also runs automatic housekeeping at every session start: it removes audit logs beyond the retention window, cleans up signal files left by crashed sessions, and rotates the skill-loading log when it grows too large. This happens silently in the background and never blocks your session.

Message	What It Means	What To Do
DES_MARKERS_MISSING	Agent prompt mentions a step ID (01-01 pattern) but lacks DES markers.	Either: add DES markers for step execution, OR add <!-- DES-ENFORCEMENT : exempt --> comment if it's not actually step work.
Source write blocked	You tried to edit a file during active /nw-deliver outside a DES task.	Edit requests must go through the active deliver session. If you need to make changes, finalize the current session first.
TDD phase incomplete	Sub-agent returned without finishing all required TDD phases.	Re-dispatch the same agent to complete missing phases (typically COMMIT or refactoring steps).
nWave update available	SessionStart detected a newer version available.	Optional. Run pipx upgrade nwave-ai && nwave-ai install when ready to upgrade, or dismiss and continue working.
False positive blocks	Your prompt accidentally matches step-ID pattern (e.g., dates like "2026-02-09").	Add <!-- DES-ENFORCEMENT : exempt --> comment to exempt the agent call from step-ID enforcement.

These messages protect code quality but never prevent your work — they guide you toward the safe path.

Documentation

Getting Started

• Installation Guide — Setup instructions
• Your First Feature — Build a feature end-to-end (tutorial)
• Jobs To Be Done — Which workflow fits your task

Guides & Reference

• Agents & Commands Reference — All agents, commands, skills, templates
• Wave Directory Structure — How wave outputs are organized per feature
• Invoke Reviewers — Peer review workflow
• Troubleshooting — Common issues and fixes

Community

• Discord — Questions, feedback, success stories
• GitHub Issues — Bug reports and feature requests
• Contributing — Development setup and guidelines

Breaking Changes

Command Format (v2.8.0)

Starting with v2.8.0, all slash commands use hyphen format instead of colons.

Before (v2.7.x)	After (v2.8.0+)
/nw:deliver	/nw-deliver
/nw:design	/nw-design
/nw:discuss	/nw-discuss
/nw:distill	/nw-distill
/nw:discover	/nw-discover
All other commands	/nw-{command}

Why? Commands migrated from Claude Code's dynamic commands/ directory to the stable skills/ system to prevent commands from disappearing during long sessions.

To upgrade: Run pipx upgrade nwave-ai && nwave-ai install (CLI) or /plugin marketplace update nwave-marketplace (plugin). Old /nw: commands are automatically removed.

Privacy

nWave does not collect user data. See Privacy Policy for details.

License

MIT — see LICENSE for details.