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Graham Hall
2026-01-27 19:11:06 -05:00
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src/content/blog/2026/revisiting-nova.md
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@@ -4,16 +4,12 @@ pubDate: '1/27/2026'
tags: ['Apps', 'Programming']
---
Almost 2 years ago, [I made the switch from Nova to Zed](/blog/2024/am-i-switching-to-zed/) for writing code. I’d been mostly happy with it during that time, but it never did feel like a truly polished piece of software, despite being a pretty smooth experience in terms of its text editing capabilities.
Almost 2 years ago, [I made the switch from Nova to Zed](/blog/2024/am-i-switching-to-zed/) for writing code. I’d been mostly happy with it during that time, but it never felt like a truly polished piece of software, despite being a pretty smooth experience in terms of its text-editing capabilities.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been giving Nova another try. I’ve been able to get the LSPs for TypeScript, Svelte, and Astro working for web development, in addition to Swift, Ruby, and Go for other projects. I do find myself having to restart the TypeScript language server at least once a day, but I had to do the same thing in Zed so maybe it’s not an editor problem.
Yes, it takes a half-second longer to open a project, but it’s not like I’m constantly changing projects. And no, it’s not GPU-accelerated, but like…who cares? It’s not a video game.[^1]
The truth is, I get joy from coding with it in a way I don’t get from Zed, VS Code, or even Xcode (yuck!). It looks nice, it feels nice to use, and it doesn’t eat up system resources unnecessarily.
I get joy from coding with Nova in a way I don’t get from Zed, VS Code, or even Xcode (yuck!). It looks nice, it feels nice to use, and it doesn’t eat up system resources unnecessarily.
The primary con is the app's uncertain future. Panic, Inc. has been frustratingly uncommunicative about Nova's development, despite promises to be more transparent with the community. For an app that costs $100, plus another $50 every year for updates, and is a tool many of their users rely on for work, it feels a little bit like a betrayal.
Apparently built-in LSP support is on the way at some point, eventually, so we won't have to rely on extensions for that functionality. While I am excited for that feature, it feels less like an effort make the app more appealing, and more like throwing in the towel. I hope I'm wrong, because Nova is the kind of top-tier Mac app that just doesn't get made anymore.
[^1]: Though maybe if it were, Panic would have more interest in supporting it. 😬
Apparently built-in LSP support is on the way at some point, eventually, so we won't have to rely on extensions for that functionality. While I am excited for that feature, it feels less like an effort to make the app more appealing, and more like throwing in the towel. I hope I'm wrong, because Nova is the kind of top-tier Mac app that just doesn't get made anymore.