Trust boundary
State is chosen, not presumed
Ordinary Nova work uses the active conversation and supplied materials. The Free package does not require its own daemon, model, embedding service, database, hook, account, telemetry service, or persistent estate.
Optional Nova estate
Durable state is created only when you ask for it and approve a location. Nova Operations configures seven active selectors, while each native capability retains custody of its state:
NOVA_DATA_ROOT- The customer-chosen root for Nova-owned state.
NOVA_CONTINUITY_HOME- Governed Cognitive Continuity records.
DENNIS_PROJECT_HOME- Governed project records.
DUNBAR_STORE- Approved people and relationship context.
CORKBOARD_HOME- Loose reminders and pins.
NOVA_COMMONPLACE_HOME- Deliberate notes and source pointers.
NOVA_CONCORDANCE_HOME- Rebuildable navigation over owned records.
Free Nova does not store this state under the host's .codex directory. Unknown selectors from a larger edition are preserved as opaque configuration and are not silently activated.
Owner-native derivatives follow their owner’s custody rules. Keep governed Worldline timelines in Continuity’s configured projections directory when they must participate in forgetting. External Nova Operations exports and backups use explicit checked destinations; that rule does not move native projections outside their owner.
Authority stays visible
Reading and reasoning are not permission to write, message, publish, spend, submit, or expose private data. Nova distinguishes a possible action from an authorized action and reports what was actually observed.
What local verification can prove
| It can establish | It cannot establish by itself |
|---|---|
| Exact files, skill count, digests, archive contents, source parity, and exercised local behavior | Fresh-host discovery, enabled state, provider interpretation, or customer outcomes |
| That a deterministic test passed in the observed environment | That every host, model, office renderer, or live external service behaves identically |
| That a local candidate was built with an included public rights packet | That a tag, GitHub release, listing, website deployment, or announcement occurred |
Rights and publication boundary
Nova Free uses MIT for deterministic software and schemas and CC BY-ND 4.0 for authored Augment material. The authentic, unmodified product may be redistributed when its attribution, notice, trademark policy, provenance, and component notices remain attached. Read the component and distribution notices. Permission to redistribute is not evidence that a publication action occurred.