Nova 14

Nova 14 — The Language Server Upgrade I've Been Waiting For

I've been using Nova as my daily driver for about two years now. It's always been the prettiest code editor on macOS — that much was never in doubt. But every time I jumped back to VS Code for a project, it was because Nova's language support just couldn't keep up. With Nova 14, Panic has finally closed that gap. And I mean really closed it.

The Big One: Language Server Detection

This is the feature that changes everything. Nova 14 adds built-in support for integrating with third-party language servers. You know — the same LSP servers that power VS Code's best language features. Nova can now detect language servers already installed on your system and hook them up automatically. Diagnostics, hovers, richer autocomplete — it's all there.

I tested it with the TypeScript language server, the Rust analyzer, and Pyright for Python. In each case, Nova detected the server, configured itself, and just worked. No manual config files, no plugin hunting. The experience is finally on par with what you'd get from VS Code or Zed.

Install Tools Directly from Nova

Don't have a language server installed? Nova 14 can install them for you with one click. This is the kind of polish that makes an editor feel finished. The workflow is: open a file type, Nova asks if you want to install the corresponding language server, you click yes, and thirty seconds later you have full IDE-level support. I tried this with a fresh Rust project and was genuinely surprised at how seamless it was.

Built-In Syntax for C, C++, Swift, and Rust

Nova 14 ships with built-in syntax highlighting and debugging support for C, C++, Swift, and Rust. These aren't afterthoughts — they're first-class integrations with customizable language-specific editor settings. The Rust support in particular is impressive: full syntax highlighting, code completion via rust-analyzer, and debugging integration that actually works out of the box.

Text Actions and the New Find Sidebar

Sorting, joining, and uniquing lines — all built in now. I use the sort function constantly when cleaning up import statements and CSS properties. Case-preserving replace is one of those features you didn't know you needed until you have it: replace a variable name across a file while keeping camelCase, snake_case, and UPPER_CASE variants intact.

The Find sidebar has been completely redesigned. It's faster, cleaner, and the cursor position history means you can cycle back through previous editing locations without losing your mental map of the file. Copy with syntax highlighting is finally here too — paste your code into a presentation or documentation and it keeps the colors.

Git Gets Some Love

Level up your Git workflow with repo and submodule management, commit signing, amending, and a fully redesigned Git sidebar. The commit signing support alone is worth the update for teams that enforce signed commits. The submodule management is clean and visual — no more command-line spelunking to figure out which submodule is out of sync.

Worth It?

If you're already a Nova user, this is a no-brainer update — the language server support alone justifies it. If you've been on the fence between Nova and VS Code, Nova 14 makes the choice harder than ever. It's not as extensible as VS Code yet, but for the core editing experience — speed, beauty, macOS-native feel — Nova 14 is the best version of this editor yet.

My verdict: update now. The language server gap is closed.