Nowline

Name: Nowline
Author: lolay

by lolayversion 0.12.1i★ 0iRuns on your computer

Registry nameio.nowline/nowline

How to install

Overview

Description from the maker (original English)

Create and edit your roadmaps in a plain-text format.

What you can do with it

We have not written a plain-language summary for this one yet. Below are the facts we read from the registry.

Connection: Runs on your computer
Transport: stdio
Category: Other

Install

Pick the AI app you use, then copy the settings.

Passed 2/2 checks · Runs on your computer

First: which AI do you use?

ClaudeWeb · app · phoneChatGPTWebClaude CodeTerminalCursorCode editorVS CodeCode editorOtherOther apps

Pick your app and the steps appear below.

Works with Claude, with some setup first

Install Node.js on your computer first (one time) · Only the Claude desktop app (Windows or Mac), not the web or phone

Install Node.js
One time only; it works for every server that needs Node.js
Open the Node.js download page ↗
Done
Open the Claude desktop app’s settings file
SettingsDeveloperEdit Config
Done

Paste these settings and save the file

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "nowline": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@nowline/mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Done

Quit Claude and open it again
Done
Try it
Use Nowline and tell me what you can do for me, then show me one thing
✓ If Claude says it is using Nowline or shows a Nowline tool in the answer, you are connected

Menu names checked against Anthropic’s help page on Nov 11, 2026 · your screen may differ slightly by app version

ChatGPT cannot connect Nowline yet

Nowline runs on your computer, but ChatGPT can only connect servers that run on the web

What you can do instead

A · Use an app that can connect Nowline

Steps for Claude →Install Node.js on your computer first (one time) · Only the Claude desktop app (Windows or Mac), not the web or phone
Steps for Claude Code →Install Node.js on your computer first (one time)
Steps for Cursor →Install Node.js on your computer first (one time)
Steps for VS Code →Install Node.js on your computer first (one time)

B · Others in Other that work with ChatGPT

Picked from the most used in the same category, only ones that connect by address with no key

Hostinger✓ ChatGPT
World Monitor✓ ChatGPT
Svelte MCP✓ ChatGPT

Works with Claude Code, with some setup first

Install Node.js on your computer first (one time)

Install Node.js
One time only; it works for every server that needs Node.js
Open the Node.js download page ↗
Done
Open Terminal
Mac: press Command+Space and type Terminal · Windows: open PowerShell
Done

Paste this command and press Enter

claude mcp add nowline -- npx -y @nowline/mcp

Done

Type /mcp in Claude Code
You should see Nowline listed as connected
Done
Try it
Use Nowline and tell me what you can do for me, then show me one thing
✓ If Claude Code says it is using Nowline or shows a Nowline tool in the answer, you are connected

Menu names checked against Anthropic’s help page on Nov 11, 2026 · your screen may differ slightly by app version

Works with Cursor, with some setup first

Install Node.js on your computer first (one time)

Install Node.js
One time only; it works for every server that needs Node.js
Open the Node.js download page ↗
Done
Click this button to open Cursor
Open in Cursor
Cursor asks you to confirm; click Install
Done
Open the AI chat in Cursor in Agent mode
Done
Try it
Use Nowline and tell me what you can do for me, then show me one thing
✓ If Cursor says it is using Nowline or shows a Nowline tool in the answer, you are connected

Menu names checked against Cursor’s help page on Nov 11, 2026 · your screen may differ slightly by app version

Works with VS Code, with some setup first

Install Node.js on your computer first (one time)

Install Node.js
One time only; it works for every server that needs Node.js
Open the Node.js download page ↗
Done
Click this button to open VS Code
Open in VS Code
VS Code asks you to confirm; click Install
Done
Open the AI chat in VS Code in Agent mode
Done
Try it
Use Nowline and tell me what you can do for me, then show me one thing
✓ If VS Code says it is using Nowline or shows a Nowline tool in the answer, you are connected

Menu names checked against VS Code’s help page on Nov 11, 2026 · your screen may differ slightly by app version

Other apps that use MCP, such as Windsurf, Zed or Gemini CLI, each add servers differently. See how in the app list.

See every app that uses MCP →

JSON settings are under “For developers” below

Stuck? Ask people who use Nowline💬 Discussion →

For developers: Terminal commands and JSON settings

Installed on your computer

Claude Code

claude mcp add nowline -- npx -y @nowline/mcp

Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "nowline": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@nowline/mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Cursor (~/.cursor/mcp.json)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "nowline": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@nowline/mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

VS Code (mcp.json)

{
  "servers": {
    "nowline": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@nowline/mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

These settings are generated from the maker’s registry entry. If the README says otherwise, follow the README.

At a glance

GitHub stars i: 0
Downloads per weeki: 4,057/wk
Verified domain: ✓ nowline.io
Licence i: No licence stated
Connection: Runs on your computer
Transport: stdio
Latest versioni: 0.12.1
Categoryi: Other
Published to registryi: Nov 4, 2026
Code last changedi: Nov 10, 2026
Maker: lolay
Packages: npm: @nowline/mcp
Repo: lolay/nowline
Registry status: Active

Which apps can use it

Based on how this server connects and on each app’s own docs, checked Nov 10, 2026.

Run on your computer in

Claude Goose LM Studio Msty Studio Cherry Studio Cursor VS Code + GitHub Copilot Visual Studio Windsurf (Devin Desktop)Zed Kiro Cline Continue JetBrains AI Assistant Claude Code Codex CLI Gemini CLI OpenCode nodecode Warp LibreChat Raycast

All apps, with pros and cons →

What it can do

Runs on your computer; the tool list appears in your AI app after you install it.

Basic checksi

We check information anyone can see; we have not read the code. Checks that do not apply are left out of the count. · Checked Nov 11, 2026

✓ Pass
Maker matches the repo
The registry name was verified against the domain nowline.io (the registry checks domain ownership)
✓ Pass
Still maintained
Code last changed yesterday
… Not checked yet
Has a licence
We have not read this repo from GitHub yet
– Not applicable
Endpoint responds
This one runs on your computer; there is no internet endpoint
– Not applicable
Sign-in with OAuth
Runs on your computer and uses local settings instead
… Not checked yet
No hidden instructions in tool descriptions
Runs on your computer; we can only read tool lists from internet endpoints

Discussion

Ask, share a tip or report that it does not work. Sorted by what people marked helpful.

No posts yet. Be the first to ask or share.

Posts here are written by users, not the PopNx team.

User reviews

No reviews yet

Compared with others in Otheri

More stars than 0% of the other 19151 servers in this category
Published to the registry more recently than 86% of the other 19151 servers in this category
Basic checks equal to or better than 100% of the other 19151 servers in this category

Compared with every active server in this category in the registry. Stars count only when the publisher owns the repo.

Common questions

Is Nowline safe?

It passed 2 of 2 applicable basic checks. We have not read the code. Before adding a key or token, see what access the server asks for and use a key with only the permissions you need.

What keys or codes does it need?

The registry does not list a required key, though some servers ask you to sign in on first use.

Does it run on my computer or in the cloud?

It runs on your computer. Your AI app starts it when needed, and data does not pass through the maker’s servers (unless it calls an online service itself).

Is it still maintained?

The GitHub repo last changed yesterday, and the latest version (0.12.1) reached the registry 7 days ago.

Which apps can use it?

Apps that support MCP, such as Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor and VS Code. You also need Node.js on your computer.

What can I use instead?

In the same category: World Monitor, Claude Flow, Tldraw

Alternatives

Servers in the same category from other makers, sorted by stars.

Reading a card:↓ Downloads per weeki★ GitHub starsiThree pillars: reviews · checks · usageiUpdated = latest version published to the registryi

World Monitor

Real-time global intelligence on conflict, markets, energy, trade, shipping and cyber. 102 tools.

by koala73Widely used★ 90.5KUpdated 6 days ago

Runs in the cloud✓ worldmonitor.app

Install

Claude Flow

AI orchestration with hive-mind swarms, neural networks, and 87 MCP tools for enterprise dev.

by ruvnetWidely used↓ 13.5K/wk★ 81.4KUpdated 14 months ago

Runs on your computer

Install

Tldraw

Draw and visually collaborate with your agents on tldraw's canvas.

by tldrawWidely used★ 51.4KUpdated 8 months ago

Runs in the cloud

Install

README from the maker

Open the README

Copied from the maker’s repo as written. PopNx MCP has not reviewed or endorsed it. HTML, images and scripts are removed. Links lead off this site.

Roadmaps as code. For everyone.

Human readable roadmaps, built for AI.

Plain .nowline text files. Version-controlled. Render to SVG, PNG, PDF, HTML, Mermaid, XLSX, and MS Project XML.

What is Nowline?

Nowline is a text-first DSL for describing product and engineering roadmaps — human readable and machine readable. You write plain .nowline text files — indented, keyword-driven, diff-friendly — and tooling renders them as timelines, validates them, and composes them.

examples/minimal.nowline:

nowline v1

roadmap minimal "Starter" start:2026-01-05 scale:2w author:"Jane Doe"

swimlane engineering "Engineering" item research "Research" duration:3w status:done item design "Design" duration:2w status:in-progress remaining:5d item build "Build" duration:3w status:planned

Renders to:

Why Nowline?

Text, not a Gantt chart. Version-controlled, diffable, reviewable in a PR.
Indentation, not XML. Roadmaps read like outlines, because that's how people think about them.
Strict enough to catch mistakes. 30+ validation rules, clear error messages with line and column numbers.
Composable. include other files with explicit merge / ignore / isolate semantics.

Quick start

Install the CLI from your package manager:

brew trust lolay/tap                                 # macOS / Linux / WSL (one-time)

brew install lolay/tap/nowline

Debian/Ubuntu and Windows users can grab the latest .deb or .exe from GitHub Releases. See packages/cli/README.md for the full install matrix (including man nowline setup).

Toolchain

Two-tier Node policy: Node ≥ 22 to consume @nowline/* packages (engines.node on every published package), Node 26 (.nvmrc) to develop. CI tests both versions on every PR. See Toolchain & Supported Versions for the full policy and bump procedure.

Render your first roadmap:

nowline examples/minimal.nowline                     # writes ./minimal.svg

nowline --version

Or scaffold a brand-new file from a template:

nowline --init my-project                            # ./my-project.nowline

nowline --init my-project -t teams # ./my-project.nowline (teams template)

To give an AI agent Nowline tools, install the plugin from this repo's marketplace. In Claude Code:

/plugin install nowline --marketplace lolay/nowline

GitHub Copilot CLI and Codex read the same marketplace; see plugins/nowline/README.md for those and the other ways to add the MCP server.

For the VS Code / Cursor / VSCodium extension, search Nowline on the VS Code Marketplace or Open VSX.

`0.x` versioning. nowline is on 0.x.y while we settle the embed surface and IDE expansion. Public APIs may change between minor versions; full SemVer guarantees apply once we ship 1.0. See specs/releasing.md for the version contract.

To run from a checkout for local development (pnpm install && pnpm build), see CONTRIBUTING.md.

Use the CLI

nowline is verbless: rendering is the default. Other operations are flags on the same command.

Render (default)

nowline roadmap.nowline                          # writes ./roadmap.svg

nowline roadmap.nowline -f png # writes ./roadmap.png nowline roadmap.nowline -f pdf # writes ./roadmap.pdf nowline roadmap.nowline -f html # writes ./roadmap.html nowline roadmap.nowline -f mermaid # writes ./roadmap.md nowline roadmap.nowline -f xlsx # writes ./roadmap.xlsx nowline roadmap.nowline -f msproj # writes ./roadmap.xml nowline roadmap.nowline -o roadmap.pdf # format inferred from extension nowline roadmap.nowline -o - # SVG to stdout nowline roadmap.nowline --theme dark --now 2026-03-15 nowline roadmap.nowline --now - --asset-root ./brand --no-links --strict nowline roadmap.nowline -f pdf --page-size a4 --orientation landscape --margin 0.5in cat roadmap.nowline | nowline - # stdin → ./roadmap.svg

The render pipeline is @nowline/core parse → @nowline/layout layout → @nowline/renderer SVG → format-specific exporter. Output is byte-for-byte deterministic for the same input, theme, and --now. A single nowline binary ships every format — see packages/cli/README.md for install details.

Validate (`--dry-run`)

Run the full pipeline (parse + validate + layout + format) without writing. Exits 0 on success, 1 if any errors are emitted.

nowline roadmap.nowline --dry-run

nowline roadmap.nowline -n # short alias cat roadmap.nowline | nowline - --dry-run # read stdin nowline roadmap.nowline -n --diagnostic-format json # machine-readable output nowline - -n --format=json < roadmap.nowline # same, json is the default here

--diagnostic-format text|json picks the stderr format; with --dry-run --format=json it defaults to json, otherwise text. JSON mode writes one { "$nowlineDiagnostics": "1", "diagnostics": [...] } document to stderr whenever any diagnostic exists, warnings included, so a warnings-only source exits 0 with the document. Clean sources print nothing.

Convert text ↔ JSON

Convert is just -f json (or -f nowline to go the other way). Input format is inferred from the extension; --input-format overrides for unusual filenames.

nowline roadmap.nowline -f json -o roadmap.json    # text → JSON

nowline roadmap.json -f nowline -o roadmap.nowline # JSON → text (canonical) nowline roadmap.nowline -f json -o - | jq '.ast.roadmapDecl.name'

The emitted JSON carries a top-level "$nowlineSchema": "1" so downstream tools can detect schema changes. Comments are not preserved across round-trips — see packages/cli/README.md for the canonical printer rules.

Serve (`--serve`)

Run a live-reload preview in the browser. Great while authoring.

nowline roadmap.nowline --serve                    # http://127.0.0.1:4318

nowline roadmap.nowline --serve -p 4400 -t dark --open nowline roadmap.nowline --serve -o latest.svg # rewrite latest.svg on each rebuild

The server re-parses, re-validates, re-lays-out, and re-renders on every file change; connected clients refresh automatically via Server-Sent Events. Validation errors are displayed as an overlay on top of the most recent successful render.

Init (`--init`)

Scaffold a new .nowline file in cwd. The positional argument is the project name, not a file path. .nowline is auto-appended.

nowline --init                              # ./roadmap.nowline (default name)

nowline --init my-project # ./my-project.nowline nowline --init my-plan.nowline # ./my-plan.nowline (literal) nowline --init my-project --template=teams # use the teams template

minimal, teams, and product correspond to the files under examples/. Existing files are silently overwritten.

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success
1	Validation error (parse failure, invalid reference, any include error such as a missing include, a wave rule across included files)
2	Usage error (missing input, bad flags, unsupported format, file not found, empty stdin, invalid `--diagnostic-format`, binary→TTY refusal)
3	Output error (cannot write to destination)

Manual

After any package-manager install (brew install lolay/tap/nowline, npm install -g @nowline/cli, or the .deb from GitHub Releases), man nowline shows the CLI manual and man 5 nowline shows the full DSL reference. Both man pages also ship as standalone assets on every GitHub Release — see packages/cli/man/ for the mdoc sources.

Language at a glance

File structure

nowline v1                        // 1. version directive (optional, must be first)

include "shared/teams.nowline" // 2. includes include "brand.nowline" config:isolate

config // 3. config section (optional) scale name: weeks style enterprise bg: blue fg: navy

roadmap r "My Roadmap" // 4. roadmap section

swimlane platform item x "Work item" duration:1w status:done

Entities

Keyword	Purpose
`roadmap`	The top-level roadmap declaration. At most one per file.
`swimlane`	A horizontal lane of work.
`item`	A unit of work inside a swimlane.
`parallel`	A block whose children run concurrently.
`group`	A logical grouping of items, rendered together.
`anchor`	A named date on the timeline.
`milestone`	A point-in-time marker that depends on work.
`wave`	A barrier across every swimlane: no work in the next wave starts until this one ends.
`footnote`	A callout anchored to one or more entities.
`person`, `team`	Ownership references.
`non-working`, `working`	Days that consume no work (weekends, holidays, closures) and the exceptions that give them back. Config entries with `date:`, `start:` / `end:` or `every:`; a declaration named `weekend` replaces the business weekend. A dated closure with a title is labelled on the chart (`Thanksgiving · 2d`) and carried into the MS Project and Mermaid exports; a titled working day is labelled with the days it adds (`Crunch Saturday · +1d`).
`style`, `symbol`, `label`, `size`, `status`, `scale`, `calendar`, `default`	Config and declaration entries.

Properties

item auth "Auth refactor"

duration: 2w // duration literal: d, w, m, q, y status: in-progress // builtin or custom from config owner: sam // id reference (person or team) wave: build // barrier the item belongs to (a declared wave) after: kickoff // dependency (single) after: [kickoff, approvals] // dependency (list) remaining: 30% // percentage labels: [security, p0] // list of label ids link: https://… // URL (bare, no quotes)

Roadmap start date

A roadmap may carry an optional start:YYYY-MM-DD that anchors the timeline baseline:

roadmap platform-2026 "Platform 2026" start:2026-01-06

If the roadmap contains any anchor, or any milestone with a date: property, start: is required.
Every such date must be on or after start:.
A pure-relative roadmap (built from duration: and after: only) does not need start:.
Across includes that don't use roadmap:ignore, the parent and any included roadmap must agree on start: — both absent, or both present with the same value. Mismatches are errors, not silent overrides.

Includes

include "teams.nowline"                     // merge everything (default)

include "snippet.nowline" config:ignore // skip child config include "partner.nowline" roadmap:isolate // render child as a separate region

merge — default: child content is merged; parent definitions win on collision.

Only the beginning is shown; read the rest in the repo

Nowline

Overview

What you can do with it

Install

Install Node.js

Open the Claude desktop app’s settings file

Paste these settings and save the file

Quit Claude and open it again

Try it

What you can do instead

Install Node.js

Open Terminal

Paste this command and press Enter

Type /mcp in Claude Code

Try it

Install Node.js

Click this button to open Cursor

Open the AI chat in Cursor in Agent mode

Try it

Install Node.js

Click this button to open VS Code

Open the AI chat in VS Code in Agent mode

Try it

Installed on your computer

At a glance

Which apps can use it

Related guides

What it can do

Basic checksi

Maker matches the repo

Still maintained

Has a licence

Endpoint responds

Sign-in with OAuth

No hidden instructions in tool descriptions

Discussion

User reviews

Compared with others in Otheri

Common questions

Alternatives

World Monitor

Claude Flow

Tldraw

README from the maker

What is Nowline?

Why Nowline?

Quick start

Toolchain

Use the CLI

Render (default)

Validate (--dry-run)

Convert text ↔ JSON

Serve (--serve)

Init (--init)

Exit codes

Manual

Language at a glance

File structure

Entities

Properties

Roadmap start date

Includes

Validate (`--dry-run`)

Serve (`--serve`)

Init (`--init`)