https://nika.sh/blog Long-form pedagogy on Intent as Code: why useful AI work belongs in a file, why the language locks at four verbs, and what local-first actually buys you. en https://nika.sh/blog/clean-is-not-ready-to-spend https://nika.sh/blog/clean-is-not-ready-to-spend Fri, 21 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT Engine|Security A valid AI workflow can still waste money. Nika now separates legal files from workflows that are ready for a paid run. https://nika.sh/blog/arm64-ai-workflows-on-linux-servers https://nika.sh/blog/arm64-ai-workflows-on-linux-servers Fri, 21 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT Engine|Sovereignty A practical path from a native ARM64 Nika binary to checked, sandboxed and traceable AI workflows on a headless Linux host. https://nika.sh/blog/the-access-layer-is-an-operating-contract https://nika.sh/blog/the-access-layer-is-an-operating-contract Fri, 21 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT Engine From v0.108.0 to v0.111.0, Nika separated the model you choose from the path that reaches it, cut the workflow language to its durable core, added an explicit scheduler and turned check into an authoring loop. https://nika.sh/blog/workflow-ecosystem-field-guide https://nika.sh/blog/workflow-ecosystem-field-guide Fri, 21 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT Engine Choose deliberately among model providers, local runtimes, builtins, MCP servers and coding-agent surfaces without turning the workflow into vendor glue. https://nika.sh/blog/coding-agents-write-plans https://nika.sh/blog/coding-agents-write-plans Fri, 21 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT Agents Codex, Claude Code, Cursor and other coding agents can author Nika workflows while the checker, the human review and the runner keep separate authority. https://nika.sh/blog/ci-without-ambient-authority https://nika.sh/blog/ci-without-ambient-authority Fri, 21 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT Security Run Nika in CI and on headless servers with the same checked workflow bytes, explicit authority, deterministic rehearsals and a hard launch budget. https://nika.sh/blog/retire-the-prompt-glue https://nika.sh/blog/retire-the-prompt-glue Fri, 21 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT Language A practical migration from brittle shell and Python prompt chains to a checked workflow whose graph, authority, cost and outputs are visible before it runs. https://nika.sh/blog/intent-as-code-engineering-discipline https://nika.sh/blog/intent-as-code-engineering-discipline Fri, 21 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT Manifesto The useful part of AI work is not the chat. It is the intent, boundary, plan and evidence that a team can review before and after a run. https://nika.sh/blog/the-run-keeps-its-receipt https://nika.sh/blog/the-run-keeps-its-receipt Fri, 21 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT Engine A trace is more than a log: it can replay without effects, resume verified work, expose one task, export to OpenTelemetry and assemble a redacted evidence pack. https://nika.sh/blog/the-two-clocks-behind-a-model-string https://nika.sh/blog/the-two-clocks-behind-a-model-string Fri, 21 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT Language A provider name can be part of the stable language while its models, prices and access paths keep changing. Nika resolves those truths on separate clocks and records the result. https://nika.sh/blog/one-workflow-three-local-model-lanes https://nika.sh/blog/one-workflow-three-local-model-lanes Fri, 21 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT Sovereignty Ollama, LM Studio and vLLM expose different operating experiences, but Nika keeps the workflow contract unchanged: one model string selects the local seat. https://nika.sh/blog/mcp-with-a-blast-radius https://nika.sh/blog/mcp-with-a-blast-radius Fri, 21 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT Security An MCP tool is executable foreign capability. Put its server, network, environment, tool ids and schema pin under separate review, then let the trace record the call. https://nika.sh/blog/the-registry-reproves-everything https://nika.sh/blog/the-registry-reproves-everything Tue, 14 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Engine A workflow registry where nothing is taken on faith: every entry is content-pinned to an exact source revision and re-proven by CI (hash, certificate, advisories). The npm-of-workflows, minus the trust-me. https://nika.sh/blog/written-by-agents https://nika.sh/blog/written-by-agents Sat, 11 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Agents nika init teaches the language to whatever agent you already run. Then two real agents write the same workflow: one invents a schema the audit refuses, one goes green first shot. The human review is a two-line diff. https://nika.sh/blog/the-pipeline-is-a-file https://nika.sh/blog/the-pipeline-is-a-file Sat, 11 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Language An llm pipeline is a graph of model calls, tools and processes. A graph is declared, not programmed: forty lines of YAML replace the orchestration framework. Diffable, auditable, replayable. https://nika.sh/blog/the-mcp-server-you-didnt-build https://nika.sh/blog/the-mcp-server-you-didnt-build Sat, 11 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Engine Everyone is learning how to build an MCP server. For your workflows, skip the tutorial: the nika binary already is one. Read-only tools let any agent audit a plan and learn the language from the thing that enforces it. https://nika.sh/blog/the-local-forecast https://nika.sh/blog/the-local-forecast Sat, 11 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Engine explain --forecast computes duration and cost priors from your own recorded runs: stats over .nika/traces/, honest ranges at two runs, percentiles at five. Never a model call, never the network. https://nika.sh/blog/the-generative-workflow https://nika.sh/blog/the-generative-workflow Sat, 11 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Language Strip the buzzword and a generative ai workflow is three things: inputs you name, a model step, and effects you can point to. Declare all three in one file and the mystery evaporates. Rehearsed offline, every asset with provenance. https://nika.sh/blog/the-chain-of-custody https://nika.sh/blog/the-chain-of-custody Sat, 11 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Engine A recorded run is a text file, and text files can be edited. nika trace verify recomputes the hash chain: one changed word in history breaks every line after it, and the run's printed head closes the loop. https://nika.sh/blog/the-agent-workflow-spectrum https://nika.sh/blog/the-agent-workflow-spectrum Sat, 11 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Language An ai agent workflow is any pipeline where a model chooses some of the steps. Every design sits between a declared graph and a free loop. Where yours lands decides which safety you can even ask for. https://nika.sh/blog/the-run-that-waits https://nika.sh/blog/the-run-that-waits Fri, 10 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Engine The approval gate is a task in the file, not a Slack thread: a plan fails closed on nika:prompt, and the human's answer rides the resume. https://nika.sh/blog/the-resume-story https://nika.sh/blog/the-resume-story Fri, 10 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Engine kill -9 a run mid-flight, then resume it: finished work never runs twice. Durability as a file property, shown from the real journal. https://nika.sh/blog/the-one-task-rerun https://nika.sh/blog/the-one-task-rerun Fri, 10 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Engine Regenerate one block without re-running the world: --task scopes a fresh run to a task and its upstream, --from re-rolls what the hashes cannot see. https://nika.sh/blog/prompts-are-code https://nika.sh/blog/prompts-are-code Wed, 08 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Language Prompt versioning without a platform: the prompt lives in the workflow file, so git diffs it, a PR reviews it, git reverts it. The engine itself names an edited prompt when two runs diverge. https://nika.sh/blog/injection-goes-nowhere https://nika.sh/blog/injection-goes-nowhere Wed, 08 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Security Prompt injection examples usually end with the agent taking a new action. Here the plan is authored before the model runs: the hostile note becomes data, never an action, and the boundary is checked before a token is spent. https://nika.sh/blog/the-run-becomes-evidence https://nika.sh/blog/the-run-becomes-evidence Tue, 07 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Engine Every journal line now carries a hash chain: verify names the first broken link, reproduce classifies every task, and the journal attests which engine wrote it. Trust, but verify. Then verify. https://nika.sh/blog/time-travel-for-real https://nika.sh/blog/time-travel-for-real Mon, 06 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Engine Every debugger replays the past by re-running it. Nika's past is a file, so stepping backward is free, breakpoints live in your YAML, and F5 debugs a run that already happened. https://nika.sh/blog/the-editor-tells-the-truth https://nika.sh/blog/the-editor-tells-the-truth Mon, 06 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Engine A green badge is a claim. We audited the editor extension against the engine the way you'd audit a client against a server, and found the badge lying. Here is the contract that keeps it honest now. https://nika.sh/blog/the-credentials-your-pipeline-breaks https://nika.sh/blog/the-credentials-your-pipeline-breaks Mon, 06 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Security OpenAI and Google sign the images their APIs return. Almost every pipeline that touches those files silently converts the signature into evidence of tampering. That included ours, until this week. https://nika.sh/blog/one-wire-five-servers https://nika.sh/blog/one-wire-five-servers Mon, 06 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Sovereignty The self-hosted media world quietly standardized on OpenAI's wire shapes. That accident of history is the best sovereignty news in years, and Nika's media builtins are built on it. https://nika.sh/blog/media-are-workflow-citizens https://nika.sh/blog/media-are-workflow-citizens Mon, 06 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Engine Images and speech now render inside workflows under the same discipline as everything else: permit-gated saves, sha256 provenance, honest warnings, real cost on the ledger, and the sovereign path first. https://nika.sh/blog/the-trace-you-can-replay https://nika.sh/blog/the-trace-you-can-replay Sun, 05 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Engine Every run leaves a flight recorder: a deterministic AI audit trail you can replay like a film, never re-execute by accident. https://nika.sh/blog/the-secrets-line https://nika.sh/blog/the-secrets-line Sun, 05 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Security Information-flow, audited before it flows: how the checker proves a secret cannot leak into a prompt, a file, or a host. https://nika.sh/blog/the-cost-line https://nika.sh/blog/the-cost-line Sun, 05 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Engine The audit prices every token before it is spent: ceilings on generations, budgets on loops, and a $0.00 that means it. https://nika.sh/blog/anatomy-of-a-verb https://nika.sh/blog/anatomy-of-a-verb Sun, 05 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Language infer, exec, invoke, agent: what makes the four verbs genuinely different execution models, in the engine's own verdicts. https://nika.sh/blog/own-your-stack https://nika.sh/blog/own-your-stack Sun, 05 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Sovereignty One Rust binary, your models, your files. Run LLMs locally and see what local-first actually buys you. https://nika.sh/blog/intent-as-code https://nika.sh/blog/intent-as-code Sun, 05 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Manifesto Chats evaporate, files compound. The case for writing AI work down as source you own: your best prompts, versioned like code. https://nika.sh/blog/dag-for-free https://nika.sh/blog/dag-for-free Sun, 05 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Engine The wiring is all you write: with: for data, after: for order. The plan falls out of the file: parallel waves, drawn before anything runs. https://nika.sh/blog/blast-radius-in-the-file https://nika.sh/blog/blast-radius-in-the-file Sun, 05 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Security The workflow declares its effect boundary before execution. Static checks explain the fit; runtime sinks enforce what the host can prove. https://nika.sh/blog/standard-library-not-plugin-store https://nika.sh/blog/standard-library-not-plugin-store Sun, 05 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Language Builtins ship with the engine and stay separate from the four verbs. External tools remain explicit dependencies, not new grammar. https://nika.sh/blog/open-spec-copyleft-engine https://nika.sh/blog/open-spec-copyleft-engine Sun, 05 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Sovereignty The language contract is Apache-2.0. The reference engine is AGPL-3.0-or-later. The split keeps adoption and implementation custody separate. https://nika.sh/blog/four-verbs https://nika.sh/blog/four-verbs Sun, 05 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Language A verb is a distinct execution model, not a feature. Why the language locks at four, forever. https://nika.sh/blog/starting-over-on-purpose https://nika.sh/blog/starting-over-on-purpose Sun, 05 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Origins We had a working prototype. We rebuilt from scratch anyway: craft, not extraction, one gate at a time. https://nika.sh/blog/naming-the-drum https://nika.sh/blog/naming-the-drum Sun, 05 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Origins Why a local workflow engine carries the name of a liberation figure, and why a butterfly signs the work. https://nika.sh/blog/the-part-git-cannot-prove https://nika.sh/blog/the-part-git-cannot-prove Fri, 21 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT Origins Then the public record goes quiet. An honest origin story keeps the missing months visible instead of inventing a montage. https://nika.sh/blog/what-survived-the-first-version https://nika.sh/blog/what-survived-the-first-version Fri, 21 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT Origins|Engine Strip away the early claims and four technical bets remain: file, graph, model choice and a local engine. https://nika.sh/blog/the-first-page-was-too-sure https://nika.sh/blog/the-first-page-was-too-sure Fri, 21 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT Origins On December 30, Nika became public and immediately overclaimed. The first page preserves both the idea and the correction. https://nika.sh/blog/the-file-came-before-the-language https://nika.sh/blog/the-file-came-before-the-language Fri, 21 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT Origins|Language The first durable Nika decision fit in two words: a file. Syntax, graphs and providers came later. https://nika.sh/blog/the-note-that-started-it https://nika.sh/blog/the-note-that-started-it Sun, 05 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Origins Nika did not begin with a parser. It began with an objection: useful AI work should not disappear when a chat closes.