Nerve Protocol

Nerve lets an agent harness use its owner's machines: read and write files and run commands. On each machine the owner decides what is allowed. Everything else is refused.

Three programs:

Program	Job	Put it on
nerve-center	The center. Your harness reaches it as an MCP server and gets two tools, list and execute. It pairs machines and serves a web UI	the machine where the harness runs, or a server it reaches
nerve-node	The node: a service, a CLI for pairing, folders, rules and the audit log, and a web UI you may turn on	each machine the agent may use
nerve-node-desktop	The node with a desktop app: the same node and CLI, and a window that does what the CLI does	each machine the agent may use that has a desktop: Linux x86_64 with GNOME or KDE Plasma

A machine runs one node: nerve-node or nerve-node-desktop. This release is for Linux, x86_64 and aarch64; Windows comes with 0.1.0.

Quick start

Get the programs from Releases. On ARM, take the aarch64 files.

1. Install the center as a service, on the machine where your harness runs:

   curl -LO https://github.com/prometheion/nerve-protocol/releases/latest/download/nerve-center-x86_64-linux
   chmod +x nerve-center-x86_64-linux
   sudo ./nerve-center-x86_64-linux install

   It ends with three lines: the web UI's address, the owner token that logs in there, and the address for harnesses. sudo nerve-center owner-token shows the token again.

2. Open the web UI, http://127.0.0.1:7480, and log in with the owner token. Its Connect a harness card makes a harness token and gives you the entry for your harness: the JSON, or a claude mcp add line.

3. Install the node on each machine the agent may use:

   curl -LO https://github.com/prometheion/nerve-protocol/releases/latest/download/nerve-node-x86_64-linux
   chmod +x nerve-node-x86_64-linux
   sudo ./nerve-node-x86_64-linux install

   At a terminal it asks for the pairing link (Pair a machine in the web UI shows one), the mode, a folder with its rights, and the network. Without a terminal, pair and give a folder yourself (- reads the pairing link from the next line, pair):

   nerve-node center add -
   nerve-node folder add ~/project rwx

4. A new pairing is in folder mode. It writes and runs commands only in the folders you give it, as an account of its own, nerve-run. It may also read what every account on the machine may read. nerve-node status shows the node and what to do next.

The node has a web UI of its own, off until you turn it on. It listens on http://127.0.0.1:7470 and shows its first token once:

nerve-node ui on

The desktop app

On a Linux desktop, take nerve-node-desktop-x86_64-linux in place of nerve-node:

1. In the file's Properties, switch on Executable as Program (GNOME Files) or tick Is executable under Permissions (KDE Dolphin).
2. Open it, and press Install.

It installs the node as a service and the app, with Nerve in the application menu. Then it pairs your first center (install).

A center your harness starts

A harness can also start the center itself, over stdio:

{"mcpServers": {"nerve": {"command": "nerve-center"}}}

That center runs as you, so an agent with file or shell tools can read its owner token (nerve-center owner-token) and log in to its web UI. The service keeps the agent out (center).

The action checker

The center has an optional gate that checks each call before the machine gets it: a blocklist of dangerous commands and paths (on by default), and an optional decision model that judges whether a call is dangerous. It can only refuse; the machine's own rules still decide. Set it up on the Action checker page of the web UI (docs).

Documentation

For	Where
Running Nerve: install, pairing, folders and modes, rules, the web UIs, what it guards	docs/user/
Building, changing and releasing Nerve: architecture, policy engine, sandbox, checks	docs/dev/
The protocol and the conformance suite	docs/dev/spec/, schemas/, crates/nerve-conformance

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md: how to build and check a change, and what a pull request brings.

Security

Report a security hole privately, through Report a vulnerability on the repository's Security tab (without that button, open an issue that says only that you have a report, and no more). SECURITY.md says how, what is in scope, what update trusts (the releases are not signed yet), and the known limits.

Licence

Nerve is under the Apache License 2.0. The desktop app nerve-node-desktop is drawn with Slint, which it uses under Slint's Royalty-free license 2.0: the app shows Slint's notice in its About dialog (its licence). NOTICE lists the works Nerve includes.