Open source · Apache 2.0
Stop wrestling with slow LFS locks or unpredictable cloud bandwidth bills. Nipa is open-source version control with fast binary streaming, atomic pushes and mandatory locks. Self-host it, or let Nipa Lab run it for you at predictable team pricing.
$nipa lock /assets/characters/hero.blend# exclusive lock, other artists blocked
Locked by dana · 14 min ago
$nipa add assets/characters/hero.blend
$nipa push -m "Hero: closed visor, new trim"
Uploaded 38 MB of changed chunks (4.1 GB file)
$nipa update
Fast-forwarded main · only new chunks downloadedOne system, three traditions
Nipa rebuilds the workflows artists and engineers rely on around a content-addressed chunk store — so branching, locking, and permissions all work at binary scale.
Create branches from any commit, review changes in merge requests with inline threads, and resolve conflicts with three-way text merges. Reviews are per-head — stale approvals drop automatically when the source branch moves.
Files are split into FastCDC chunks addressed by BLAKE3, so updates and branch switches transfer only what actually changed. Tracked binaries are mandatory-lock gated, and directory-prefix locks cover a whole editing pass.
Fine-grained path-based access rules and groups keep art, design, and code separated inside one monorepo — with a centralized, self-hosted source of truth instead of a distributed free-for-all.
Built for studios
Game builds, 3D pipelines, and rich media break tools designed around line-based diffs. Nipa is designed around the way asset-heavy teams actually work.
Tracked .blend, .psd, and .fbx edits are mandatory-lock gated. Artists take a lock on the asset — or a directory prefix covering a whole editing pass — and everyone sees exactly who owns it.
Content-addressed chunks are cached locally, so switching branches only transfers the chunks that actually differ. A new branch does not mean re-downloading the asset library.
Merge requests show three-dot diffs against the merge base, with inline threads and per-head review decisions. When the source branch moves, stale approvals are dismissed automatically.
Desktop app
The Nipa desktop app is built for artists, designers and producers who do not live in a terminal. It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux over the same client daemon as the CLI, with a tray icon, team notifications and in-app updates. It also warns about Unity .meta files that are missing, orphaned or not staged.
Side-by-side, swipe and pixel-diff views with channel isolation, HDR tone mapping, PSD layers and mip levels. 20+ image formats, including DDS, KTX2, EXR and TGA.
glTF, GLB and OBJ render next to each other with vertex, triangle, material and bounds deltas.
Waveforms, spectrograms and BS.1770 loudness for WAV, FLAC, MP3, Vorbis and AIFF, with A/B playback.
Balance sheets stay reviewable: added, removed and changed rows and columns, matched by key.
Merge requests, inline threads, approvals and status checks. Open them from a nipa:// link or a desktop notification.
Pick mine, theirs or both per block. Binary conflicts take a side with both versions shown in the asset viewers.
Who holds which file or folder, lock what you are about to edit, and release with one click.
Path-filtered history, image thumbnails per commit and one-click branch, tag or revert.
Free and open source. Download the desktop app.
Why Nipa
Everything a binary-heavy pipeline needs to move fast — chunked storage, exclusive locking, and no bandwidth meter running in the background.
FastCDC chunking and per-format chunk profiles stream 4K textures, .blend scenes, and .uasset packages fast. Updates move only the chunks that changed, with instant diffing on top.
Sync repositories, run heavy CI/CD build agents, and switch branches as often as you like. Nipa Lab does not meter bandwidth, and self-hosted traffic stays on your own network.
Mandatory exclusive locks on un-mergeable files — .psd, .blend, .uasset — stop merge conflicts before they happen. Directory-prefix and branch-scoped locks cover a whole editing pass.
Self-host with local disk or any S3-compatible bucket, or start on Nipa Lab with a free 15 GiB account. Chunks are content-addressed, so identical files are stored once.
And more
Clone only the folders you work on with nipa clone --sparse, and change the set later with nipa sparse-checkout. A 2 TB art library does not have to land on every laptop.
nipa mcp exposes status, diff, log, branches, merge requests and locks to MCP clients. It is read-only unless you pass --allow-write.
AI docs →Sign in with an ed25519, ECDSA or RSA key, or your ssh-agent. The private key never leaves your machine.
SSH docs →Require approvals and passing status checks before a merge request can land, and dismiss approvals automatically when the source branch moves.
Merge request events go to your webhooks, and participants get email notifications with threaded replies.
Pin a build with nipa tag -c v1.0 and check it out later with nipa switch --tag. Tags are immutable and carry an optional message.
Pricing
Free for indies, hosted plans on the way for growing teams, and self-managed for enterprises.
Quickstart
Nipa builds from source while the project is in active development. You need Go 1.27+ and Node 20+ to build the embedded web UI.
$git clone https://github.com/nipalab/nipa.git
$cd nipa && make web-install && make build
$./bin/nipad# gRPC, REST and web UI on :6745$./bin/nipa clone http://localhost:6745/org/project ./work
$cd work
$nipa add assets/hero.blend
$nipa push -m "hero mesh"
A fresh server seeds a super admin account. Change its password and set your
own JWT_KEY before exposing the server; the
README has the first-run details and
config.yaml.sample lists every setting. Storage is SQLite out of the box.
Comparison
A quick look at the trade-offs teams weigh when assets outgrow line-based version control.
| Capability | Nipa | Git LFS | Perforce Helix Core | Subversion |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Binary storage | Chunk-level streaming with FastCDC + BLAKE3 and per-format chunk profiles | Pointer files in Git, assets in a separate LFS store | Central depot with server-side streaming and deltas | Central repository with delta compression |
| File locking | Mandatory on tracked binaries; directory-prefix and branch-scoped locks | Optional, advisory git lfs lock | Strong central locking | Optional svn:needs-lock, advisory |
| Branching & review | Lightweight branches, merge requests, inline review threads | Git branching; review via the hosting platform | Streams and branches; review via add-ons | Directory-copy branches, no native review flow |
| Path-based access control | Yes — path-level permission rules and groups | Repository-level, hosting dependent | Yes — protections table | Yes — authz path rules |
| Offline working-copy diffs | Yes — working tree vs synced snapshot, no server round-trip | Text only; binaries live in LFS | Opened-file model, server-assisted | Yes — local working copy compares |
| Web UI & API | Embedded SPA, REST and gRPC in one self-hosted binary | Hosting platform dependent | Commercial tools (P4V, Helix) | Third-party viewers |
| License & hosting | Apache 2.0 community edition, self-hosted; ee/ under enterprise license | MIT client, server varies | Commercial license | Apache 2.0, self-hosted |
Comparison reflects typical self-hosted configurations; capabilities vary with hosting providers and add-ons.
Self-host Nipa and keep branching, locking, reviews, and permissions in one place — built to move gigabytes without slowing your team down.