Project N.O.M.A.D. is a self-contained, offline-first knowledge and education server packed with critical tools, knowledge, and AI to keep you informed and empowered—anytime, anywhere.
Project N.O.M.A.D. can be installed on any Debian-based operating system (we recommend Ubuntu). Installation is completely terminal-based, and all tools and resources are designed to be accessed through the browser, so there's no need for a desktop environment if you'd rather setup N.O.M.A.D. as a "server" and access it through other clients.
Note: sudo/root privileges are required to run the install script
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y curl && curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Crosstalk-Solutions/project-nomad/refs/heads/main/install/install_nomad.sh -o install_nomad.sh && sudo bash install_nomad.shProject N.O.M.A.D. is now installed on your device! Open a browser and navigate to http://localhost:8080 (or http://DEVICE_IP:8080) to start exploring!
For more control over the installation process, copy and paste the Docker Compose template into a docker-compose.yml file and customize it to your liking (be sure to replace any placeholders with your actual values). Then, run docker compose up -d to start the Command Center and its dependencies. Note: this method is recommended for advanced users only, as it requires familiarity with Docker and manual configuration before starting.
N.O.M.A.D. is a management UI ("Command Center") and API that orchestrates a collection of containerized tools and resources via Docker. It handles installation, configuration, and updates for everything — so you don't have to.
Built-in capabilities include:
- AI Chat with Knowledge Base — local AI chat powered by Ollama, with document upload and semantic search (RAG via Qdrant)
- Information Library — offline Wikipedia, medical references, ebooks, and more via Kiwix
- Education Platform — Khan Academy courses with progress tracking via Kolibri
- Offline Maps — downloadable regional maps via ProtoMaps
- Data Tools — encryption, encoding, and analysis via CyberChef
- Notes — local note-taking via FlatNotes
- System Benchmark — hardware scoring with a community leaderboard
- Easy Setup Wizard — guided first-time configuration with curated content collections
N.O.M.A.D. also includes built-in tools like a Wikipedia content selector, ZIM library manager, and content explorer.
| Capability | Powered By | What You Get |
|---|---|---|
| Information Library | Kiwix | Offline Wikipedia, medical references, survival guides, ebooks |
| AI Assistant | Ollama + Qdrant | Built-in chat with document upload and semantic search |
| Education Platform | Kolibri | Khan Academy courses, progress tracking, multi-user support |
| Offline Maps | ProtoMaps | Downloadable regional maps with search and navigation |
| Data Tools | CyberChef | Encryption, encoding, hashing, and data analysis |
| Notes | FlatNotes | Local note-taking with markdown support |
| System Benchmark | Built-in | Hardware scoring, Builder Tags, and community leaderboard |
While many similar offline survival computers are designed to be run on bare-minimum, lightweight hardware, Project N.O.M.A.D. is quite the opposite. To install and run the available AI tools, we highly encourage the use of a beefy, GPU-backed device to make the most of your install.
At it's core, however, N.O.M.A.D. is still very lightweight. For a barebones installation of the management application itself, the following minimal specs are required:
Note: Project N.O.M.A.D. is not sponsored by any hardware manufacturer and is designed to be as hardware-agnostic as possible. The harware listed below is for example/comparison use only
- Processor: 2 GHz dual-core processor or better
- RAM: 4GB system memory
- Storage: At least 5 GB free disk space
- OS: Debian-based (Ubuntu recommended)
- Stable internet connection (required during install only)
To run LLM's and other included AI tools:
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 or Intel Core i7 or better
- RAM: 32 GB system memory
- Graphics: NVIDIA RTX 3060 or AMD equivalent or better (more VRAM = run larger models)
- Storage: At least 250 GB free disk space (preferably on SSD)
- OS: Debian-based (Ubuntu recommended)
- Stable internet connection (required during install only)
For detailed build recommendations at three price points ($150–$1,000+), see the Hardware Guide.
Again, Project N.O.M.A.D. itself is quite lightweight - it's the tools and resources you choose to install with N.O.M.A.D. that will determine the specs required for your unique deployment
For answers to common questions about Project N.O.M.A.D., please see our FAQ page.
Project N.O.M.A.D. is designed for offline usage. An internet connection is only required during the initial installation (to download dependencies) and if you (the user) decide to download additional tools and resources at a later time. Otherwise, N.O.M.A.D. does not require an internet connection and has ZERO built-in telemetry.
To test internet connectivity, N.O.M.A.D. attempts to make a request to Cloudflare's utility endpoint, https://1.1.1.1/cdn-cgi/trace and checks for a successful response.
By design, Project N.O.M.A.D. is intended to be open and available without hurdles - it includes no authentication. If you decide to connect your device to a local network after install (e.g. for allowing other devices to access it's resources), you can block/open ports to control which services are exposed.
Will authentication be added in the future? Maybe. It's not currently a priority, but if there's enough demand for it, we may consider building in an optional authentication layer in a future release to support uses cases where multiple users need access to the same instance but with different permission levels (e.g. family use with parental controls, classroom use with teacher/admin accounts, etc.). We have a suggestion for this on our public roadmap, so if this is something you'd like to see, please upvote it here: https://roadmap.projectnomad.us/posts/1/user-authentication-please-build-in-user-auth-with-admin-user-roles
For now, we recommend using network-level controls to manage access if you're planning to expose your N.O.M.A.D. instance to other devices on a local network. N.O.M.A.D. is not designed to be exposed directly to the internet, and we strongly advise against doing so unless you really know what you're doing, have taken appropriate security measures, and understand the risks involved.
Contributions are welcome and appreciated! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines on how to contribute to the project.
- Website: www.projectnomad.us - Learn more about the project
- Discord: Join the Community - Get help, share your builds, and connect with other NOMAD users
- Benchmark Leaderboard: benchmark.projectnomad.us - See how your hardware stacks up against other NOMAD builds
- Troubleshooting Guide: TROUBLESHOOTING.md - Find solutions to common issues
- FAQ: FAQ.md - Find answers to frequently asked questions
Project N.O.M.A.D. is licensed under the Apache License 2.0.
Once installed, Project N.O.M.A.D. has a few helper scripts should you ever need to troubleshoot issues or perform maintenance that can't be done through the Command Center. All of these scripts are found in Project N.O.M.A.D.'s install directory, /opt/project-nomad
sudo bash /opt/project-nomad/start_nomad.shsudo bash /opt/project-nomad/stop_nomad.shUpdate Script - Attempts to pull the latest images for the Command Center and its dependencies (i.e. mysql) and recreate the containers. Note: this only updates the Command Center containers. It does not update the installable application containers - that should be done through the Command Center UI
sudo bash /opt/project-nomad/update_nomad.shUninstall Script - Need to start fresh? Use the uninstall script to make your life easy. Note: this cannot be undone!
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Crosstalk-Solutions/project-nomad/refs/heads/main/install/uninstall_nomad.sh -o uninstall_nomad.sh && sudo bash uninstall_nomad.sh