Its been a wild ride.

Greetings earth invaders and network raiders! Been a while since I used that one. This is really surreal. Navi v1.0.0 is here. Its bittersweet in a way. This update marks two things. An ending and a beginning. No, no. We are not done with Navi by a long shot. However everything I wanted Navi to be during the 18 year concept phase is culminated into this version.

Tri chysir henaint: tân, te a thybaco  (Its good to look homeward)

I like to look back every so often and see how far this project has come. How much I have learned and how far we still have to go. I cant express how incredibly proud I am of Navi. I would not be here without the people who have supported the project and its goals from day zero all the way to present. Those who helped me work on Navi, gave me ideas to run with, those who simply are around watching this all unfold and those who have left our ranks. Thank you so much. Before we get into the updates.

Lets take a moment to understand how we got here…

Almost obligatory history lesson. (If you know you know, skip it)

As with all things Navi is an inspired project. Growing up. I played a lot of video games. One that stuck with me to this point was Megaman Battle Network. We all know this story to this point. I was enamored with this notion of AI and smart assistants. Especially the NetNavi AI system in the games. I wanted to make it real. However at the time this notion was very much so in the realm of sci-fi. I never let the dream go. Over the years I took little whacks at building what would become Navi. Which was a simple premises at the time.

I want to develop a system that lets me chat with my computer and launch the tools I build. – Alex.

Close to 18 years later I have the wonderful opportunity to work with Haiku Inc building out the story of what was World of Haiku (now Haiku Online). I had no idea later how much this time would influence the development of Navi. We were given access to GPT’s API to assist us in our work. I remember there is a segment of the story in which one of the AI’s present in the game actually conducts the recon and the initial hack into the system the player then explores.

I got to thinking “What if we can do this now?” So I got to work. Using GPT’s api I built the first version… It was a super simple proof of concept. I wanted to be able to run a program that could connect to GPT and have it call custom scripts using a special trigger that could be built for it. I grew up in the days of IRC and obviously the trigger had to be “/chipname”. This only only took about two days to build.

It still needed a name… Zero was… Kinda unoriginal. So I went back to my roots and the games that inspired all of this. Thus Navi and the first attempt at building my own NetNavi was thrust into the world.

Gaining Traction…

In the first year of Navi’s development, there was a lot of rapid paced updates and deal wheeling. The first was through the great people at Raices Cyber. Seriously give them a look. Amazing crowd. I was on the phone with the head of the group one day and was talking shop about Navi and what I had planned for it. He personally invited me to speak at the first ever Raices Con. I was off to the races. Notebook in hand. Bullet journal method fresh in the memory bank. The work was being done. 

One of my proudest moments by far. Raices Con. Here I was. New kid on the block. I didn’t even have a certification under my belt. Up on stage presenting my AI system to people much deeper in the industry than me. – Alex

Around this time. I also started talking to Jeremy Martin of CSI Linux. After a very very lucky moment where the OS’s community manager reached out and asked me if he could share Navi with Jeremy. The next morning I had my first call with him on the way home from my “day job” Navi left enough of an impression on him that he wanted to offer CSI Linux as a kind of home base for Navi’s continued development.

“What are my odds of seeing Navi as a default program in CSI Linux?” – Alex

“Really f*cking good. Lets see what we can do.” – Jeremy Martin

Between Raices Cyber, Haiku and CSI Linux. We had grown what I consider a respectable network and sphere of influence. All done organically, all word of mouth and meeting with people.

So, whats new?

Navi v1.0.0 comes PACKED with new features. I also would like to point out that we have 110% hammered the nail that was the original goal of Navi and then some. 

We have a good bit to cover here. So I’m just going to dive into it.

Mind you this is v1.0.0: While its out of beta. There are still bugs and issues so if you are using Navi and you stumble into something. Feel free to drop an issue

Navi | Chat Execution

One of the key features I wanted in Navi was the ability to not just talk to the computer but to have it seamlessly execute commands on the users behalf without the need to exit Navi or open a new terminal. As of v1.0.0 we have the ability to do this. While its not perfect it does work. Doing this allows a more seamless flow when working with Navi.

Navi | Chips System

Chips serve as Navi’s custom plugin system. Since the original introduction in 2023. The chips system has served as a means of extending Navi’s capabilities. In v1.0.0 we are excited to announce revised chip development documentation as well as built in Chip Builder. If you want to see just how crazy your chips can get. Saints Sec’s original cryptography software Cryptex has been rebuilt as a fully functional chip within the Navi Ecosystem.

We included our own means of searching for, installing, removing and updating chips directly from within Navi. The name of the game is one screen to rule it all.

On top of all of this, chips are not Saints Sec centric. The updated chips system gives credit where its due. Putting the power into the hands of the developers. Meaning its your chip, your repo your credit. Any developer who wants to build a chip for Navi and wants it to show up on the Chips Search needs only to follow this tutorial

Navi | Local (Navi3b)

This release represents a shift toward local AI as it brings with it more security and less overhead. While Navi can still be hosted and accessed remotely through modifying the remote variable in config.py file and called using navi –remote on the command line. We wanted to enable users to have a lighter version of Navi.

Now it should be noted here: The local Model is a 7b AI model. So if you are running this on something subpar, don’t expect the fastest results. Using my own laptop as an example, I was able to get an in depth response about cryptography within maybe thirty seconds. This is livable for me. So it passes my own personal means.  

What model are we using? Glad you asked. We opted to go with WhiteRabbitNeo for the backbone of the Navi AI system. As its fully open source as well as built for the kind of work Navi is meant to do.

However  as mentioned above, 7b is not really “local friendly” unless you are running a beefier system. More power to you. Not everyone has that kind of system and we want Navi everywhere she can be. We still need to edit it to make it run smoothly on minimal spec without sacrificing its core knowledge.

Navi | CLI Memory System (Local ONLY)

So what good is being able to talk to an AI if it cant remember what you are talking about? On the local side of Navi we have implemented the ability for Navi to have context aware conversations with her users / operators.

As well we have the ability to create, remove, set the active memory and remove memories from the list and see what memory files Navi has on a given system.

Navi | RAG System (Local ONLY)

Navi | CLI Settings Menu

Yes, finally. We have the ability to modify most of Navi’s settings from within the command line application. No need to close Navi find the file the settings are in and change them manually. The best part is, once you are done editing save them and Navi will restart on her own. (Thanks to memories she will pick up right where you left off using the memory file you set to default). Now not all of the settings are present. However we will be adding to this over time. Including the ability to make chip settings show up in the menu of a chip that includes settings is installed.

Navi | CLI Query

One of the lighter things we implemented was a way to query Navi directly from the cli without needing to dive into the full Navi application. Simply type navi -q “Whatever you want to ask.”. This allows for a more quick access in the case of finding a bug in an external program or script or asking Navi for some quick advice on something. Yes you can even use navi –remote -q “whatever you want to ask here.”

Whats Next / Conclusion?

Remember many a moon ago when you started reading this post? How I said this release represents a beginning and an end? This is the end of what I had planned for Navi’s core system. This does not mean we are done improving it or working on it. It just means now we get to begin being creative. Doing fun things with the architecture we have built out. 

I’m personally very very excited about the things we have in the pipeline.

Here is a sample:  

• CSI x Navi | Operator Certification
• CSI x Navi | Chip Developer Certification
• Navi | Personality Shard System
• Navi | Project Red

I don’t want to give to much away. Mostly because a lot of this is in concept phase and might be a while till it see’s the light of day. This being said If you are a developer and interested in joining the Navi Dev Team feel free to reach out on discord

I think its about time I wrap this one up. Once again, thank you to everyone who made all of this possible. To the communities we are part of, to the Amazing people I get the pleasure of working with. Thank you all so very much.

Happy Hacking,

– Alex