This repository is a redirect pointer. The Aria programming language has been rebranded to Nitpick.
The Aria programming language (this project) has been renamed to Nitpick as of 2026.
The new home for everything that was here is:
All history, tags, releases, and issues were preserved in place — the GitHub repository was renamed directly, so every old alternative-intelligence-cp/aria link GitHub knew about redirects automatically. This pointer repo exists specifically for references in external publications, papers, and resources that hardcoded the old URL before the rename happened.
If you followed a link from:
- the ATPM (Aria-Theoretic Physics Model) papers on Zenodo
- the Nikola consciousness substrate papers
- any addendum or supplementary material referencing the Aria compiler
...you are in the right place. The compiler, language, and runtime described in those papers live at the Nitpick repo linked above. The language concepts, design philosophy, and codebase are unchanged — only the name is different.
The new names for the toolchain are:
| Old name | New name |
|---|---|
ariac |
npkc (Nitpick compiler) |
aria-pkg |
npkpkg (Nitpick package manager) |
aria_make |
npkbld (Nitpick build tool) |
.aria source files |
.npk source files |
| AriaX OS/distro | Nitpicker |
Backward-compatible aliases (ariac, aria-pkg, etc.) are available during the transition period.
When the language was first named in late 2025, "Aria" was clear of conflicts in language searches. By early 2026 at least two other languages in development had adopted the same name, creating confusion for users who might pull the wrong project by accident. Nitpick was chosen because:
- The language introduces the
nittype and thepickconstruct — the name is a genuine tie-in, not arbitrary marketing. - The compiler's emphasis on explicitness and correctness over developer convenience makes it legitimately "nitpicky." That's a feature.
This repo will remain as a permanent redirect pointer for the foreseeable future and will be archived once external publication references have been updated.