Thanks for the work on Nova - the concept is solid and there’s a lot to like here.
I want to be clear that this is not a “small polish” issue, and it’s not just about documentation. I’ve tested this hands-on, and the current Nova UI is still missing the file-level management logic that the older UI paths still provide.
The gap is most obvious around plugin-managed archives and private backup/restore flows. A number of community plugins create or store their own backup/archive data outside the main config files, and those management operations no longer behave correctly in Nova. Manifest and Classic still work, but Nova does not currently provide the same file-management path for them.
Examples I’ve found in the community plugin sources include:
- Backup & Restore Data
- Pi Screen Setup
- Raspberry Pi EEPROM Config
- FM/DAB Radio
- Spotify Soloist Connect
- Now Playing
- Stylish Player
- Peppy-meter-Basic
- Peppy Screensaver
These aren’t just “nice to have” features. They are real plugin behaviors that rely on private storage, archive creation, backup snapshots, restore actions, or pack/file handling. In Nova, that layer is incomplete. The result is that plugins which rely on custom backup/restore or persistent file-managed content stop working in the same way they do under Manifest/Classic.
One concrete example is the Peppy Meter / screensaver side. The code stores custom meter assets and pack data under private directories and expects file-level management to work around those locations. That path is not being handled properly in Nova, which is exactly the kind of thing that makes the theme feel unfinished despite the overall concept being strong.
So, excellent concept overall - but I’d strongly call this out as a functional gap rather than a visual issue. The interface may look good, but the file-management and plugin-data workflow still isn’t complete enough for real-world use.
If this is going to replace the existing UI path, it needs parity on those archive/backup/file management operations first. Otherwise it’s not really ready for general use.
I appreciate the effort and would love to see this continue - but this specific area still needs to be fixed before it can be considered production-ready.
Kind Regards,