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History

How Naya's desktop software changed from NayaFlow 0.0.1 (March 2025) to 1.25.1 (July 2026), on the stable and the beta channel, so that a reader holding an old installer or an old board knows which pieces and which protocol they have. The one thing to know: the device service was rewritten twice (a newtmgr-based service, then naya_core_project, then NayaCore), and a keyboard's firmware is whatever the last NayaFlow that updated it carried, including three versions that only ever shipped on the beta channel.

At a glance

  • 25 stable releases (2025-03-19 to 2026-07-21) and 16 beta releases (2025-09-01 to 2026-07-17); every installer is still public, and create-legacy-firmware mirrors the stable channel.
  • Keyboard firmware by stable release: 3.28.7 (1.14.5), 3.29.1 (1.15.x), 3.31.1 (1.17.x), 3.35.4 (1.19.1-1.21.0), 3.41.0 (1.25.x).
  • Beta-only keyboard firmware: 3.39.4, 3.40.0, 3.40.4.
  • Old installers auto-update when run online; run them offline to keep an old version.

Old installers update themselves, and updating flashes both halves

electron-updater's auto-download and install-on-quit are on, so an old installer run online may replace itself INFERRED (its app-update.yml and defaults). Installing NayaFlow and running "Update" flashes both halves; see Flashing.

Where the releases are

  • Naya published installers in two public GitHub repositories: NayaTech/NayaFlow-releases (25 stable releases, v0.0.1 2025-03-19 to v1.25.1 2026-07-21, 264 assets, about 21.5 GB) and NayaTech/NayaFlow-beta-releases (16 releases, 2025-09-01 to 2026-07-17; 5 tags shared with stable, 11 beta-only). 36 distinct NayaFlow version numbers were published DOC124.
  • create-legacy-firmware mirrors every stable asset with GitHub sha256 digests (264 of 264 downloaded; 208 digest-verified, 56 size-only because v0.x assets and .yml files carry no digest), the 14 release notes, and the firmware images carved from each release's NayaCore; it is OpenFlow's firmware library. It also records the beta channel: firmware-history-beta/MANIFEST.json lists all 16 beta releases and every image each carried, and stores only the six images found nowhere else. OpenFlow's catalog reads only the stable tree STATIC3.
  • 14 of the 25 stable releases carry release notes: v0.1.0, v0.1.1, v1.3.8, v1.3.11, v1.14.5, v1.15.0, v1.15.1, v1.17.2, v1.17.3, v1.19.1, v1.20.0, v1.21.0, v1.25.0, v1.25.1 DOC5.

Eras at a glance

Releases Device service Where it sits Firmware upload UI to service
0.0.1-1.6.10 naya_core_fw_service inside app.asar (Windows) a bundled Apache mynewt newtmgr text over a WebSocket and stdin/stdout; ZeroMQ markers from 1.6.10
1.11.0-1.11.11 naya_core_project (about 3.3 MB) app.asar.unpacked (Windows); Contents/core/naya_core_project.app (macOS) Naya's own in-process SMP client ZeroMQ (libzmq 4.3.6)
1.14.3-1.17.3 NayaCore inside the asar (Windows); Contents/core/NayaCore.app (macOS) in-process SMP ZeroMQ
1.19.1-1.25.1 NayaCore core/NayaCore/ (Windows); Contents/core/NayaCore.app (macOS) in-process SMP ZeroMQ

STATIC (our scan of every stable installer; create-legacy-firmware8; the macOS release zips). On Windows NayaCore left the asar at 1.19.1; on macOS the service has sat under Contents/core since at least 1.11.11. The macOS asars of 1.14.5 to 1.17.3 also carry a leftover copy of the Windows NayaCore.exe.

  • Service sizes (Windows): 14.0 MB (0.0.x), 14.4 MB (0.1.x), 14.3 MB (1.3.8-1.6.10), 3.34 MB (1.11.0-1.15.1, newtmgr gone), 6.5 MB (1.17.x), 8.5 MB (1.25.x). macOS NayaCore: 10.1 MB (1.19.1), 10.9 MB (1.20.0, 1.21.0), 12.6 MB (1.25.x, Intel; the arm64 build is 11.9 MB) STATIC.
  • Messaging: text commands over a WebSocket (ws://localhost:<port>/ws; the :1024 string survives in late bundles) and stdin/stdout lines up to about 1.3.x; 1.6.4 and 1.6.5 transitional; ZeroMQ markers from 1.6.10; by 1.11.0 the service links libzmq 4.3.6 (libzmq-v143-mt-4_3_6.dll on Windows; libzmq.5.dylib on macOS from 1.19.1). Our two scans disagree on whether 1.6.10 already used ZeroMQ for its messaging STATIC OPEN (details).
  • Upload: the bundled newtmgr (Go, a Codecoup build) run by the service in 0.0.1-1.6.10 (:/resources/includes/nmgr_win/newtmgr.exe, nmgr_mac/newtmgr; about 3 900 newtmgr string references); from 1.11.0 Naya's own in-process SMP client (functions with an ERK suffix such as sendFramedCommandERK); un-suffixed names (uploadImageToSlot, sendFramedCommand, parseSMPResponse) appear beside them from 1.17.2 (Windows strips these names; macOS and Linux keep them). The serial rate is 1 000 000 in every era (115200 also appears in the 0.x services) STATIC7.
  • Background server: a Node "background-server" (0.0.x) and "desktop-background-server" (0.1.0 to 1.21.0 as a bundle; Hono/express-style HTTP, a WebSocket at ws://localhost:<port>/ws, drizzle ORM on better-sqlite3); the Go flow-bg-server is present by 1.17.3 (in-asar @naya-suite/flow-bg-server, spawned by desktop-main with NAYA_CORE_EXE_DIR); in 1.25.x it is installed outside the asar as flow/flow-bg-server.exe, with the Electron main moved to dist/main/index.js STATIC.
  • Command vocabulary: 0.0.1-1.3.11 UI commands (sent with sendCommand) mcb_kbl_start, mcb_kbr_start, prog_kbb_verify, prog_quit, and ble_pair_auto_start from 0.1.0; from 1.6.4 the JavaScript no longer calls sendCommand. The 0.0.x service understood mcb_kb* (start/success/fail/dep_fail), mcb_usb_port, prog_alive, prog_command_queued, prog_dep_* (paths for fwl, fwr, newtmgr; firmware version; verify), prog_kbb_verify*, prog_log_*, prog_ready, prog_unknown_command, prog_version; 0.1.0 added ble_pair_*, dongle_fw_version, dongle_mode_release_toggle, dongle_upgrade_mcb_*, mcb_dongle_* and progress events; mcb_usb_port is gone from 1.3.8. NayaCore's events: 1.11.x fw_update, fw_update_init, fw_update_create_start, fw_update_create_pairing_start, fw_update_module_start, fw_update_end, fw_update_status, fw_version*, fw_process_status_*; 1.17.x only fw_files, fw_update_status, fw_version (the 6.1.x messaging redesign); 1.19.1 on adds fw_version_epoch, fw_version_legacy, fw_version_remapping. 1.25.1's 16-event list is on NayaFlow and NayaCore STATIC.
  • Embedded images: Qt resource paths :/resources/includes/kbfw/ (0.0.1-0.0.2), includes/kb_fw/ and d_fw/ (0.1.0-1.6.10), includes/kb_fw/ and m_fw/ (1.11.0-1.14.5), Includes/kb_fw/ and m_fw/ (capital I, 1.15.0-1.25.1); kb_fw*_64.bin (flash generation B) and PID-based generation selection first appear in 1.25.0 STATIC7. File names per release are on Firmware versions.

Stable releases

Release Date Service (NayaCore) Keyboard Module Notable host changes
0.0.1, 0.0.2 2025-03-19 fw_service pre-production images - first public builds; flash-only
0.1.0 2025-05-01 fw_service placeholder 1.2.3+4 d_fw image auto-updater fix, Track enabled, per-module scroll direction, Tune left/right configs, Bluetooth pairing fixes, slot 5 reserved for a future dongle
0.1.1 2025-05-02 fw_service placeholder d_fw image installer 40 MB smaller
1.3.8 2025-06-13 fw_service placeholder d_fw image custom key remapping (Press only); "completely redeveloped Naya Core"
1.3.11 2025-06-15 fw_service placeholder d_fw image profile duplicate
1.6.4, 1.6.5, 1.6.10 2025-07-13 to 07-24 fw_service placeholder d_fw image (no notes)
1.11.0 to 1.11.11 2025-09-07 to 09-19 naya_core_project placeholder module bundle newtmgr dropped; the module bundle replaces the d_fw image
1.14.3 2025-10-02 NayaCore (5.5.1) 3.28.6 (INFERRED) - binary renamed NayaCore
1.14.5 2025-10-03 NayaCore 5.5.2 3.28.7 2.1.2
1.15.0 2025-11-07 NayaCore 5.8.1 3.29.1 2.2.0 JIS input source and templates, Force Module Update, flashing up to 2.5x faster
1.15.1 2026-01-06 (5.8.1) 3.29.1 2.2.0 readiness detection for newly delivered units
1.17.2 2026-02-18 NayaCore 6.1.5 3.31.1 2.3.2 breaking IPC change, SystemCDC retired, manufacturing build merged, 30-minute backups, DeviceManager renamed Hardware Manager, Software Info, Intel Mac beta
1.17.3 2026-02-18 (6.1.5) 3.31.1 2.3.2 NayaCore log folder fix
1.19.1 2026-04-03 NayaCore 6.4.1 3.35.4 2.3.2 BLE v2, Connection tab, SPI flash test and format, Clear BLE Devices
1.20.0 2026-04-15 NayaCore 6.6.1 3.35.4 2.3.2 module battery on hover, help buttons, Intel Mac stable
1.21.0 2026-04-21 (6.6.1) 3.35.4 2.3.2 one-click diagnostics report
1.25.0 2026-07-17 NayaCore 6.11.0 3.41.0 2.3.3 Double Tap and Tap and Hold, LED settings, manual backups, window scaling, Cmd/Ctrl+S and Cmd/Ctrl+D, Windows code signing, 64-bit (generation B) Create images
1.25.1 2026-07-21 (6.11.0) 3.41.0 2.3.3 auto-update fix (the last release)

DOC STATIC (release dates from GitHub; notes1; create-legacy-firmware manifests3). NayaCore versions come from the notes ("5.5.1 -> 5.5.2" in 1.14.5, "5.5.2 -> 5.8.1" in 1.15.0, "5.8.1 -> 6.1.5" in 1.17.2, "6.1.5 -> 6.4.1" in 1.19.1, "6.4.1 -> 6.6.1" in 1.20.0, "6.6.1 -> 6.11.0" in 1.25.0); 1.14.3, 1.15.1, 1.21.0 and 1.25.1 name none, so they carry the previous one (in parentheses) INFERRED. The keyboard firmware of the 0.x-1.11.11 images is unknown: their MCUboot header carries the placeholder version 1.2.3+4 OPEN.

Release-note oddities DOC1: v1.19.1's note says "NayaFlow (v1.17.1 -> v1.19.0)" and v1.20.0's "v1.19.0 -> v1.20.0"; features shipped in 1.22.0 were announced only in 1.25.0 ("omitted from the release note"); modules "v2.1.1 -> v2.3.2" in 1.17.2 although 1.15.0 had announced 2.2.0; the scaling shortcuts written as "CMD/Ctrl+plus and CMD/Ctrl+plus". SystemCDC, the text "engineering communication channel", was retired on the host in NayaCore 6.1.2 (beta 1.16.0) / 6.1.5 (stable 1.17.2) and on the keyboard in firmware 3.31.1 ("improve performance by ~5%"); text commands answer nothing on 3.41.0 DOC MEASURED (nayactl pull request #29). The Interrupt Flavor / Tapping Term "not applied in some cases" fix is NayaCore 6.1.4 (beta 1.17.0), not 6.1.5 DOC2.

The beta channel

NayaFlow-Beta is a separate app published from NayaTech/NayaFlow-beta-releases DOC2. What each beta release really carried, read from the installers rather than the notes STATIC DOC6:

Beta Date Keyboard / module carried Note
1.10.0 2025-09-01 none: its NayaCore embeds no firmware resource empty note; its NayaCore version is unknown
1.16.0, 1.16.1 2026-02-03 3.29.1 / 2.2.0, the stable 1.15.x images byte for byte the 1.16.0 note announces 3.31.1 and modules 2.3.2
1.17.0 2026-02-07 3.29.1 / 2.2.0
1.17.1, 1.17.2 2026-02-11 3.31.1 / 2.3.2 3.31.1 first appears here, one week before stable 1.17.2
1.18.0 2026-03-12 3.35.4 / 2.3.2 3.35.4 first appears here, three weeks before stable 1.19.1
1.19.0, 1.19.1, 1.20.0, 1.21.0 2026-03-25 to 04-21 3.35.4 / 2.3.2
1.22.0 2026-05-18 3.39.4 / 2.3.2 (beta only) its note says 3.39.3; the app constant and NayaCore's version string both say 3.39.4
1.23.0, 1.23.1 2026-05-21, 05-26 3.40.0 / 2.3.3 (beta only) module 2.3.3 arrives 57 days before stable 1.25.0
1.24.0 2026-06-09 3.40.4 / 2.3.3 (beta only)
1.25.0 2026-07-17 3.41.0 / 2.3.3, generations A and B the same images as stable 1.25.0
  • The three beta-only keyboard firmwares (3.39.4, 3.40.0, 3.40.4) are generation A only (no _64 build); their left and right images are archived in create-legacy-firmware's beta tree, kept apart so no flasher offers them. A board last updated from beta before 2026-07-17 may still run one of them; nobody we know has measured them DOC STATIC INFERRED6.
  • The beta images are packaged exactly like the stable ones: every beta keyboard image is encrypted and signed with the same key (KEYHASH de8b0718...5fd5b972), has MCUboot header version 1.2.3+4, and is the whole 663 552-byte slot with the permanent-swap trailer already written. The 16 beta releases carried 47 images: 6 new, 39 byte-identical to stable images, 2 repeats of an earlier beta; _64 (generation B) images first appear in 1.25.0 on both channels STATIC6.
  • NayaCore versions that only appeared on beta: 6.1.2, 6.1.3, 6.1.4, 6.4.0, 6.9.2, 6.10.1, 6.10.2, 6.10.3 DOC2. Beta NayaCore builds from 1.17.1 on also carry the literals 0.3.30.0, 0.3.32.0, 0.3.34.0 and (from 1.22.0) 0.3.36.0, which match no image: they are NayaCore's minimum-firmware gates (see Disassembly) STATIC.
  • Host-side changes by beta NayaCore DOC2: 6.1.3 corrupted module file handled and module battery reporting corrected; 6.4.0 BLE v2 support, SPI flash test/format, Clear BLE devices, per-half names from the hardware id; 6.6.1 module battery reading re-enabled; 6.9.2 device detection redesigned and a silently failing pairing workflow fixed; 6.10.1 LED OFF state; 6.10.2 hold-tap action / flavor mismatch write handled; 6.10.3 modules not following the color map, and a communication breakdown on corrupted data, fixed; 6.11.0 Double Tap and Tap and Hold, LED setting commands, 64-bit Create images (the beta title misprints "4-bit"), consolidated firmware version checking, pairing error codes, a post-update Bluetooth version check, ProtocolCDC command timeouts, a dongle crash.
  • Keyboard 3.30.1 (the nayactl maintainer's board) is in no public release on either channel (the beta carve confirms it: no beta image carries it); the beta 1.16.0 note says "a custom build of NayaCore has been used for all testing and validation" of the last hardware batch, so a factory build is the likelier source DOC MEASURED (third party: nayactl pull request #5, fe/1002 reply 00 00 03 1e 0110) INFERRED.
  • The beta and stable 1.19.1 and 1.25.0 went out within seconds of each other; NayaFlow and NayaFlow-Beta cannot run at the same time DOC2.

Platforms and update channels

  • Linux: only 0.0.1-0.1.1 shipped a Linux AppImage, and its JavaScript had no Linux service path (_getNayaCoreLinuxExePath returns ""), so it carried no firmware. Linux NayaCore builds exist in 1.15.0, 1.15.1, 1.17.2 and 1.17.3 (1.17.3 README: Qt 6 libraries, NayaCore.sh, run.sh, "Ubuntu 20.04+"), and they embed the 1.14.5 images (3.28.7 / module 2.1.2) while Windows and macOS shipped newer ones. Whether 1.19.1 and later had a Linux NayaCore is OPEN (the 1.25.1 main bundle still carries Linux tray icons) STATIC8 (details).
  • macOS: x64 assets in 0.x, then arm64 only until the Intel build (beta from 1.17.1, stable in 1.20.0). Windows builds are code-signed from 1.25.0. A portable Windows .exe shipped beside the installer in 1.3.8-1.15.0 DOC STATIC14.
  • Update channel files: latest.yml (all 25, Windows), latest-mac.yml (all 25), latest-linux.yml (0.0.1-0.1.1), latest-mac-x64.yml (1.17.3-1.21.0, which points at the Windows installer), latest-mac-x64-mac.yml (1.19.1-1.21.0), latest-intel-mac.yml (1.20.0-1.25.1). The vendor's own note says "the Windows auto-updater ended up tracking the wrong OS" STATIC DOC41.
  • The update check that never worked: it sends an unsubstituted build placeholder as its GitHub bearer token (not reproduced here), so GitHub answers 401 even for public repositories and every "latest tag" lookup is empty; 0.0.1-0.1.1 carry no such token. The component repositories the bg-server asks for besides NayaFlow-releases (NayaCore-, NayaTouch-, NayaTrack-, NayaTune-, NayaFloat-releases) return 404 to outsiders STATIC MEASURED (access checks 2026-09-01 and 2026-09-22) (details).
  • Download counts (Windows installer, snapshot 2026-09-14): 1.15.1 2040, 1.21.0 1592, 1.15.0 1531, 1.17.3 1411, 1.25.1 1325, 1.14.5 1114; latest.yml of 1.15.1 was fetched 8631 times. Installers also serve auto-updates and our own mirror fetched every asset once, so these are not user counts DOC INFERRED4.
  • Early installers are the largest (about 1.14-1.22 GB per release in 0.x; 128-200 MB app.asar) because of the SVG icon set and per-platform Qt runtimes, not debug material. No private keys, PEM blocks, crypto-library strings or source maps exist in any early installer STATIC (our scan of the 0.0.1-0.1.1 installers).

How the vendor named and staged it

  • Naming (Kickstarter update 21, 2025-06-16): Naya Flow is the front end, Naya Core the bridge between Flow and the keyboard, Naya Firmware what runs on it; Core had been completely overhauled; "Naya Flow Version 1" was live with key remapping. In the release repository remapping first appears in 1.3.8 (2025-06-13: "custom key remapping", Press only, and a "completely redeveloped Naya Core"), three days before the update, so "Version 1" is the 1.3.x line DOC INFERRED (the dates and the matching wording)17.
  • Early stages: Batch 0 testers (100 units, shipped mid-January 2025) got firmware with a default QWERTY layout, "No remapping support", "No modules support" and limited wireless, and the first Flow build could only flash the keyboard. The public builds agree: the UI vocabulary of 0.0.1-0.1.1 (2025-03-19 to 2025-05-02) covers flashing, verifying and pairing only, and the 0.1.0 note (2025-05-01) still says only preloaded Tune configurations are supported; no note before 1.3.8 mentions remapping DOC STATIC161.
  • The stack as announced: remapping "between our custom ZMK firmware and Naya Flow" (campaign page, 2023-05); three layers, Naya Flow (the UI), the Core (drivers and plugins) and the Create firmware "based on a customized ZMK base" (update 9, 2023-12-07); every layer to hold 9 sublayers, 1 for the keyboard and 4 for each dock, stored on the board; profiles and layers exportable as JSON; no CLI at launch, an SDK and public API "eventually", license undecided (update 11, 2024-02-15). The FAQ answered that building and flashing custom ZMK layouts was not available "for now" DOC111213.
  • Why the schedule slipped (the vendor's account): Naya left the contract manufacturer that had built every prototype in early 2024 (update 12, 2024-03-01), signed two new ones that prototyped in parallel, chose one in July 2024 (update 14, 2024-07-24), and later reckoned about a year was lost to the switch (update 25, 2025-09-11). Batch 0 (100 test units) shipped mid-January 2025; all Kickstarter pledges had shipped by 2025-09-11. NayaFlow's public releases (2025-03-19 on) all fall after the change DOC14151618.
  • The help-center pages the notes cite ("Input Source Selection JIS", "Force Flashing Naya Modules", "Default Templates v2 Update", "Module no longer turns ON: Battery Recovery", "Clearing Keymap Data", "Naya Create not typing after update") are gone: the host does not resolve and the Wayback Machine copies hold page shells only MEASURED (access checks, 2026-09-23).

Open questions

  • OPEN Whether 1.19.1 or later shipped a Linux NayaCore (details).
  • OPEN Beta 1.10.0's NayaCore version; the keyboard firmware of the 0.0.x-1.11.11 images.
  • OPEN How the beta-only firmware (3.39.4, 3.40.0, 3.40.4) behaves on a board.
  • OPEN Whether the five component repositories other than NayaFlow-releases ever held anything (details).
  • OPEN Whether 1.6.10 already used ZeroMQ between UI and service (details).

Sources

  1. Vendor release notes, NayaTech/NayaFlow-releases, mirrored in create-legacy-firmware CHANGELOG.md. ↩↩↩↩↩↩

  2. Vendor release notes of the beta channel, NayaTech/NayaFlow-beta-releases, read 2026-09-23. ↩↩↩↩↩↩

  3. create-legacy-firmware, github.com/create-collective/create-legacy-firmware (download.log, verify.py, firmware-history/, FIRMWARE-HISTORY.md). ↩↩

  4. create-legacy-firmware, MANIFEST.json (GitHub release metadata of all 25 stable releases, captured 2026-09-14). ↩↩↩↩

  5. create-legacy-firmware, CHANGELOG.md. ↩

  6. create-legacy-firmware, firmware-history-beta/MANIFEST.json and FIRMWARE-HISTORY.md, "Beta channel". ↩↩↩

  7. create-legacy-firmware, FLASHING-PROCEDURE.md ("Architecture and its evolution", "Firmware bundle layout"). ↩↩

  8. create-legacy-firmware, FLASHING-PROCEDURE.md, "Native service binary". ↩↩

  9. nayactl, pull request #2 (text commands silent on 3.41.0). ↩

  10. nayactl, pull request #5. ↩

  11. Kickstarter campaign page, description and FAQ, read 2026-09-23. ↩

  12. Kickstarter update 9, 2023-12-07. ↩

  13. Kickstarter update 11, 2024-02-15. ↩

  14. Kickstarter update 12, 2024-03-01. ↩

  15. Kickstarter update 14, 2024-07-24. ↩

  16. Kickstarter update 19, 2025-02-11. ↩↩

  17. Kickstarter update 21, 2025-06-16. ↩

  18. Kickstarter update 25, 2025-09-11. ↩