The pieces

niminal is one language, one audio server and three ways to work with it. You always run the server (niminal server); then you open the client you like. All of them connect to it on port 7401.

Program	What it is	You use it when
niminal	The audio server. Compiles instruments, effects and routing into sound, and plays the notes it is sent.	Always — it is what you hear.
VS Code extension	Your editor, with highlighting, diagnostics, and evaluate-while-playing. It runs the live sequencer for you.	You write .nml files in VS Code or Cursor.
Stage	A desktop app for live coding: an editor beside scenes, lanes and meters, with the live sequencer built in.	You want to perform from one window.
Tracker	A desktop app with a pattern grid, a mixer and a code pane. Keeps its own project of patterns, tracks, instruments and effects.	You would rather type notes into a grid than into text.
niminal-live	The live sequencer, on the command line, and the language server behind the editors. Owns tempo, meter, clips, scenes, patterns and arrangements, and renders a file to WAV.	You work from a terminal, or want to render.

The tracker does not use the sequencer at all. More than one client can play on the same server at once: a client’s notes belong to its own connection.

Two halves of one file

A .nml file is a single language, but its two halves are read by different programs.

• The server’s half — instruments, effects, samples, envelopes, functions, routing, modules. niminal compiles these into sound. This is most of the language reference.
• The sequencer’s half — tempo, meter, clips, scenes, mini-notation patterns, arrangements. niminal-live reads these and turns them into notes with times; the server never sees that text.

That is why every page of the language reference says which program runs what it describes: Compiled by niminal, Read by niminal-live, or Read by both programs. If you only want to write instruments and play notes from a program of your own, you can ignore the sequencer’s half and use the engine API directly.

The tracker is the same language again for its instruments and effects, in its own project file rather than a .nml file.

Which one do I need?

I want to…	Use
hear an instrument I just wrote	niminal server, and any client to play it
loop a pattern and change it while it plays	the editor extension, or Stage
type notes into a grid, with a mixer and effect chains	the tracker
turn a file into a WAV	niminal-live render
play notes from my own program	the engine API
replay a session a server recorded	niminal replay