nanoAnt

Keep a colony of ants.

Watch workers dig, forage and tend their brood. Click an ant to follow its life, or use the tools to change the nest, move food and care for the colony.

A desktop formicarium for Windows and Linux. The full release is planned for itch.io at £3.

Tester downloads See the controls
  • Windows 64-bit
  • Linux x86_64
  • 9 species · from black garden ants to army ants
  • 115 field-guide entries
  • Runs in real time or as a sandbox
The nanoAnt start screen: the living colony fills the window, drawn as cut paper with ink outlines, and a darkened sheet down the left holds the nanoAnt wordmark, the colony's status and the menu.
The start screen, with the living colony beside the menu.

What it does

Start with a queen and a small nest. Inspect individual ants, provide food and water, and watch the colony respond.

  • Every ant is an individualSelect an ant, a tile, a brood cell, a food item or a predator, and nanoAnt will explain what it is, what it is doing and the reason for it.
  • Real time or sandboxReal time follows your own clock, daylight and seasons. Sandbox lets you change time, weather and speed to see how the colony responds.
  • Hands in the glassLift and place ants, brood and food. Dig tunnels, change the soil or add water. Predators, disease and hazards are optional interventions.
  • The colony's own recordCharts over hours, days and months, together with the colony's lifetime acts and its maternal lineage.
  • It keeps living while you are awayOn your return, a report lists changes applied to the saved colony during your time away.
  • A quiet companionnanoAnt can be reduced to a thin strip at the edge of the screen, and reopened from the tray whenever required.
  • A field guide inside115 codex entries, which keep observed ant biology separate from the game's own modelled rules.
  • Nine speciesBlack garden, pavement, yellow meadow, silky, common red, harvester, carpenter, fire and army ants, each shown by its scientific and common name. Fire ants and army ants live in a heated nest; army ants move house every night of their nomadic phase; common red ants keep many queens; harvester and carpenter ants raise big-headed majors.
  • Drawn like cut paperClean ink outlines, flat colour with one hard shadow, and soil, clay and tunnels laid out like folded card. An optional grunge layer adds paper grain and worn ink, and the original grained look is one setting away.
  • Lenses on the unseenMoisture, temperature, depth, activity and the three pheromone trails can each be laid over the nest.

The screen, explained

Tools sit on the left; speed and lenses sit on the right. The nest remains visible between them. Menu opens records, settings and saving.

The nanoAnt game screen at midday, with numbered markers on each control: the title bar, the tool rail, the status strip, the colony, the speed control, the Lens button, the command bar and the WATCH pill.
  1. 1Tool railHand, Dig, Tile, Food, Water, Predator, Disease and Hazard. The number keys choose them.
  2. 2Status stripThe time, the weather above the nest, the day and season, the population and the mode.
  3. 3SpeedPause, half speed and up to eight times. Sandbox only; Real time keeps to your clock.
  4. 4LensLays moisture, temperature, depth, activity or a pheromone trail over the nest.
  5. 5The colonyClick anything to learn what it is and why it is there. Drag to move it, with the Hand.
  6. 6MenuZoom, the field guide, colonies, charts, lineage, upgrades, weather, settings and saving.
  7. 7Command barPress / and type a command, for those who prefer the keyboard.
  8. 8WATCHFollows an ant or a reading and keeps it in view as the colony goes about its business.

Controls

InputWhat it does
Left-clickInspect an ant, tile, brood cell, food item or predator
Drag, with the HandLift something and place it elsewhere
Hold the right button and dragMove around the nest
W A S D or the arrow keysMove around the nest
Mouse wheelZoom in and out
1 to 8Choose a tool from the rail
/Type a command
Esc or right-clickCancel, and return to the Hand

How the colony lives

Each worker passes through three stages before it walks out of the nursery. The chart below is drawn to scale from the figures the simulation uses, in game days.

Worker life cycle, to scale An egg takes 16.7 days, a larva 10.2 days and a pupa 14.5 days, so a worker emerges after 41.4 days. It then lives for about 150 days. Egg Larva Pupa Worker 16.7 d 10.2 d 14.5 d about 150 days of work day 0 41 100 150 191 A founding queen raises the first workers herself; after that, the nurses do.

Two ways to keep a colony

Real time

The colony keeps your clock. Daylight, the seasons and the weather are natural, and the speed cannot be changed.

  • Winter slows the colony; it survives on its stores.
  • Leave it running and read the report on your return.

Sandbox

Time and weather are yours. Pause, run at up to eight times, and set the weather to see what the colony makes of it.

  • Every tool is available in both modes.
  • Useful for seeing what a flood or a cold snap would do, before one arrives for real.

A closer look

The Hand tool selected on the rail, with its card explaining what it does and the keys that drive it.
Each tool explains itself: what it changes, and the keys that drive it.
The Lens list open under the speed control, listing every lens.
The Lens list: fields and pheromone trails over the nest.
The Menu open beside the rail, in two columns of controls.
The Menu, holding everything that is not a tool.
The colony charts, hours view, page 1 of 3: population and food in store as bar charts, each starting at zero with its latest reading beside the title.
The colony charts: population, food, brood, condition, threats, nest moisture and distance walked. Each starts at zero, and shows its latest reading and how far it has moved.
An inspection panel for one soil tile, listing moisture, temperature, oxygen and its contents.
Inspecting one tile of the nest.
A report listing the eggs laid and workers eclosed while the player was away.
The report waiting when you come back.
The compact companion strip showing the colony's status in a single row.
The compact companion strip, for keeping an eye on the colony whilst working.

How to install

Neither version needs administrator rights. Colony saves are stored separately from the program; keep them when uninstalling if you want to return to them.

Downloads for testers

nanoAnt 0.1.2a, build 39ed090. These are offered for a short test period and will be withdrawn afterwards. If you already have 0.1.1a, it offers this update itself the next time you open a colony. This test build stops starting on 26 October 2026; your save files are kept when the test period ends.

Windows installer11.7 MB · SHA-256 244c08c34397… Linux (x86_64)14.8 MB · SHA-256 c8d62fed76c1… Source code (zip)5.2 MB · SHA-256 56d5bacd5ee2…

The source code remains all rights reserved; see the LICENSE file inside the zip. Full checksums are listed in SHA256SUMS.txt.

Windows

  1. Download nanoAnt-setup-0.1.2a.exe from the tester downloads above. Once nanoAnt is on sale, it will also be available from itch.io.
  2. Double-click it. Should Windows show a blue “Windows protected your PC” panel, choose More info, then Run anyway.
  3. Choose whether to add a desktop shortcut, and whether nanoAnt should start when you sign in.
  4. Choose Install. nanoAnt opens when it has finished.
  5. Afterwards, open it from the Start menu under nanoAnt.
Where things are kept. The program installs to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\nanoAnt. Colonies are saved in %LOCALAPPDATA%\nanoAnt\saves.

To remove it

  1. Open Settings, then Apps, then Installed apps.
  2. Find nanoAnt and choose Uninstall.
  3. You will be asked whether to remove your colonies as well. No keeps them for a later reinstall.

Linux

  1. Download the Linux version from the tester downloads above and extract it to a folder of your choosing, for example with tar -xzf nanoAnt-0.1.2a-linux-x86_64.tar.gz.
  2. Open a terminal in that folder and start it with ./nanoant-native.
  3. To add nanoAnt to your applications menu, run python3 linux-desktop-integration.py install.
Where things are kept. Colonies and settings are saved in ~/.local/share/nanoAnt. A graphics driver with Vulkan or OpenGL support is required.

To remove it

  1. Run python3 linux-desktop-integration.py remove to take it out of the menu.
  2. Delete the folder you extracted. Delete ~/.local/share/nanoAnt as well only if the colonies are no longer wanted.

Get nanoAnt

VersionPriceWhere
Latest£3itch.io (coming soon), with Steam to follow
Older versionsFreeOn this page, below

A single purchase includes every later update. Older versions remain free for anyone who would prefer to try nanoAnt first.

Free download

Loading the current free version…

Updates

  • Free versionWhen a newer free version appears on this site, nanoAnt offers to download and install it. It saves your colony first, then closes, updates and reopens.
  • Bought copiesThe itch.io app and Steam keep bought copies up to date, and nanoAnt will inform you when a new version has been released.
  • What the check sendsAn ordinary web request for this site's version list. Nothing regarding you or your colony is sent, and the check can be turned off in the settings file.
  • Signed updatesnanoAnt checks the version-list signature and download checksum before installing an update.

System needs

Windows64-bit
Linuxx86_64
GraphicsA driver with Vulkan or OpenGL support
Screen800 × 450 or larger

Support

Send questions, problems or suggestions to support@nanonix.net. When reporting a problem, it would be greatly appreciated if you could mention your operating system and what the colony was doing at the time. The version appears in Settings and on the Credits page.