v0.1.7 - Auto-update works + Task Manager autostart

The auto-update path actually surfaces newer releases now, and Auto-start is wired through HKCU\Run so Tideline lives where Task Manager expects it.

Auto-update fixed

• Workflow now uploads releases.win.json + assets.win.json per channel. Velopack 0.0.1298's GithubSource parser reads those (the legacy RELEASES file alone returned "No remote full releases found"). From v0.1.7 onward the in-app banner will actually appear when a newer release is out.
• Settings -> About no longer freezes on "Checking..." after a manual check. UpdateService.CheckCompleted event drives a refresh.

Auto-start via HKCU\Run

• Tideline now appears in Task Manager -> Startup apps. Toggling there mirrors into Settings -> Auto-start and vice versa.
• App self-delays 8 seconds on logon (--startup arg) so it does not compete with other auto-start programs for boot resources. Quietly lands in the tray, no main window.
• Startup row reads Tideline for release builds, Tideline Development for Debug builds, so two side-by-side installs never collide.
• One-time migration: if you had Auto-start enabled on v0.1.6 or earlier (it used a Task Scheduler entry), v0.1.7 detects the legacy Tideline-AutoStart task on first launch, creates the equivalent HKCU\Run entry, and sweeps the task. A marker under %LocalAppData%\Tideline prevents the check from running again.

Tray menu

• Check for updates is no longer disabled. Triggers a fresh feed query (bypasses the once-per-session guard).

Requirements

• Windows 10 1809 or later, or Windows 11, x64
• Stream Deck app 6.5 or later

Privacy

Local-first SQLite. The Velopack update check is the only outbound network call. No telemetry, no accounts, no cloud sync.

Upgrade note

v0.1.6 and earlier installs still have the broken Velopack locator and cannot self-update. Reinstall from Tideline-win-Setup.exe below once.

Full Changelog: v0.1.6...v0.1.7

v0.1.6 - Working auto-update + Settings about card

Patch release. Auto-update actually works now, and Settings has an About card.

Critical fix

• Auto-update now detects newer releases. The release workflow installed the latest vpk CLI on every run, which produced an Update.exe whose protocol no longer matched the pinned Velopack NuGet inside the app. WindowsVelopackLocator then failed to initialise on every launch ("not installed or packaged properly"), silently disabling the in-app update check. The workflow now pins vpk --version 0.0.1298 to match the library, so installs from this release onward have a working update flow.
  • Note: existing v0.1.4 / v0.1.5 installs cannot self-update to fix the locator. Reinstall using Tideline-win-Setup.exe from this release once.

Settings -> About

• App name (brand-aware: shows "Tideline Development" on Debug builds).
• Version (from AssemblyInformationalVersion, falls back to file version).
• Build (Debug / Release).
• Install status (Velopack install vs source / dev build).
• Update status (Up to date / Checking / Downloading / Update X.Y ready / error).
• Check for updates button and Open releases page button.

Tray menu

• The Check for updates row is no longer disabled. Clicking it triggers the same manual update check (bypassing the once-per-session guard).

Requirements

• Windows 10 1809 or later, or Windows 11, x64
• Stream Deck app 6.5 or later (for the custom plugin)

Privacy

Local-first SQLite. The Velopack update check is the only outbound network call. No telemetry. No accounts. No cloud sync.

Full Changelog: v0.1.5...v0.1.6

v0.1.5 - Capture and title bar polish

Patch release. Visual polish for the capture overlay and the main window title bar.

Capture overlay

• No more white outline. Swap the overlapped presenter for OverlappedPresenter.CreateForContextMenu, a borderless popup-style window with no NC frame for Windows to draw on.
• Cleaner edges. New rounded shell (10 px corners + hairline border), a slim accent rail inside the rounded corners, and the TextBox now merges with the surface (no focus underline, no pointer-over background).
• Auto-focus works. Force foreground via AttachThreadInput + SetForegroundWindow and defer Focus(FocusState.Programmatic) to the next dispatcher tick (with one retry) so the input is ready instantly when raised by the hotkey or the named pipe.

Main window title bar

• Close button no longer stuck on red. Set the full AppWindow.TitleBar.Button*Color set (transparent normal + inactive backgrounds, subtle white tint on hover and press, consistent foregrounds) so the system caption buttons read as idle when the cursor is in the content area.
• No launch focus ring. Reroute the first activation to ContentFrame.Focus(FocusState.Pointer) and set UseSystemFocusVisuals=False on the frame so the keyboard focus rectangle does not paint on the first nav item.

Carried over

All v0.1.4 features, including in-app update banner on launch, dev brand (Tideline Development, orange logo) for Debug builds, tideline-capture.exe shipped inside the install, and the SDK 6 Stream Deck plugin.

Requirements

• Windows 10 1809 or later, or Windows 11, x64
• Stream Deck app 6.5 or later (for the custom plugin)

Privacy

Local-first SQLite. The Velopack update check is the only outbound network call. No telemetry. No accounts. No cloud sync.

Full Changelog: v0.1.4...v0.1.5

v0.1.4 - Auto-update on launch + dev brand

What's new

• In-app update check on launch. Tideline now asks the GitHub release feed (via Velopack) for a newer version exactly once per session. If one is found, the package downloads in the background and a banner appears at the top of the window: "Tideline X.Y.Z is ready to install. Restart to apply." Click Restart and install and Velopack swaps the app on relaunch.
  • Never blocks launch. Network failures land in crash.log and are otherwise silent.
  • Skipped in dev / source builds (no Velopack install metadata).
• Dev brand. Debug builds now display as Tideline Development with a distinct orange wave logo (vs the blue wave for releases). Window title, tray tooltip, capture overlay title all switch. Combined with the Tideline-dev data folder, a dotnet run is visually and functionally isolated from your installed copy.
• Capture overlay polish.
  • White system border removed via DWMWA_BORDER_COLOR = COLOR_NONE, applied on first activation so the Windows 11 default does not override it.
  • Hotkey-triggered captures now steal foreground and focus the text input immediately (AttachThreadInput + SetForegroundWindow + FocusState.Keyboard), so you can start typing right away even if another app had focus.
• Stream Deck plugin install fix. The v0.1.2 bundle was missing bin/plugin.js because the bin/ folder matched the .NET build-output gitignore. The rule is now scoped so the plugin entry ships in the bundle.
• Capture helper bundled in installs. tideline-capture.exe lives at %LocalAppData%\Tideline\current\tideline-capture.exe alongside Tideline.exe.

Try the auto-update flow

1. Install this release.
2. When a future release is tagged, launch Tideline. The banner shows up after a couple of seconds.
3. Click Restart and install.

Carried over

• All v0.1.0 features: capture, briefing, list/stream, spaces/tags, attachments, checklists, filter language, saved views, auto-start, themes, local-first SQLite.

Requirements

• Windows 10 1809 or later, or Windows 11, x64
• Stream Deck app 6.5 or later (for the custom plugin)

Privacy

Local-first SQLite. The update check is the only outbound network call. No telemetry. No accounts. No cloud sync.

Full Changelog: v0.1.3...v0.1.4

v0.1.3 - Fix Stream Deck plugin install

Hotfix for v0.1.2.

Fix

• Stream Deck plugin now installs. The v0.1.2 bundle shipped without bin/plugin.js because bin/ was caught by the .NET build-output gitignore rule and the file was never committed. The plugin entry point was missing, Stream Deck rejected the install with "Unable to install com.tideline.capture.sdPlugin". The rule is now scoped so the plugin's bin/ is tracked while the workflow-generated tideline-capture.exe stays ignored.

How to recover from a failed v0.1.2 install attempt

1. Download Tideline.streamDeckPlugin from this release.
2. Double-click. Stream Deck installs the plugin under Tideline -> Capture to Tideline.
3. Drag the action onto a button.
4. Press the button. The capture overlay opens.

Carried over

• Velopack install ships tideline-capture.exe next to Tideline.exe.
• Debug builds isolate to %LocalAppData%\Tideline-dev.
• See v0.1.0 release notes for the full v1 feature list.

Requirements

• Windows 10 1809 or later, or Windows 11, x64
• Stream Deck app 6.5 or later

Privacy

Local-first SQLite. No telemetry. No accounts. No cloud sync.

Full Changelog: v0.1.2...v0.1.3

v0.1.2 - Stream Deck plugin actually works

Patch release. The Stream Deck plugin now works.

What's new

• Stream Deck plugin ported to SDK 6 (Node runtime). The previous v0.1.0 / v0.1.1 bundle was scaffolded against SDK v2, which runs HTML in a Chromium sandbox with no Node access. That meant plugin.js could not spawn tideline-capture.exe, and the property inspector inputs felt like they were not saving. The rewrite uses Node 20, the ws package for the Stream Deck WebSocket, and spawns the helper directly on key press.
• Default tideline-capture.exe path resolves to the standard Velopack install location (%LocalAppData%\Tideline\current\tideline-capture.exe), so most users do not need to type a path at all.
• Property inspector saves on every input, change, and blur so configured paths and pre-filled text stay across re-opens.

Install the plugin

1. Download Tideline.streamDeckPlugin from this release.
2. Double-click. Stream Deck imports it and lists Tideline -> Capture to Tideline.
3. Drag the action onto a button.
4. (Optional) Open the action's property inspector to override the helper path or set a pre-filled note body.
5. Press the button. The capture overlay opens.

Carried over from v0.1.1

• Velopack install ships tideline-capture.exe alongside Tideline.exe.
• Debug builds isolate to %LocalAppData%\Tideline-dev.

See v0.1.0 release notes for the full feature list.

Requirements

• Windows 10 1809 or later, or Windows 11
• x64
• Stream Deck app 6.5 or later (for SDK 6 plugin support)

Privacy

Local-first SQLite. No telemetry. No accounts. No cloud sync.

Full Changelog: v0.1.1...v0.1.2

v0.1.1 - Capture helper in install, dev data folder

Patch release.

What's new

• Velopack install now ships tideline-capture.exe alongside Tideline.exe. After install it sits at `%LocalAppData%\Tideline\current\tideline-capture.exe`, so Stream Deck buttons and shell shortcuts can point at it directly. v0.1.0 only had it inside the .streamDeckPlugin bundle.
• Debug builds isolate to %LocalAppData%\Tideline-dev. A `dotnet run` from a checkout will never touch the installed app's notes.db, theme.txt, attachments, or crash.log. TIDELINE_DATA_DIR still overrides both.
• Documented Stream Deck plugin status. The bundled Tideline.streamDeckPlugin was scaffolded against SDK v2 (HTML in a Chromium webview, no Node), so it cannot spawn the helper. Use Stream Deck's built-in System -> Open action against tideline-capture.exe for now. SDK 6 port tracked in OPEN_QUESTIONS.md.

Carried over from v0.1.0

See the v0.1.0 release notes for the full feature list.

Install

Download Tideline-*-Setup.exe below. SmartScreen will warn (build is unsigned): More info -> Run anyway.

Stream Deck quick start

1. Stream Deck app -> drag System -> Open onto a button.
2. App / File: `C:\Users<you>\AppData\Local\Tideline\current\tideline-capture.exe`.
3. Press the button -> capture overlay opens.

Pass --text "..." to capture inline, --show to bring the main window forward.

Requirements

• Windows 10 1809 or later, or Windows 11
• x64

Privacy

Local-first SQLite. No telemetry. No accounts. No cloud sync.

Full Changelog: v0.1.0...v0.1.1

v0.1.0 - First public release

Tideline v0.1.0 - the first public release.

Time-aware notes that resurface with the tide.

See docs/plans/SPEC.md for the full design and HANDOFF.md for the v1 milestone status.

Highlights

• Capture from anywhere with Ctrl+Alt+N or a Stream Deck button. Borderless acrylic overlay, Enter saves, Esc cancels.
• Tray resident, single-instance, close-to-tray. Quit lives in the tray menu.
• Briefing on launch, tray click, and window focus. Ranked by a date-driven score with Pinned, Overdue, Due today, Nudges, and Aged someday buckets.
• The List: one prioritised note stream with an inline filter language, for example #work due:thisweek any:#idea,#someday space:learning.
• Stream: chronological chat-with-yourself feed, virtualised.
• Saved views: save any filter and reopen it from the sidebar.
• Spaces and Tags, two light organising layers. Never nested folders. Inline #hashtags parsed on capture.
• Reminders, due dates, recurrence (RRULE string), and quick-snooze options (+1h, Tonight, Tomorrow, Next week).
• Checklists with - [ ] / - [x] and a progress chip on the list card.
• Attachments as references: files, folders, and URLs; the database stays small and the originals stay where you keep them.
• Auto-start via Task Scheduler with an 8-second log-on delay (no fight for boot resources).
• System / Light / Dark theme. WinUI 3 + Mica + system accent. Custom title bar with the wave logo.
• Local-first SQLite at %LOCALAPPDATA%\Tideline\notes.db. No telemetry. No accounts. No cloud sync.
• Conservative archive purge: archived notes past 90 days are removed at launch only; pinned notes are never purged.

Install

1. Download Tideline-*-Setup.exe from the assets below.
2. Windows SmartScreen will show an "unknown publisher" warning because this build is unsigned. Click More info -> Run anyway.
3. Tideline launches to the tray. Press Ctrl+Alt+N to capture a thought.

Stream Deck plugin

Download Tideline.streamDeckPlugin from the assets and double-click to install. The included tideline-capture helper talks to the local named pipe \.\pipe\tideline so the plugin never touches the database directly.

Requirements

• Windows 10 1809 or later, or Windows 11
• x64

Privacy

All data lives only in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Tideline\notes.db. The only outbound network call is the opt-in update check (placeholder in this release, see below).

Known gaps in v0.1.0

• VelopackApp lifecycle hooks are wired, but the app does not yet call UpdateManager for in-process self-update.
• No inline natural-language date parsing in the capture overlay; use the date and time pickers in the Note edit dialog.
• Attachments are stored as file, folder, or URL references; pasted-image copy is not yet implemented.
• Summary toast notifications are not yet emitted; the Briefing carries this signal in-app.
• Optional kanban lens deliberately not built (SPEC section 22 grouping question).
• Code signing not yet in place (see SmartScreen note above).
• Tray context menu uses the native Win32 popup for reliability (no auto-dismiss on cursor leave), so menu items render as plain text without inline icons or accelerator hints.

Verify it yourself

```powershell
dotnet test tests/Tideline.Core.Tests/Tideline.Core.Tests.csproj
dotnet build src/Tideline.App/Tideline.App.csproj -c Debug -r win-x64
dotnet build tools/Tideline.CaptureClient/Tideline.CaptureClient.csproj -c Debug
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File tools/harness/Run-IpcSmoke.ps1
```
All four should be green. The harness exercises capture end-to-end through the named pipe.

Thanks

Built primarily for the author, published openly under MIT so anyone can use, fork, or improve it.

What's Changed

• feat: tideline v1 core (milestones 1 through 13) by @BENZOOgataga in #1

New Contributors

• @BENZOOgataga made their first contribution in #1

Full Changelog: https://github.com/BENZOOgataga/Tideline/commits/v0.1.0