Kern 0.2.3

What's new

Tasks that run from their start date to their due date

• A task with a start date is drawn as one bar across the calendar, covering every day from the day it starts to the day it's due.
• Dragging a bar moves the whole run. Pick it up on any of its days and its length and its start date come with it, instead of the due date jumping behind the start.
• A run that reaches across a whole month now shows on that month, even when neither end of it falls inside the view.

Copying tasks into another project

• Copy to project on a task, or on a multi-selection, copies it into another project and leaves the original where it is.
• The checklist comes too, along with labels, dates and the estimate. The board column and the milestone stay behind, because the other project has its own.
• Undo removes the copies.

Who wrote a task

• In a Kern Cloud workspace, a task row ends with the picture of the person who created it, at the far right.
• Turn it off under Settings → Appearance → Tasks, or for one view from its display menu.

Notes at the full width of the pane

• Wide lets a note run the whole width of the editor, for tables, wide code and pasted output that a measured column breaks into pieces.
• The toggle is in the note's own toolbar; the default for every note is in Settings → Interaction → Writing.

Fixes

• Task circles are one tone again. Priority reads as the weight of the ring rather than its colour, so a list of tasks no longer looks mottled between white, off-white and grey.
• The drag handle on a task row is much easier to grab. It now reaches the full height of the row rather than sitting in a 14-pixel strip, so reordering doesn't need aiming.

Install

Windows: download Kern_0.2.3_x64-setup.exe. Existing installs update themselves.

This release is Windows only; Linux builds stay on 0.2.0.

Kern 0.2.2

What's new

Flowcharts on whiteboards

• Six new flowchart shapes in the shape menu: terminator, decision, data, preparation, database and document.
• Paste Mermaid… turns a Mermaid flowchart into real Kern shapes and connectors, laid out for you.
• Copy as Mermaid goes the other way, so a board can be pasted into anything that reads Mermaid.

Spellcheck in notes

• Misspelled words are underlined as you type, with corrections on right-click.
• Turn it off in Settings → Editor.

Fixes

• Kern Cloud sync no longer flickers between Syncing and a failure. A failed round now waits out its backoff instead of being retried on every keystroke, changes the server won't settle are reported once instead of being sent in a loop, and the reason for a failure is shown rather than guessed at.
• The ⋯ menu on a task or card stays where it opened. Moving the pointer towards it used to hide the button underneath, and the menu would jump to the corner of the window.
• Start minimised and Start maximised can no longer both be on; choosing one releases the other.
• The first time the window disappears into the tray, Kern says so — it looked exactly like closing. With the tray icon turned off, minimising or closing no longer hides the window at all, which previously left no way back to it.
• Signing out when Kern Cloud can't be reached now says the session is still live on the server, instead of claiming you're signed out everywhere.

Install

Windows: download Kern_0.2.2_x64-setup.exe. Existing installs update themselves.

This release is Windows only; Linux builds stay on 0.2.0.

Kern 0.2.1

What's new

Passkeys, and locks for individual projects

• Register Windows Hello (face, fingerprint or PIN) or a USB security key in Settings → Privacy & security, then require one to open any project you choose.
• A locked project keeps its name in the sidebar but gives up nothing else until a passkey answers for it: no tasks, notes, whiteboards, comments, attachments, search hits, recents, counts or linked folders.
• Set how long a project stays open after you unlock it, from a few minutes to until Kern quits.
• Passkeys belong to the computer they were made on, while the lock itself follows the project across your devices — so each computer registers its own passkey to open it. If you lose a security key or reset Windows Hello, a reset clears every passkey and lock on that computer so nothing is ever stranded.
• Worth being clear about: this is an access gate on the running app, not encryption. Your database file holds the same rows as before, so treat it as a lock on the front door rather than a safe.

More privacy controls

• Blur the window when you switch to another app, so nothing is readable over your shoulder.
• Keep text out of notifications, showing only that something happened.
• Expire folder trust after a number of days, so a folder you trusted once doesn't stay trusted forever.
• Turn off the list of recently opened projects, notes and whiteboards.
• Turn off syntax highlighting downloads separately from the main network switch.

Install

Windows: download Kern_0.2.1_x64-setup.exe. Existing installs update themselves.

This release is Windows only. Linux builds stay on 0.2.0 for now and will catch up in the next release.

Kern 0.2.0

What's new

Linux builds are back

• Kern ships for Linux again, for the first time since 0.1.5: a .deb, an .rpm and an AppImage, built against an older glibc so they run on current Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch and their derivatives.
• The AppImage keeps itself up to date the way the Windows build does. .deb and .rpm installs update through your package manager.

Plan your week, and your day

• Day planner — lay your day out beside your calendar, drag tasks into the time you'll actually do them, and have Kern fill the gaps with what's left over.
• Weekly review — a once-a-week look at what you finished, what slipped and what's coming, with a reminder you can set to any day and time.

Habits

• Track habits daily (on the weekdays you choose) or a number of times a week, with streaks, a 30-day completion rate and a dashboard widget.

Calendar subscriptions

• Subscribe to a Google, Outlook, Apple or any other ICS calendar. Subscriptions are read-only, refreshed in the background, and never write back to the calendar.
• Events sit alongside your tasks in the calendar and the day planner.
• Your own tasks can be exported as an ICS file, once or on every change.

Comments, mentions and sharing

• Comment on tasks, and @mention a workspace member to notify them.
• Share a project or a task as a read-only link for people who don't use Kern.

Templates

• Save a project, task or note as a template and start from it again later, from the command palette or the create dialog.

Import from another app

• Bring projects and tasks across from Todoist, Trello, Linear, Notion or any CSV, in Settings → Data. Board columns, subtasks, labels, priorities, due dates and checklists come over where the export includes them.

Capture from anywhere

• Send notes straight to your Inbox from your phone, through a private page you add to the home screen, or by emailing a private address. Both are one click to set up under Kern Cloud.

AI actions

• Break a task into steps, pull tasks out of a note, draft a weekly review, or ask a question about a project and get an answer from its own data. As with catch-up, nothing leaves your computer unless you've turned on network and AI content access, you can preview exactly what would be sent, key-shaped strings are redacted, and answers have to cite what they were given.

Smaller things

• Estimates vs. actual in the sessions report: how long finished tasks really took against what you estimated, and which were furthest off.
• Kern Lite can have its own system-wide shortcut, so it opens from any app.
• Today's tasks in the tray menu, to tick off without opening Kern.
• Notes show backlinks — the notes and tasks that link to them.

Fixed

• Update checks read latest.json instead of the rate-limited GitHub API, so Kern no longer sometimes reported no update when one was out.

Install

• Windows x64: Kern_0.2.0_x64-setup.exe (installs for the current user) or the .msi (for every user on the computer).
• Linux x64: the .deb or .rpm for your distribution, or Kern_0.2.0_amd64.AppImage (chmod +x it, then run it).
• Coming from 0.1.9 or earlier? Install this version by hand once. From there on, Kern updates itself.

Kern 0.1.12

What's new

Quieter updates

• From this version on, updates to Kern installed with the .exe happen entirely inside Kern. The separate installer window no longer appears, and Kern reopens by itself when the update is done.
• If you installed Kern with the .msi, Windows still asks for permission while updating, because those installs are for every user on the computer.

About this release

• This release is marked as a required update to check that security updates install automatically. It doesn't fix a security issue, and nothing you need to act on was found.

Install

• Windows x64: Kern_0.1.12_x64-setup.exe (installs for the current user) or the .msi.
• Coming from 0.1.9 or earlier? Install this version by hand once. From here on, Kern updates itself.
• Linux: packages for this release aren't built yet. Until then, use the 0.1.5 packages (without Kern Cloud).

Kern 0.1.11

What's new

This is a small release to check that updating from inside Kern works. Nothing else has changed since 0.1.10.

• If you're on 0.1.10, click Update available in the sidebar. Kern downloads this version, installs it, reopens itself and shows these notes.

Install

• Windows x64: Kern_0.1.11_x64-setup.exe (installs for the current user) or the .msi.
• Coming from 0.1.9 or earlier? Install this version by hand once. From here on, Kern updates itself.
• Linux: packages for this release aren't built yet. Until then, use the 0.1.5 packages (without Kern Cloud).

Kern 0.1.10

What's new

Updates inside Kern

• One click to update. When a new version is out, click Update available in the sidebar (or Update to … in Settings → About). Kern downloads it, installs it and reopens itself. No more downloading installers by hand.
• Safe by design. Updates are signed, and Kern only installs ones that carry Kern's signature.
• Nothing is lost if it fails. If the download fails, Kern tries up to three times. If it still can't finish, it goes back to the version you were using.
• See what changed. After updating, a What's new window shows the release notes for the new version. You can open it again any time from Settings → About.

Security updates

• Releases that fix a security issue install automatically. Kern updates itself as soon as it notices one, even if you skipped some updates in between.
• If a security update can't finish (for example, while you're offline), you can keep working, and Kern tries again every 10 minutes and each time it starts.
• Kern only checks for updates when network access is on in Settings → Privacy.

Install

• Windows x64: Kern_0.1.10_x64-setup.exe (installs for the current user) or the .msi.
• Coming from 0.1.9 or earlier? Install this version by hand once. From here on, Kern updates itself.
• Linux: packages for this release aren't built yet. Until then, use the 0.1.5 packages (without Kern Cloud).

Kern 0.1.9

What's new

Task relations

• Blocked by, blocking, related and duplicates. Link tasks from the new Relations section in a task's details. Pick the kind of link, then search for the other task.
• Blocked tasks show it. A task waiting on open tasks gets a dashed checkbox and a ⊘ count on its row. The daily briefing doesn't suggest it until it's free.
• Unblocking happens for you. When you close a task's last blocker, a task marked Blocked goes back to To Do, and Kern tells you which tasks were unblocked.
• Kern won't let two tasks block each other, directly or through a chain of other tasks.

Cancelled and duplicate tasks

• Close a task as Cancelled from the status menu, or as a Duplicate by marking it a duplicate of another task. Its checkbox shows a cross instead of a tick.
• Cancelled and duplicate tasks don't count towards your completed totals, streaks or the activity heatmap.
• The status menu now also works when several tasks are selected.

Views that fit how you work

• A new Display menu in My Tasks and saved views brings grouping, ordering and display options together.
• Group by label or milestone, as well as project, due date, priority and status. A task with several labels appears under each one.
• Sub-grouping splits each group again, for example by priority and then by status.
• Show sub-tasks lists sub-tasks alongside top-level tasks.
• Display properties choose which details rows show in this view: project, due date, priority, labels, sub-tasks and estimate. Views remember their settings.

Label colours

• Labels have colours. Choose from the project palette or pick a custom colour in Settings → Labels or on a label's page.
• New labels get their own colour automatically.
• Colours show on task rows, board cards, task details, label pickers, filters and label group headers.

Richer task notes

• A task's notes use the same editor as Notes. Type / for headings, lists and checklists, and the / menu works in Notes too.

Fixes

• Board: pressing Enter after opening a card's ⋯ menu no longer freezes the card so that it can't be moved. The same fix applies to a column's menu.

Install

• Windows x64: Kern_0.1.9_x64-setup.exe (installs for the current user) or the .msi.
• Linux: packages for this release aren't built yet. Until then, use the 0.1.5 packages (without Kern Cloud).

Kern 0.1.8

What's new

Kern Lite

A tiny, distraction-free task tracker built into Kern, over the same data, so everything you do shows up in Kern (and Kern Cloud) at once.

• Just tasks. A slim sidebar that expands to show Today, Inbox, All tasks and your projects, and one list with the basics: title, due date, priority and project.
• Quick to use. Type a task and press Enter; "tomorrow p1 #Website" sets the date, priority and project. Press N or / to jump to the input, Ctrl+Z to undo.
• Satisfying. Ticking a task pops, strikes through and folds it away into Done today, a ring fills as your day progresses, and clearing a list earns a little confetti.
• Stays out of the way. Its own small window size, and an optional keep on top pin.
• Open it from the new Kern Lite Start menu shortcut, the tray menu, the button at the bottom of the sidebar, or Ctrl+K → Switch to Kern Lite.
• Choose at startup. Kern asks whether to open Kern or Kern Lite. Tick Remember my choice, or set it in Settings → General → When Kern starts.

Make it yours

• Customize project (in a project's menu): name, description, 80 icons or any emoji, 16 colours or a custom one, which sections show, which one opens first, group and pin.
• Workspaces get the same icons, emoji and colours, plus an option to tint Kern with the workspace colour for everyone in it.

Your activity

• Settings → About is redesigned, with Your year in Kern: a heatmap of tasks completed each day, your current and longest streaks and your best day.
• The same heatmap appears in Settings → Account & Cloud, and as a new Activity Heatmap dashboard widget (3 months, 6 months or a year).

Fixes and polish

• Switching account or cloud space now refreshes the whole app immediately, instead of waiting for a click.
• Account & Cloud: the account row is laid out properly, and buttons wrap onto a new line instead of being cut off in narrow windows.
• A cleaned-up logo throughout the app and for the app icon.
• Repeated notifications (such as completing several tasks) collapse into one.
• And a couple of secrets for the curious.

Install

• Windows x64: Kern_0.1.8_x64-setup.exe (installs for the current user) or the .msi. The setup also adds a Kern Lite shortcut to the Start menu.
• Linux: packages for this release aren't built yet; until then, use the 0.1.5 packages (without Kern Cloud).

Kern 0.1.7

What's new

Streams (Kern Cloud)

Streams are addresses your website or services send to, such as a "Report a bug" button, a feedback form or a failing CI job. Each submission becomes a task, an inbox item or a GitHub issue in a cloud space. Owners and admins open them from the space menu → Streams…, or with Ctrl+K → Open streams.

• Ready to paste. Start from a bug report form, feedback-to-Inbox, CI → GitHub issue or a general webhook. Kern generates the HTML form, JavaScript, cURL, Node.js or Python to send with, and you can preview or send a test straight from the app.
• Lands where you want it. Choose the project, board column, status, priority (or map a submitted field such as severity to a priority), labels and a due date. Title and body templates control what the task says.
• GitHub issues. Open an issue as well as, or instead of, a task, using a fine-grained token that's stored encrypted and never shown again. When the task's project is connected to the same repository, the task and issue start linked and stay in sync.
• Locked down. Public streams for web pages, secret tokens or signed requests (HMAC with replay protection) for servers and CI. Secrets can be rotated with a grace period. Allowed websites, an IP allowlist, rate limits, a honeypot, optional Cloudflare Turnstile, blocked senders, duplicate detection and field validation.
• Safe content. Submitted Markdown is escaped, and @-mentions and #references are neutralised in GitHub issues.
• Delivery log. See every submission and what happened to it. Inspect it, redeliver it, or block its sender. Optionally get a notification in Kern or by email.

Full documentation: https://kern.chrisrelf.xyz/docs/streams.html

Also

• Stream changes (created, paused, secrets rotated or revealed…) appear in a workspace's activity log.
• A new setting, Settings → Account & Cloud → Stream notifications, turns off in-app notifications for stream deliveries.

Install

• Windows x64: Kern_0.1.7_x64-setup.exe (installs for the current user) or the .msi.
• Linux: packages for this release aren't built yet; until then, use the 0.1.5 packages (without Kern Cloud).