Changelog

Changelog

1.0.0

• Add an optional update service that keeps updates working when download names or supported package formats change. Every update is verified before installation.
• Add Linux tar.gz and macOS DMG downloads alongside the existing ZIP packages.
• Support Windows ZIP and MSI; Linux ZIP, tar.gz, DEB, RPM and Arch packages; and macOS ZIP and DMG in the new update service.
• Approve updates that need an intermediate version once, then let the manager finish the remaining steps automatically. Supported installer updates can also reuse one administrator approval.
• Set up macOS build tools without installing 7-Zip. It remains optional for compressed .7z backups.
• Improve the macOS DMG with a clearer drag-to-Applications layout.
• Fix Windows updates with intermediate steps failing when the installation folder contains spaces.
• Prevent manager updates from interrupting builds running in either Manager or Builder.
• Preserve macOS library locations when updating a manager installed in a shared Applications folder.
• Correct revision numbers in Arch Linux installer packages.
• Fix broken help links in portable Linux downloads.
• Reorganize the codebase and separate large test sections to make future fixes and improvements easier to maintain, while preserving existing behavior.

0.9.0

• Include manager updates in periodic update checks while the manager is open, using the same interval as installed apps. Updates still require your approval.
• Show New badges only during the first 14 days after a Craft app's repository was created, for both fresh manager installs and existing users. Viewing an app clears its badge sooner; app updates do not reset the timer.
• Recognize custom GitHub apps using verified installer, package, and bundle identities, even when their names differ from the repository.
• Remember the selected executable for portable copies and packages with multiple applications. Keep portable choices working after moving their installation folder.
• Target the selected installation when verifying installs and uninstalling, and preserve existing copies when identity cannot be confirmed.
• Reject unsupported download architectures and recognize more Windows installation version formats.
• Let users explicitly identify an existing Windows app when its installer makes no registration change.
• Avoid duplicate application choices for per-user Windows installations.
• Preserve supported Linux desktop launcher arguments and environment settings, and keep the previous app identity when installation fails or is cancelled.
• Fix macOS manager updates failing because another application in the same folder contains symbolic links, while preserving update security checks.
• Show saved macOS update failures once instead of repeating them on every launch, and retain their diagnostic details for troubleshooting.

0.8.3

• Support platform-specific manager update revisions, with verified downloads and revision details for troubleshooting.
• Keep existing update paths available for older managers. Minor platform fixes can be delivered without updating unaffected platforms.
• Fix a Linux accessibility startup error caused by conflicting credential-store runtime settings.

Linux Rev. 2

• Show What's New once after a revision update, preserving existing dismissal records.
• Give Manager and Builder matching desktop identities so Linux desktops can associate their windows with the correct launcher and icon.
• Fix closing to the system tray on X11 and XWayland. On native Wayland, the unsupported setting is disabled and closing quits normally. Keep the manager able to start when XWayland is unavailable.
• Show AppImage installations as AppImage in installation selectors and package details, including existing installations. Preserve installation selections and portable letters.

0.8.2

• Switch between installations directly from Home. The selected copy stays synchronized with the app page.
• Discover new Craft apps automatically, with descriptions and a New badge. Newly discovered apps stay at the top of available apps, even after you view them.
• Identify portable copies with matching letters in desktop shortcuts and installation selectors. Existing copies keep their letters through updates and moves; new installations reuse the first available letter after removal. Selectors show versions with a v prefix and letters in parentheses.
• Shorten installer shortcut names to the app name and architecture, such as FilmCraft (x64). Shortcut removal preserves user-edited shortcuts.
• Hide the Activity notification badge with a new setting. Unread highlights remain visible inside Activity.
• Improve installation transitions, progress-bar alignment, and light-theme badges. What's New has clearer highlights and a subtle animated underline on its patch-notes link.
• Preserve additional installations more reliably when saving settings, and improve detection of older portable copies.
• Store additional portable library copies directly in numbered app folders. Uninstall removes empty legacy wrapper folders while preserving user-selected parents and folders containing other files. New installs and moves no longer create extra shortcuts in the releases folder.
• Remove empty app download folders after installer cleanup, while preserving retained setup files, recovery packages and other downloads.
• Keep installer destinations separate from portable locations when changing versions or install options. Use architecture-appropriate Program Files defaults on Windows and prevent new installer copies from using manager storage folders.
• Clean temporary files after interrupted builds, even without a completed build. Cleanup is blocked while building and preserves completed builds and source ZIPs.
• Fix PDFCraft source builds using the wrong package name after its upstream rename.
• Restore portable backups to the selected installation with the correct architecture where it can be detected. Support app names containing numbers.
• Report interrupted background checks instead of leaving dialogs loading, and clean up temporary files from failed or cancelled downloads.

0.8.1

• Portable ZIP builds automatically use portable storage. Remove the Enable/Disable setting; Settings → Folders shows a read-only Portable storage description. Managed paths follow the folder when it moves, and metadata migration is backed up. Installer and system-package storage stays unchanged.
• Preserve existing library and tools locations when updating older portable copies, including updates launched by old helpers. Windows elevated batches decode portable settings without running migration as administrator.
• Clean up downloaded setup files as the final installation stage after verification. Preserve packages needed for repair, uninstallation or recovery, and retain files when installation fails or is cancelled.
• Synchronize builder progress, cancellation, logs, activity notifications and theme between manager and builder windows.
• Select a completed build for launching in Build Options, with individual build shortcuts and safe shortcut cleanup.
• Show GitHub token status as a compact icon and colored indicator, with details on hover.

0.8.0

• Add Multiple installations: select an existing installer or portable copy, target actions at that copy, and add portable copies in separate folders using the existing install dialog.

• Choose a release version in the install dialog for first installs and additional copies; versions selected from the app page are preselected.

• Preserve alternate installation records during uninstall and rediscover older portable copies in the library when migrating existing installations.

• Show What's New highlights on first launch and after a manager version change, with expandable release notes and an info icon beside the version to reopen the dialog.

• Run supported Windows MSI downgrades under one batch administrator approval, with verified recovery packages and individual uninstall, install and recovery activity steps.

• Keep version changes locked to the verified installed format and architecture; preparing a version preview no longer creates installation activity.

• Improve reused-job cancellation, preserve build results during tool setup, retain bounded Unicode activity records and avoid pruning unconfirmed workers.

• Avoid a redundant installation scan when opening apps and preserve sidebar search focus as the clear button appears.

• Add subtle button press feedback, smoother installation details, one-way progress animation, softer light-theme disabled controls and muted sidebar scrollbars in both themes.

• Configure release format and architecture independently for built-in and custom apps, using the selected release’s compatible assets.

• Preserve installed package facts separately from preferences; updates and bulk checks respect each installed app’s format and architecture.

• Expand custom GitHub download matching, add setup review and an ambiguous-download chooser, and improve native installer detection and uninstall support.

• Add centralized operation records, lifecycle validation, cooperative cancellation, parent/child batch results and cross-process builder synchronization.

• Add a compact Activity panel with progress, expandable results, unread notifications, outside-click dismissal and matching light/dark detail surfaces.

• Approve administrator access once for eligible multi-installer batches on Windows and Linux; keep portable execution unelevated and preserve verification boundaries.

• Refresh update availability after a downgrade, using cached release metadata first and retaining results across restarts.

• Preserve existing installations, settings migration, shortcut repairs, build workflows and existing recovery behavior.

0.7.0

• Redesign Home with installed and discoverable app tiles, independent drag ordering, update indicators and a clearer Update All review.
• Add a version picker for published releases, including explicit downgrade confirmation and installer downgrade recovery.
• Update only installed apps in Update All and automatically include newly installed apps in its selection.
• Add optional close-to-tray behavior with Open, Check for updates and Exit actions; show the tray icon only while the manager is hidden.
• Hide apps from the sidebar and Home through a right-click menu and restore them in Settings → Apps → App visibility → Choose….
• Redesign install and uninstall dialogs with app icons, folder previews, folder opening, download sizes and verification stages.
• Support custom Windows MSI destinations where the installer provides a supported directory property, and manager-created desktop shortcuts.
• Add installation relocation for portable apps and supported Windows MSI apps, with running-app checks, verified transfers and recovery copies.
• Improve Windows installer cancellation, installation detection and restoration into protected folders.
• Redesign build confirmation with source and build locations, source download status, folder browsing and matching progress feedback.
• Add per-app source removal, compiled build deletion and build cache deletion controls.
• Clarify startup, periodic and background update checks; allow a 10–60 minute interval while the manager is open.
• Use the system theme on first launch, refine dark checkbox styling and enlarge the default manager window.
• Default app and source backups to off while preserving existing saved preferences.
• Fix version-preview completion indicators, long path display and duplicate folder tooltips.

0.6.0

App discovery and ArtCraft support contributed by carpaaaaa.

• Read the app list from the Storytold repositories on GitHub, so Craft apps published after this version appear without a manager update. A built-in list is used offline.
• Offer new apps without changing bulk update selections by default. Automatic inclusion is opt-in.
• Add Settings → App list → Refresh to look for new apps at any time.
• Add Choose… to the Update all review so the app selection can be changed before running operations.
• Support ArtCraft: Windows installers and macOS disk images named ArtCraft_<version>_…, release tags such as artcraft-v0.41.0 and its ai.artcraft.app bundle identifier.
• Accept a release whose files switched to a single new name and remember that name, so renamed apps keep installing and updating.
• Download icons for apps without a bundled one, with a neutral tile when a repository has none.
• Accept an optional GITHUB_TOKEN (or CRAFT_GITHUB_TOKEN) to raise GitHub's API limit.
• Add --list-apps, --install-app, --uninstall-app and --release-format for scripts and end-to-end checks.
• Add optional startup and hourly app-list checks with a shared six-hour cache.
• Include Linux x64/x86 ZIP, DEB and RPM packages and experimental Arch x64 packaging in release automation.
• Match ArtCraft Linux assets to the selected architecture and system package format.
• Keep Windows MSI upgrade file identities stable across build folders and verify that upgrading preserves both Start menu shortcuts and the installed program.

0.5.1

• Add a saved light and dark theme with a slim toggle beside Settings.
• Blend interface colors smoothly when switching themes.
• Use Adobe Spectrum neutral grays in light and dark themes.
• Add an About section with project information and contributor credits.
• Add experimental Arch Linux package support and packaging tools.
• Add local build launch controls, saved launch arguments and a build options window.
• Allow local builds to be deleted with confirmation.

0.5.0

• Redesign the manager window: an app list with search and Installed / Not installed groups, an Overview page for Update all and Update all sources, and a page for each app with its description, actions, details and tools.
• Build from source, download an app's source, edit launch options and manage backups from the app page; the separate builder window remains for any source, including ArtCraft X.
• Show available manager updates as a button in the top bar.
• Combine manager and builder settings in one scrolling Settings window with a section list.
• Restyle every dialog and use IBM Plex Sans and Plex Mono on all platforms.
• Keep the app list current while a build runs, label backup restores and deletions correctly, and explain why disabled buttons are unavailable.

0.4.2

• Prefer the newest installed PDFCraft/PrintCraft version on Windows when both names are registered.
• Resolve renamed app executables correctly on Linux and macOS, including saved launch settings.
• Improve macOS app replacement and manager update recovery across different volumes.
• Review selected release updates before downloading and improve settings recovery, cancellation, and keyboard accessibility.
• Add a local version preparation tool and CI validation for release metadata.
• Avoid duplicate workflow runs for pull request branches.

0.4.1

• Add WordCraft, GridCraft, DeckCraft, CADCraft, and SoundCraft to release updates, source updates, and the source builder on supported platforms.
• Include the upstream app icons and preserve existing app selections and ordering when expanding the catalog.
• Show app and source selection totals from the current catalog.
• Add experimental macOS support contributed in pull request #2.

0.4.0

• Detect previously installed apps on the first launch of a fresh library.

• Accept installer names with version or architecture suffixes.

• Support renamed PDFCraft release assets and executables alongside older PrintCraft names.

• Disable Open Log until a log exists and show errors when opening it fails.

• Add Windows x64 and x86 MSI installers alongside portable ZIPs.

• Keep MSI user data outside the installation folder and preserve it during upgrades and uninstall.

• Select MSI or ZIP manager updates according to installation type.

• Add Linux x86 builds, architecture-aware RPM dependencies, and portable ZIP packaging.

• Add a Linux platform layer shared with the Windows application.

• Support AppImage releases and native DEB/RPM installation and removal.

• Add systemd user timers for hourly availability checks and desktop notifications.

• Support Linux source building, including prerequisite setup through apt or DNF.

• Add Ubuntu DEB and Fedora RPM packaging with desktop launchers and license notices.

• Fix Linux shortcut names, portable uninstallation and builder launch after executable replacement.

• Explain how to update a system-installed Linux manager before attempting a portable self-update.

Linux testing covers Ubuntu 26.04 and Fedora 44 on x86_64, with x86 manager and builder launch checks on both multilib hosts. Native 32-bit operating systems have not been tested. Linux packages are experimental and require glibc 2.43 or newer; older distributions and ARM64 are not verified.

0.3.3

• Replace automatic app and source downloads with hourly availability checks.
• Support hourly checks for both installer and portable apps.
• Notify once per new app version or downloaded source commit; downloads require confirmation.
• Show saved app update availability when opening Manager.
• Keep existing scheduled background commands check-only after upgrading.
• Forward Cancel update to the installer wizard and wait for its result; show guidance when Windows blocks the request.

0.3.2

• Rename the project to Craft Apps Manager and add an engraved up-arrow application icon.

• Allow dragging sidebar apps into a saved custom order.

• Keep app rows stable during update checks and allow scrolling in smaller windows.

• Make sidebar install and update buttons open confirmation directly.

• Improve update-arrow contrast, hover glow, and sidebar footer spacing.

• Migrate existing startup preferences to the renamed settings file.

• Add optional startup availability checks for installed apps, separate from this program's own version check.

• Show a pulsing circular update icon in the sidebar when an installed app has a newer release.

• Keep startup app checks read-only; downloads and installation still require confirmation.

• Move app controls beside the Creative Apps list, expanding toward the update section.

• Use official upstream app icons, clearer status colors, and consistent button spacing.

• Add a gray circular install button with a recessed arrow beside Not installed.

• Clip fixed-size app controls during animation to avoid artifacts at the closing edge.

• Include upstream icon license notices in distributions.

0.3.1

Added

• Windows x86 package with matching portable 7-Zip.
• Architecture-specific manager downloads and x86 release defaults.
• Automated checks for both Windows architectures.

Fixed

• Installation status and backup discovery run in the background instead of blocking window repaints.
• App status refreshes after install/uninstall and release-format changes.
• Windows installer process-handle access works on x86.
• An embedded Windows manifest prevents unexpected installer-detection elevation prompts when opening the manager.

Source builds still require 64-bit Windows. The x86 app was tested on 64-bit Windows; native 32-bit Windows has not yet been tested.

0.3.0

Added

• An app-specific Backups window with restore and delete modes, backup details, and confirmation prompts.
• Manager update checks in Settings, an optional startup check, and verified download-and-restart updates.
• Current manager version and build information in Settings.
• Optional app profile cleanup after uninstall, with the exact folders shown before confirmation.
• Portable PhotoCraft profile preservation and restoration when reinstalling.
• A clear OK popup when no release or source apps are selected.

Fixed

• Stale installer and portable records no longer mark missing apps as installed or enable Uninstall.
• MSI uninstall uses the current registered product code.
• Working text is centered; unknown progress bounces smoothly while known percentages fill normally.
• Backups is disabled when the selected app has no backups.
• Automatic app updates are disabled for installer mode, with an explanatory tooltip. Source updates remain available.
• Task Scheduler integration uses the Windows API. Opening the manager only reads task status and does not change scheduled tasks.

0.2.0

• Keep separate records for portable and Windows installer copies of each app.
• Restore the matching installation when switching release formats in Settings.
• Use the selected copy for launching, update checks, and uninstalling.
• Recover existing portable copies from their app folders and executable version information where available.

0.1.0

First release: app and source updates, Windows installers and portable ZIPs, source builds, automatic updates, and optional compressed backups.

---

Edit this page in the source repository