DA Vibe Manager 0.1.0b3

The third public beta of DA Vibe Manager, a package manager for vibe-coded apps: tell it what
you wish an open-source app could do, and an AI builds you a version that does it. Then it keeps
that app up to date like any other software, carrying your changes over to each new release.

Warning

Beta. Expect rough edges, and use it at your own risk. Read every command it asks to run,
and every change it hands you, before you say yes.

What's new in 0.1.0b3

• Preparing the sandbox no longer fails when Ubuntu's server has a bad moment. The sandbox's
  packages come from Ubuntu's snapshot server, which is sometimes slow or refuses downloads for a
  while (503 Service Unavailable). The first start used to give up at the first refusal, with an
  error that showed only the end of a long command. Now each step is tried again for about ten
  minutes, keeping what it has already downloaded, so a retry fetches only what's missing. In
  testing, it rode out the server refusing downloads for 13 minutes and started.
• It says what's going on as it happens. While the sandbox is prepared, the status bar, a card
  in the chat and the Sandbox activity panel show how far the downloads are and any trouble, in
  words: which server, what it answered, and when it tries again. If it gives up, it says why in a
  sentence (the server is busy, can't be reached, or its certificate wasn't accepted) and offers
  Try again.
• Another package source, if you want one. Under Settings → The sandbox → If Ubuntu's
  snapshot server is unavailable, choose what happens after those ten minutes: stop and say so
  (the default), use Ubuntu's live archive, or use your own mirror of the Ubuntu archive (https, or
  http on your local network only). apt still checks every package against Ubuntu's signing key,
  but the versions are the current ones, not the pinned ones, and Sandbox activity says so.
• Remove the sandbox, and Podman, from Settings. Settings → The sandbox → Remove the
  sandbox… deletes the sandbox, its files and its images (a few GB), and everything else DA Vibe
  Manager put in Podman, and nothing else of yours there. Do it before uninstalling DA Vibe Manager,
  or to free the space. Tick Also uninstall Podman to remove Podman too, as administrator, with
  the command shown first. If DA Vibe Manager installed Podman, it removes what it installed;
  otherwise just Podman. Your other containers, images and volumes are left alone, and so are your
  apps, chats and backups.
• A build that fails or is stopped cleans up after itself. It used to leave Podman's build
  containers and temporary folders behind, one of them with a 200 MB copy of the Claude Code CLI.
• The Sandbox activity panel no longer shows a stray "null".

Install

Download DAVibeManager-0.1.0b3-x86_64.AppImage, make it executable and run it:

chmod +x DAVibeManager-0.1.0b3-x86_64.AppImage
./DAVibeManager-0.1.0b3-x86_64.AppImage

It needs x86-64 Linux: Ubuntu 24.04 / Mint 22, Debian 13, or a current Fedora, Arch, CachyOS or
Omarchy, with rootless Podman for the sandbox and WebKitGTK for its window:

Distribution
Ubuntu, Mint, Debian	sudo apt install podman gir1.2-webkit2-4.1
Fedora	sudo dnf install podman webkit2gtk4.1
Arch, CachyOS	sudo pacman -S podman passt webkit2gtk-4.1
Omarchy	sudo pacman -S podman passt (it has WebKitGTK)

If Podman is missing, the first screen offers to install it. You need a
NanoGPT API key; it goes to your system keyring and never into the
sandbox. The first start prepares the sandbox, which takes a few minutes and a few GB of disk.

Coming from 0.1.0b2 or 0.1.0b1: run the new AppImage in place of the old one (or let Gear Lever
or Shelly replace it). Your settings, apps, chats and sandbox carry on as they are. The first start
after updating prepares the sandbox's image again, which takes a few minutes once. If your sandbox
couldn't start before, it should now.

The README says what it is; the
manual covers the rest,
including when preparing the sandbox takes long or fails
and removing it.

Verify

sha256sum -c DAVibeManager-0.1.0b3-x86_64.AppImage.sha256

SHA-256: ede6d9b2631baa39c66de8593d1693109058221d4d5dcd55141b7bdef2c6c10c

The AppImage is reproducible: check out the v0.1.0b3 tag and run
packaging/build-appimage.sh build (rootless Podman) to get the same bytes. See
packaging/README.md.

Known limitations

• Building costs money, and nobody can tell how much until the AI has read the app's code:
  on a model paid per use, a few dollars for a simple fix, $50 or more for a big change. Ask it
  how big a change is first, and set a spending limit on your NanoGPT key.
• What you send the assistant could leave your computer. Its sandbox reaches public websites
  (it needs to, to download code and tools), and what a program there sends over HTTPS can't be
  seen from outside. The app keeps your data out of its own web searches, but treat command
  output and attached files you send as shared.
• Preparing the sandbox depends on Ubuntu's snapshot server, which can be slow: the first
  start can take well over a few minutes when it is. It now waits out short outages and says
  what's happening; for longer ones, choose another package source in Settings.
• Changes to the desktop itself (the file manager, the panel) work less well than changes
  to an ordinary app, and need a rebuild with every update. Below the desktop (drivers, system
  services) it doesn't build at all.
• Built apps run on systems as new as Ubuntu 24.04 (the sandbox's base), and newer.
• A shared app's claim to be a newer version can't be verified, so updating from one is
  never chosen for you: take it when you know who sent it.
• The second opinions and the reviewer of shared apps are aids, not guarantees.
• NanoGPT is the only provider set up on the first screen. Linux and x86-64 only, and apps are
  delivered as AppImages, add-ons or source code: no Flatpaks yet.

Feedback

Bugs and ideas: issues. Security
problems: please report privately as described in
SECURITY.md, not in
an issue.

Licensed AGPL-3.0-or-later.