PCS 0.9.146

PCS 0.9.146

This release brings together the changes since PCS 0.9.139: pictures in the conversation, an easier Recommended setup with guided Voice and Screen steps, Claude and ChatGPT in Quick setup, sharing choices that follow your provider, steadier Claude and Meta replies, and one Windows file dialog throughout. Proactive help has been removed.

The release includes the complete Windows x64 application and matching editable source.

Pictures in the conversation

When seeing something would help, the conversation model can now show a public picture of a person, place or thing.

• With web search allowed (for Local, Allow online lookups with Local AI), PCS shows the freely licensed lead picture of the exact English Wikipedia article, with the photographer, the license and links to the source.
• When Wikipedia has no picture and a Brave Search key is saved, PCS uses Brave image search (SafeSearch strict) and shows one picture with a link to the page it came from.
• Only the name is sent. Pictures are never saved to the vault, conversation records or memory, and they disappear when the conversation stops. A name with several meanings shows nothing and asks for a qualifier.
• Available on Google, OpenAI, Meta, Claude, ChatGPT and Local conversations; not on Qwen.

Easier setup

• Recommended continuity now turns on every optional helper that needs nothing else to set up: PCS Perspective with independent interests, Automatically follow my current activity, web and Study research with pictures, Materials sharing, Remember practice and Organize topics.
• Claude and ChatGPT sign-in now finish in Quick setup with the same Recommended or Conversation only choice as Google, OpenAI and Meta. Claude takes its Console API key there. ChatGPT needs no key: after Finish, choose Sign in with ChatGPT in Connections and pick a model. Experimental Qwen is still set up in Connections.
• The setup guide now has six steps: Workspace, Connection, Sharing, Voice, Screen and Review.
• Voice sets up talking for Meta, Claude, ChatGPT and Local AI, which have no voice of their own. Right after Finish, Download listening pack (150 MB, into a folder you choose) adds offline speech recognition, and PCS turns on the microphone when it is ready. Replies use the built-in Windows voice, or choose Kokoro voice on an NVIDIA GPU for a more natural voice (a second, 526 MB download). Nothing downloads until you choose it, and speech is recognized and spoken on your computer. Google and OpenAI keep their own voices.
• Screen connects OBS Studio for Vision: Get OBS Studio opens the download page, three short steps cover adding a scene, turning on the WebSocket server and copying its password, and Find my scenes lets you choose the scene PCS may see.
• Setup errors now appear in red, scroll into view and are announced. Reopening Quick setup to change provider keeps your sharing choices.

Sharing choices follow your provider

Permission for replies to use original conversation excerpts and corrected memories used to be withdrawn at every switch between providers or models, so replies lost original passages until you allowed it again. It now carries over to whichever provider you select, and the switch notice names the provider that will receive excerpts. Turn personal memory off in Settings → Memory & sharing to stop sharing.

Steadier replies and a better-timed PCS voice

• Claude and Meta replies no longer fail with "Content or permission changed" when a reply reads an original conversation passage and then looks something up again.
• Two-part questions have more room on Claude, Meta and ChatGPT: a reply can now use 32,768 bytes of saved evidence instead of 8,192.
• Claude's PCS Perspective and helper steps ask for low effort, so they no longer run out of output.
• With independent interests on, PCS may briefly share a thought of its own at a quiet moment: at least 45 seconds after your last message, at most once every ten minutes and three times an hour. It says the thought itself rather than announcing that it has one.
• A memory-model outage now shows one notice naming the cause instead of a failed card under every statement.
• Local replies are no longer dropped when PCS Perspective is available, and a save requested before activity classification is now checked again after it.

Proactive help removed

Proactive help (After typed reactions, Occasional observations and Tutoring) and its tutoring offers are gone. In the owner's live test it stayed waiting while activity following was on, an observation only restated a game's pause menu, and a tutoring hint took about 100 seconds where asking in the conversation took about 8. Vision, PCS Perspective, speaking up, taking the lead and read-along are unchanged.

One Windows file dialog

Every file and folder chooser, from Save As and backups to Local model and speech-pack folders, now opens the same modern Windows dialog with the PCS icon. Before, Settings opened two different older dialogs that showed as Python.

Smaller fixes

• The Continuity Map says "1 current record" instead of the plural.
• The welcome screen no longer jumps back to its top while you use Quick setup.
• Memory cards no longer spend their preview on statement IDs or raw source lists.
• A failed passive memory check is titled "PCS memory check", and Settings controls stop above the sticky Save settings bar.

Known limits

• A provider you switch to receives original excerpts without a further prompt; the switch notice and the setup disclosure are the reminders.
• Speaking up is limited to one thought per ten minutes for the whole app.
• Local Gemma seldom offers a picture for a bare "who played…" question, and a Brave picture's title can name a related product.

AI-generated memories and reviews remain fallible. PCS provides inspection, original sources and correction controls; important interpretations should still be checked.

Upgrading from 0.9.139

1. Save your work, choose Quit PCS, and wait for shutdown.
2. Back up the entire stopped data folder, including any custom data directory. Copy original Materials separately if stored elsewhere.
3. Extract the complete Windows ZIP into a new writable folder. Follow the included Backup & restore guide to copy or restore your existing data without merging data folders.
4. Open Start PCS.exe, unlock with your existing passphrase and check your records. Keep the previous installation and backup while checking the update.
5. An existing vault keeps its saved choices; the new Recommended defaults apply to new vaults. Turn on the helpers you want in Settings. To set up talking with Meta, Claude, ChatGPT or Local AI, reopen Quick setup and use its Voice step.
6. If you used proactive help, its saved settings are removed at the next Save settings. To let PCS see your screen, use the Screen step or Settings → Optional tools → Vision. If you use Jev and had proactive help on, Jev asks for one fresh review.

First launch installs the bundled Python runtime and pinned dependencies offline. Optional local AI models, speech packs and inference runtimes remain separate downloads.

Original Materials files are not encrypted by the vault; protect their backups accordingly.

Some newly saved features raise the vault's minimum supported PCS version. Perspective requires 0.9.122; newer native-provider records and Local research require 0.9.126; the newer cloud search index requires 0.9.130; and native Claude/ChatGPT memory-thread suggestions require 0.9.134. 0.9.140 to 0.9.146 add no new requirement. Opening the vault alone does not activate these requirements. The included vault compatibility guide lists the details.

Support PCS

If PCS is useful to you, you can help support its development. Support is optional.