PyAutoFit v2026.8.20.1

What's New

fix: per-method recovery when stored samples fail model reconstruction (#1486) (#1504)
- Reconstruction failures from to_instance-decorated methods (e.g. from_sample_index, median_pdf, values_at_sigma) now raise autofit.exc.SamplesException instead of letting ModelParameterException (a ValueError) escape; the original rejection is chained as __cause__. max_log_posterior recovers to the next valid stored sample instead of raising. Samples.instances skips unreconstructable stored samples instead of raising, so it can be shorter than sample_list.
feat: promote optax to default dependency; update no-jax messages (PyAutoLens#702) (#1503)
feat: clipper enters the MLE search identifiers (#1494)
fix: enforce prior bounds in the NumPy-path objective (UniformPrior, LogUniformPrior) (#1490)
- No symbols added or removed — a behaviour restoration:
- - UniformPrior.log_prior_from_value (NumPy path): 0.0 inside [lower_limit, upper_limit], -inf outside (was: always 0.0). Limits inclusive, matching JAX.
- - LogUniformPrior.log_prior_from_value (NumPy path): -inf everywhere outside [lower_limit, upper_limit] (was: -inf only for value <= 0; finite -log(value) above upper_limit and below lower_limit).

docs: correct the install page — wrong failure mode, wrong cut release, wrong support range (#1507)

refactor: defer heavy imports — blackjax/jax, sqlalchemy, IPython lazy (#1505) (#1506)
test: property-based correctness sweep over every Prior subclass (#1499)
maint: close search.log handler + four CLI-noise warning fixes (#1496)
feat: re-mainline af.NSS as a first-class search on mainline blackjax ≥1.6 (#1492)
chore: sync version stamp to 2026.8.17.1; drop dead release stamper (#1488)
feat: per-parameter step scaling for the multi-start gradient searches (#1485)
feat: seedable multi-start draws, alive-versus-step curve, and optional momentum reset (#1482)