ThinkWatch Lite 2026.10.5

Upgrade notes:

• The bundled core is now 0.62.0, which speaks control-plane protocol 38. A remote server has to run core 0.62.0 too: this version does not connect to 0.61.0, and 2026.10.4 and earlier do not connect to 0.62.0.
• Request history is kept.
• A key's model scope now also applies when no upstream reports a model list, on WebSocket connections such as Codex's, and to every backup in failover. A client that used a model outside its key's scope through one of these gaps is now refused.

Model aliases:

• Upstreams has a new Aliases tab. An alias is another name for the same model: list the names the model has on each upstream, and every upstream that offers one of them can serve it under its own name, as backups for one another.
• When the same Claude model has different names across upstreams (official, Bedrock, Vertex, OpenRouter), the tab and the new-alias dialog suggest grouping them, and a dot on the tab shows there is a suggestion.
• An alias can also be created from an upstream's model list. The dialog shows which upstream receives which name, and warns when the name takes over another upstream's model or when a connected client treats the name specially.
• Clients see aliases in their model lists, and answers carry the name the client asked for.
• In a key's model scope, allowing an upstream model also allows the aliases that list it.

Routing:

• A rule can forward to specified models: an upstream and one of its models, with backups tried in order. The model is sent as written.
• A model condition written for an upstream model also matches the aliases that list it.
• Traffic marks requests sent under an alias or to a specified model, and shows the model each attempt sent.

Claude Desktop:

• Takeover follows the model-name rule of the current Claude Desktop, including 1M spellings.
• When no upstream offers a Claude model, takeover asks which upstream model Claude Desktop should use and adds a routing rule for its own key. Cancelling the takeover removes the rule.

Also:

• Tool-call inspection has a new built-in rule, "Read or change ThinkWatch's own data", for tool calls whose path or command points into ThinkWatch's data directory, where every upstream key is kept. A document that only mentions the directory does not count.
• Model lists sent to clients carry each model's context window, which Claude Desktop, Hermes and others use to size conversations.
• Upstream addresses that end in their own API version, such as Zhipu's …/api/paas/v4 and Ark's …/api/v3, work without a second /v1.
• System notifications name every built-in tool-call rule; two used to show their internal id.

Downloads

Platform	File
macOS, Apple silicon	ThinkWatch-Lite-2026.10.5-darwin-arm64.dmg
Windows, x64, installer	ThinkWatch-Lite-2026.10.5-windows-x64-setup.exe
Windows, x64, portable	ThinkWatch-Lite-2026.10.5-windows-x64-portable.zip
Windows, ARM64, installer	ThinkWatch-Lite-2026.10.5-windows-arm64-setup.exe
Windows, ARM64, portable	ThinkWatch-Lite-2026.10.5-windows-arm64-portable.zip
Linux, x86_64	ThinkWatch-Lite-2026.10.5-linux-x86_64.AppImage
Linux, aarch64	ThinkWatch-Lite-2026.10.5-linux-aarch64.AppImage

Each file is published with a .sha256 file beside it. latest.json is the manifest for in-app updates, and install.sh is the Linux install script.

On Windows, the portable ZIP runs without installation or administrator rights: extract it to any writable folder and start ThinkWatch Lite.exe. Its settings stay in the data folder beside it, separate from an installed copy, and it updates itself in place.

On macOS, Homebrew installs the same disk image:

brew install --cask thinkwatchproject/tap/thinkwatch-lite

On Linux, the install script downloads the AppImage for the machine's architecture, checks its SHA-256 and installs it as ~/Applications/ThinkWatch-Lite.AppImage:

curl -fsSL https://github.com/ThinkWatchProject/ThinkWatch-Lite/releases/latest/download/install.sh | sh

Both commands install the latest release. First-launch steps for each platform, such as removing the quarantine attribute from a copy downloaded on macOS, are described in the README.

The ThinkWatch Lite page describes each feature, and the documentation covers installing, connecting clients and routing.

Verifying a download

A .sha256 file holds the SHA-256 of the file followed by its name. With both files in the current directory, on macOS:

shasum -a 256 -c ThinkWatch-Lite-2026.10.5-darwin-arm64.dmg.sha256

On Linux:

sha256sum -c ThinkWatch-Lite-2026.10.5-linux-x86_64.AppImage.sha256

On Windows, in PowerShell, the following prints True when the installer matches:

(Get-FileHash .\ThinkWatch-Lite-2026.10.5-windows-x64-setup.exe).Hash -eq (Get-Content .\ThinkWatch-Lite-2026.10.5-windows-x64-setup.exe.sha256).Split()[0]

The Homebrew cask and the Linux install script check the SHA-256 themselves.

What's Changed

• Release notes: link the website's Lite page and docs by @fylorn in #280
• Names for the thinkwatch-data tool rule, and two code rules missing from notifications by @fylorn in #281
• Claude Desktop takeover: follow the model-name rule of the current Claude Desktop by @fylorn in #282
• 2026.10.5: model aliases and specified models in routing rules (core v0.62.0) by @fylorn in #284

Full Changelog: v2026.10.4...v2026.10.5