v0.26.0 — Native Managers, History Recall, and Browser Previews

v0.26.0 — Native Managers, History Recall, and Browser Previews

Forge v0.26.0 is the first stable release since v0.25.1. It adds native Codex and Claude managers, agent history recall, experimental Context v2, OpenRouter routing controls, automatic browser previews, side chats, and GPT-6 / Claude Opus 5.5, plus new recommended defaults and a broad set of reliability fixes.

Highlights

• Native Codex managers run through the Codex app-server and keep the Forge sidebar, conversations, workers, history, and browser tools.
• Native Claude managers run on the Claude Agent SDK with Claude subscription sign-in.
• History recall lets agents browse, search, and read earlier messages and tool results.
• Context v2 (experimental) continues long work from task notes and recoverable history instead of a summarizing pass.
• Automatic browser previews float over Chat while an agent works in a browser tab.
• /side chats fork a temporary side conversation without disturbing the main session.
• New models: GPT-6 Sol, GPT-6 Luna, and Claude Opus 5.5.
• Recommended defaults: GPT-6 Sol · High on Codex native, Hands-on work mode, and the shipped Default roster.

Native managers

• Codex native: choose it in the manager model selector. Requires Codex CLI 0.155+ (or a desktop app that includes it) and an OpenAI/Codex account. Uses Forge's credential pool and its own Codex home.
• Claude native: dedicated sign-in under Settings → Authentication; the Claude runtime ships bundled.
• Both keep Forge tools, secure execution, progress, task notes, and session lifecycle. All Forge tools (including browser, history, notes, and secret requests) reach native Claude.
• Native threads resume after stops and tool-set changes; late input carries into the next turn; asynchronous questions appear as Forge choice cards.
• Background commands stay active and visible, and command waits respond to steering.
• Native runtimes can serve as roster workers, and native usage now counts in Stats and the usage gauges.
• Native managers run with full host access and no per-command approval prompts. Secret delivery uses forge.secure_bash with the nono executor (FORGE_SECURE_EXECUTION_BACKEND=nono).
• Existing sessions never switch runtime automatically.

History and context

• Agent-only history tool for local Builder managers and workers: browse context windows, list items, run ranked or literal search, and read canonical evidence.
• Settings → History shows indexing progress and can pause or resume it. Secure Sessions secrets and restricted content stay excluded.
• Project Settings → Context management chooses Summary (default) or experimental Context v2. Sessions can override the choice beside Send.
• Session task notes (checkpoint.md and related files) survive compaction and restart and appear under Artifacts → Context v2.
• Routine compaction and Context v2 transitions show as informational Context update rows.

Chat and workspace

• /side [question] opens a temporary side chat in a resizable panel. Native sessions fork their full thread; side chats get read-only Forge tools and ask for confirmation before being discarded.
• Drag a sidebar session into chat to reference it as a peer. Both managers can then message each other, including across projects.
• Needs you now appears for an unanswered choice while work continues, and returns correctly after worker cleanup and in-flight input.
• Inbox: Recent shows five rows with Show more / Show less, local rows get the full context menu, and project headers can be reordered by dragging.
• Work-graph step inspector: select a Graph or List step to see its assignment, acceptance criteria, status, and attempts.
• Stopped sessions recover when new user input arrives.

Browser

• Automatic previews: up to four thumbnails float over Desktop Chat while agents use embedded or Chrome-backed tabs. Drag to move or resize from the corner; double-click an in-app card to open it in the Browser workspace. Previews are view-only and never saved.
• New tabs and empty-session workspaces open embedded Forge tabs. Agents can request one with browser_open target='managed'.
• Pi managers load browser tools on demand instead of attaching every schema to each turn.
• External Chrome: profiles resume after a clean Desktop quit, stuck debugger leases release, control recovers when another extension's frame (such as a password-manager autofill menu) blocks the debugger, and Windows permission/identity setup is repaired.

Models and routing

• GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna for Codex-backed managers and specialists. Saved GPT-5.6 selections migrate to their GPT-6 equivalents.
• Claude Opus 5.5 is the Opus family default.
• OpenRouter routing and privacy under Settings → Models: shared defaults plus per-model overrides for provider order or allowlist, exclusions, price ceilings, quantization, Zero data retention, and Block data collection. Hard filters fail closed.
• Per-model OpenRouter context-window caps.
• Credential pools: pause or resume individual accounts.
• OpenAI weekly usage windows display correctly in the sidebar gauge.

Secure Sessions and secrets

• Per-project switch: new projects ask whether to enable Secure Sessions (default off). Project Settings → Secure Sessions toggles it later without deleting saved secrets or trust.
• Inherited project secrets: granting an alias to a project covers eligible agents in it. The chat shield can pause the task, block a worker, or revoke an inherited grant; blocks survive restart.
• Agents continue after you approve or deny a secret request.
• Bitwarden: Sync items now, locked-vault warnings, and lighter startup probes.

Work modes and defaults

• Hands-on is the product default. Delegate first and Adaptive remain available.
• The shipped Default roster pairs a Plan consultant, an Independent reviewer, and a Researcher for bounded consultations.
• Existing Desktop installs see a one-time dialog: Use recommended defaults or Keep current defaults. Explicit session overrides are always preserved.
• Adaptive workers can send requested interim findings and blockers to their manager.
• Changing a project default model no longer rewrites existing sessions.

Fixes and improvements

• Work-graph dispatch binds workers to attempts before delivery, and stale failures no longer overwrite newer state.
• Runtime startup stays consistent when preparation fails late.
• Long-running Pi bash commands yield, and bash_process can wait for, list, or stop them.
• Chat copy works over non-secure LAN HTTP; scrollbars follow the app theme; secret dropdowns stay anchored.
• Compaction no longer depends on the Secure Sessions runtime; exit code 125 is preserved.
• Pooled Codex auth recovers after a successful usage validation.
• Brave Search runs in packaged Desktop installs.
• Stats history caching no longer blocks conversation loading.
• Expo push notifications can authenticate from a private token file.

Changes to know

• Default Desktop builds no longer bundle the Stream Deck plugin installer. Set FORGE_STREAM_DECK_SETUP_ENABLED=true when building to include it.
• Forge's Pi compaction settings and Context v2 do not apply to native Codex or Claude managers.

Known limitations

• Automatic Browser on Windows remains beta, and native Codex on Windows still needs live validation.
• The nono secure executor is validated on macOS only; Windows uses the Docker path.
• Context v2 is experimental and limited to eligible Pi Builder managers.
• No Linux Desktop artifact is shipped.

Thanks

Thanks to Jerins71 for eight contributions, covering Chrome resume and recovery, native Codex stop handling, runtime reservation, Brave Search packaging, and test hardening.