v1.6.9

1.6.9 (2026-08-06)

Features

• links can be drawn as polylines (#332): a link was always a straight line, so on a dense map the only way to stop links crossing each other was to move the devices. Each link now takes an optional list of waypoints and bends through them as ONE logical link — not split into segments the way a VIA is — keeping its own A/Z queries, bandwidths, port labels and tooltip. Everything follows the drawn path by arc length: both directional halves, the arrowheads (which rotate with the segment they sit on), value labels, the arrow meeting point, port labels, and traffic-animation dots, which travel around the bends. Add a bend by right-clicking a link in edit mode, then drag its handle; Corner Radius rounds each bend into a smooth curve. An empty waypoint list is exactly the old straight link, so existing maps are untouched and no migration is needed (#334)
• Link Offset now works on bent links (#336): parallel-link spreading used to be ignored the moment a link had waypoints, so a bundle sharing a route could not be separated. The whole polyline is now translated along its A→Z axis. That choice is deliberate rather than convenient — offsetting each segment instead would fold the path in on itself wherever the offset exceeds the corner radius (an 18 px radius with an 18 px offset self-intersects, with no safe side to pick), and would stretch the path so arrows, labels and animation drift apart across a bundle. A translation cannot self-intersect and preserves length exactly, so every member of a bundle stays in step. Waypoints are stored unshifted, so changing the offset never rewrites saved coordinates (#338)
• gradient link colouring follows the drawn path (#336): gradients shaded along the straight A→Z axis, so on a bent link the colour ramp did not match the line you see — a route bowing off its axis squashed most of its range into the ends. Colours are now placed by distance along the path. One exception, by nature rather than oversight: a segment running perpendicular to the A→Z axis has no room on the gradient axis and renders a single flat colour there

Fixed

• double-clicking a link to add a VIA now works where the value label sits (#336): value labels are drawn on top of the link and swallow its pointer events, so a double-click aimed at the middle of a link — the spot most people go for — landed on the label and did nothing at all, while right-click on the same pixel worked. Both gestures now behave identically anywhere on a link

Documentation

• the Links guide gains a step-by-step for bending a link, with screenshots of the editor and the canvas drag handles, guidance on spacing bends relative to the corner radius, and a worked example of a parallel bundle routed around an obstruction

Testing

• a Playwright suite covering the canvas gestures runs in CI against Grafana 11.0.0 and latest: right-click creation, cursor-locked dragging (including at the panel's bottom edge, while zoomed, and released outside the panel), removal, Link Offset translating the path rigidly, a no-creep drag round-trip, and waypoint persistence across a dashboard save and reload
• two demo dashboards — WAN Demo — Polyline Links and WAN Demo — Polyline Links + Link Offset