🚀 Avo 4 status and feedback

[adrianthedev]

Thank you for helping us shape this new chapter of Avo 🫶

TL;DR;

• Avo 4 is functionally ready
• To start using it enroll at avohq.io/try-4
• Feedback here
• Getting started and Upgrade guide here

Important

Please submit all feedback using this link — it will automatically label your issue.

---

Upgrading from Avo 3

We've written a thorough step-by-step upgrade guide here. You can follow it yourself or let your LLM do the heavy lifting:

Use this guide to upgrade this Avo 3 app to Avo 4.
Take it step by step and produce a markdown doc with each chapter as an item, checking them off as you go.
https://docs.avohq.io/4.0/avo-3-avo-4-upgrade.html

---

Enroll

In order to enroll and test out Avo 4 today, please use this link avohq.io/try-4

---

Status

Avo 4 is functionally ready. If you can live with a few minor UI inconsistencies, it's solid enough to use today. The main known rough edge is searchable associations — we need to replace the legacy search.js plugin, and it currently looks rough in dark mode.

✅ Released and stable

• Avo 4 Community — Ready for testing
• Global search dropdown — Revamped and solid. See the upgrade guide for new features and behavior
• Main menu (Sidebar) — Released with new APIs. Minor style tweaks for Section items may still land
• Dashboards — UI4 design + discreet_description. See the upgrade guide
• Dynamic filters — UI4 ready
• Audit logging — UI4 ready; timeline item redesigned
• Nested records — UI4 ready
• Collaboration — UI4 ready
• Forms — Released and ready to use
• Kanban — UI4 ready
• Action modal — UI4 ready
• Breadcrumbs — Overhauled. Further improvements coming over the next months
• Discreet information — Overhauled and simplified
• db_config - Not particularly an Avo module but a handy way to persist configuration
• Global search page — Polished for UI4

🟡 Released in beta

• HTTP Resource — Beta ready
• JSON API - Beta ready
• UI4 — May still have visual inconsistencies. Dark mode is the fastest way to spot them
• Theming — Open beta. Supports color scheme, neutral, and accent colors. Per-user persistence coming soon
• Keyboard shortcuts - Beta ready
• Reactive fields - Beta ready

🔧 Known issues / in progress

• Standard filters — In progress of being converted to UI4 done!
• Searchable associations — Still using the legacy search.js library. We're building a new Hotwire-powered experience
• Global search page — Needs polish on the UI side; functionally works
• Branding feature - Currently, the theming (neutrals and accent color) are kind of duplicating some of the work that branding is doing. We need to overhaul that whole experience
• Custom TailwindCSS pipeline - the custom Tailwind integration has been impacted. We are working on fixing it.

⏳ Unreleased

• Meta — Needs polishing
• Dynamic Resources - In-house alpha phase
• Notifications — Almost there
• Permissions (RBAC) — An advanced authorization layer with a full UI
• Avo MCP — Still in internal testing

---

Pricing

We haven't finalized Avo 4 pricing yet. We've added so many new features and modules that our current bundle structure no longer makes sense — so we're rethinking it.

We'll share details once we have something concrete.

In the meantime, Pro/Advanced tiers and gems remain in place through the open beta.

Note

During the beta, all gems are available to try regardless of your subscription tier — including if you're not subscribed at all.
Once we release the new pricing you'll need to switch to a paid license to keep using them.
You can try all Avo gems (including Pro, Advanced, and other private gems) regardless of your subscription tier, including on Community.
Private beta gems are still served from packager.dev. After you enroll at avohq.io/try-4, your licenses (including Community) include a Gem Server Token on your license page. Configure Bundler with that token so bundle install can download private gems. Follow Gem server authentication.

[linear]

AVO-1100

[manuelmeurer]

Hey guys, very excited to try out the beta! 🎉

I'd like to try it with an app that has the Avo community license.
Is that possible?
According to the note "During the beta, all gems are available to try regardless of your subscription tier — including if you're not subscribed at all." I would think so.

So I've replaced

gem "avo", "~> 3.2"

with

gem "avo", ">= 4.0.0.beta"

source "https://packager.dev/avo-hq/" do
  gem "avo-advanced", ">= 4.0.0.beta"
  gem "avo-api", ">= 4.0.0.beta"
  gem "avo-collaboration", ">= 4.0.0.beta"
  gem "avo-dashboards", ">= 4.0.0.beta"
  gem "avo-dynamic_filters", ">= 4.0.0.beta"
  gem "avo-forms", ">= 4.0.0.beta"
  gem "avo-http_resource", ">= 4.0.0.beta"
  gem "avo-kanban", ">= 4.0.0.beta"
  gem "avo-menu", ">= 4.0.0.beta"
  gem "avo-nested", ">= 4.0.0.beta"
  gem "avo-reactive_fields", ">= 4.0.0.beta"
end

gem "avo-rhino_field", ">= 4.0.0.beta"

Is that correct?
On bundle install, I get this error:

Fetching gem metadata from https://packager.dev/avo-hq/...
Fetching gem metadata from https://rubygems.org/........
Resolving dependencies...
Using avo-icons 0.1.2 (was 0.1.1)
Using avo 4.0.0.beta.10 (was 3.28.0)
Fetching avo-licensing 4.0.0.beta.6
Fetching avo-kanban 4.0.0.beta.3

Retrying download gem from https://packager.dev/avo-hq/ due to error (2/4): Gem::RemoteFetcher::FetchError bad response Forbidden 403 (https://packager.dev/avo-hq/gems/avo-licensing-4.0.0.beta.6.gem)

Retrying download gem from https://packager.dev/avo-hq/ due to error (2/4): Gem::RemoteFetcher::FetchError bad response Forbidden 403 (https://packager.dev/avo-hq/gems/avo-kanban-4.0.0.beta.3.gem)

Retrying download gem from https://packager.dev/avo-hq/ due to error (3/4): Gem::RemoteFetcher::FetchError bad response Forbidden 403 (https://packager.dev/avo-hq/gems/avo-licensing-4.0.0.beta.6.gem)

Retrying download gem from https://packager.dev/avo-hq/ due to error (3/4): Gem::RemoteFetcher::FetchError bad response Forbidden 403 (https://packager.dev/avo-hq/gems/avo-kanban-4.0.0.beta.3.gem)

Retrying download gem from https://packager.dev/avo-hq/ due to error (4/4): Gem::RemoteFetcher::FetchError bad response Forbidden 403 (https://packager.dev/avo-hq/gems/avo-kanban-4.0.0.beta.3.gem)

Retrying download gem from https://packager.dev/avo-hq/ due to error (4/4): Gem::RemoteFetcher::FetchError bad response Forbidden 403 (https://packager.dev/avo-hq/gems/avo-licensing-4.0.0.beta.6.gem)


Bundler::HTTPError: Could not download gem from https://packager.dev/avo-hq/ due to underlying error <bad
response Forbidden 403 (https://packager.dev/avo-hq/gems/avo-licensing-4.0.0.beta.6.gem)>
  /Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/bundler/rubygems_integration.rb:406:in
'Bundler::RubygemsIntegration#download_gem'
/Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/bundler/source/rubygems.rb:487:in 'block
in Bundler::Source::Rubygems#download_gem'
  /Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/rubygems.rb:1051:in 'Gem.time'
/Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/bundler/source/rubygems.rb:486:in
'Bundler::Source::Rubygems#download_gem'
/Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/bundler/source/rubygems.rb:442:in
'Bundler::Source::Rubygems#fetch_gem'
/Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/bundler/source/rubygems.rb:426:in
'Bundler::Source::Rubygems#fetch_gem_if_possible'
/Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/bundler/source/rubygems.rb:171:in
'Bundler::Source::Rubygems#install'
/Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/bundler/installer/gem_installer.rb:54:in
'Bundler::GemInstaller#install'
/Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/bundler/installer/gem_installer.rb:17:in
'Bundler::GemInstaller#install_from_spec'
/Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/bundler/installer/parallel_installer.rb:133:in
'Bundler::ParallelInstaller#do_install'
/Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/bundler/installer/parallel_installer.rb:124:in
'block in Bundler::ParallelInstaller#worker_pool'
/Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/bundler/worker.rb:62:in
'Bundler::Worker#apply_func'
/Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/bundler/worker.rb:57:in 'block in
Bundler::Worker#process_queue'
  /Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/bundler/worker.rb:54:in 'Kernel#loop'
/Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/bundler/worker.rb:54:in
'Bundler::Worker#process_queue'
/Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/bundler/worker.rb:90:in 'block (2 levels)
in Bundler::Worker#create_threads'

An error occurred while installing avo-licensing (4.0.0.beta.6), and Bundler cannot continue.

In Gemfile:
  avo-advanced was resolved to 4.0.0.beta.8, which depends on
    avo-dynamic_filters was resolved to 4.0.0.beta.8, which depends on
      avo-licensing


Bundler::HTTPError: Could not download gem from https://packager.dev/avo-hq/ due to underlying error <bad
response Forbidden 403 (https://packager.dev/avo-hq/gems/avo-kanban-4.0.0.beta.3.gem)>
  /Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/bundler/rubygems_integration.rb:406:in
'Bundler::RubygemsIntegration#download_gem'
/Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/bundler/source/rubygems.rb:487:in 'block
in Bundler::Source::Rubygems#download_gem'
  /Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/rubygems.rb:1051:in 'Gem.time'
/Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/bundler/source/rubygems.rb:486:in
'Bundler::Source::Rubygems#download_gem'
/Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/bundler/source/rubygems.rb:442:in
'Bundler::Source::Rubygems#fetch_gem'
/Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/bundler/source/rubygems.rb:426:in
'Bundler::Source::Rubygems#fetch_gem_if_possible'
/Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/bundler/source/rubygems.rb:171:in
'Bundler::Source::Rubygems#install'
/Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/bundler/installer/gem_installer.rb:54:in
'Bundler::GemInstaller#install'
/Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/bundler/installer/gem_installer.rb:17:in
'Bundler::GemInstaller#install_from_spec'
/Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/bundler/installer/parallel_installer.rb:133:in
'Bundler::ParallelInstaller#do_install'
/Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/bundler/installer/parallel_installer.rb:124:in
'block in Bundler::ParallelInstaller#worker_pool'
/Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/bundler/worker.rb:62:in
'Bundler::Worker#apply_func'
/Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/bundler/worker.rb:57:in 'block in
Bundler::Worker#process_queue'
  /Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/bundler/worker.rb:54:in 'Kernel#loop'
/Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/bundler/worker.rb:54:in
'Bundler::Worker#process_queue'
/Users/manuel/.local/share/mise/installs/ruby/4.0.1/lib/ruby/4.0.0/bundler/worker.rb:90:in 'block (2 levels)
in Bundler::Worker#create_threads'

An error occurred while installing avo-kanban (4.0.0.beta.3), and Bundler cannot continue.

In Gemfile:
  avo-kanban

[Paul-Bob]

Hi @manuelmeurer,

I'd like to try it with an app that has the Avo community license.
Is that possible?

Yes, however, you still need to configure the packager token. I've noticed that you have already enrolled in the Avo 4 beta using https://avohq.io/try-4.

Now, all your licenses (including community ones) should have a packager token.

You just need to configure that token for each app, alongside the instructions here: https://docs.avohq.io/4.0/gem-server-authentication.html#gem-server-authentication.

Let me know how it goes and if you have any questions!

[manuelmeurer]

Ah yes, that makes sense! 😄 It worked now!

[Paul-Bob]

Cool! Looking forward to your feedback :D

Thanks for pointing this out. We've updated the issue description and the documentation, and also improved the https://avohq.io/try-4 page to make this setup clearer.

[xeron]

I don't understand new panels / cards.

My Avo 3 code works as expected — slug is not shown on index because it's in the 2nd panel.
My Avo 4 code doesn't work as expected — slug is shown on index.

Also main fields without card do are not grouped and UI is kinda broken — adding card do is basically mandatory now unless you don't declare any panels at all?

Also https://docs.avohq.io/4.0/fields-layout.html is 404 so maybe I'm just missing something which supposed to be in the docs.

Avo 3 code:

  def fields
    field :name, as: :text
    field :map, as: :file, hide_on: :index,
      accept: Rails.application.config.active_storage.variable_content_types
    field 'Has map', as: :boolean, only_on: :index do
      record.map.attached?
    end

    panel do
      field :slug, name: 'Friendly ID', as: :text, required: false,
        help: 'Used for pretty URLs, generated automatically or when empty'
    end

    field :events, as: :has_many, linkable: true
  end

Avo 4 code:

  def fields
    card do
      field :name, as: :text
      field :map, as: :file, hide_on: :index,
        accept: Rails.application.config.active_storage.variable_content_types
      field 'Has map', as: :boolean, only_on: :index do
        record.map.attached?
      end
    end

    panel do
      card do
        field :slug, name: 'Friendly ID', as: :text, required: false,
          help: 'Used for pretty URLs, generated automatically or when empty'
      end
    end

    field :events, as: :has_many, linkable: true
  end