Sona 0.5.0

0.5.0 (2026-11-15)

Features

• album: a band in the cover's colour replaces the sleeve column (#287) (dbb2c9d)
• media: motion artwork through the OS's own video engine on macOS and Windows (#264) (386db0c)
• player: scroll over the volume to change it (#329) (f606b0d)
• player: the album in the player bar opens its page (#346) (cdbeec1)
• playlist: show when a playlist was created, beside updated (#352) (821f28d)
• theme: a neutral board and a play colour at 3:1 in light themes (#282) (1e0e09d)
• theme: an accent selector for Sona's own themes, OLED in blue (#286) (378a5e5)
• ui: choose which artist to open when a song or album has several (#353) (7ec77c2)
• ui: redesign every page, add themes and sidebar shuffle (#277) (6710eea)
• use MyGo v0.9.0's session-end quit, KeepRunning, DefaultApp and GPU YUV (#263) (bd792ad)

Bug Fixes

• album: a released song on an upcoming album plays, by its own playParams (#292) (ab2a7bb)
• ci: pin Proton's secrets action to the commit that ships its build (#290) (f52508f)
• deps: update module github.com/pressly/goose/v3 to v3.30.1 (#275) (ce10f8a)
• deps: update module golang.org/x/mod to v0.43.0 (#274) (dfe6336)
• deps: update MyGo to v0.9.0 (#262) (0a33597)
• discover: a click in the lead no longer stops it advancing (#281) (2730944)
• i18n: reject JS \u{} escapes past U+10FFFF (#364) (151fd3e)
• playback: a skip supersedes a slow load instead of queueing behind it (#260) (289065b)
• player: the volume wheel moves 2% a notch, on every kind of wheel (#351) (386ab00)
• search: choosing a song opens its page; Play plays it (#332) (dec31e2)
• ui: centre the play triangle by one rule, sidebar and Play discs (#331) (f5b5682)
• ui: no eyebrow in Search's best match, no rank numbers on Home (#280) (12767c9)
• update: Windows updates install: no './' in the archive, the host let go, the sandbox re-granted (#285) (6796209)

Performance

• playback: fetch a queue's unstored catalogue songs in one batched request (#284) (1d29a60)
• ui: the playing glyph moves in sub-pixel steps at the display's rate (#296) (6fb55ab)
• ui: the playing glyph moves smoothly instead of stepping three times a second (#283) (bed4160)

Installing

Every file is listed in SHA256SUMS and has signed build provenance:
gh attestation verify <file> --repo coredev-uk/sona-go.

macOS (Apple silicon, macOS 14 or later). Open Sona-<version>-macos-arm64.dmg and drag Sona to Applications. The app is not notarised, so macOS 15 and later block the first open: System Settings → Privacy & Security → "Open Anyway", or run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Sona.app. Sign in with Apple Music from Settings; full tracks play.

Windows (x64). Run Sona-<version>-windows-x64-setup.exe (a per-user install, no administrator rights) or extract the portable Sona-<version>-windows-x64.zip anywhere you can write. SmartScreen warns about an unknown publisher: "More info" → "Run anyway". Sign in with Apple Music from Settings; full tracks play through a sandboxed host process with GStreamer's WASAPI output. Motion covers play through Windows' own Media Foundation, decoded by the graphics card where Windows offers a Direct3D 11 decoder and by the CPU otherwise.

Linux. The .deb, .rpm, Arch package and AppImage; see the README.

Installs of the macOS app and the Windows installer or zip update themselves from Settings → Updates; packages update through your package manager.

Sona 0.5.0-rc.5

Test build 0.5.0-rc.5 from 7ec77c2. Not for general use: it only updates to later test builds, with Settings → Updates → Test versions on.

Changes since v0.5.0-rc.4

Features

• ui: choose which artist to open when a song or album has several (#353)
• playlist: show when a playlist was created, beside updated (#352)
• player: the album in the player bar opens its page (#346)
• player: scroll over the volume to change it (#329)

Fixes

• player: the volume wheel moves 2% a notch, on every kind of wheel (#351)
• search: choosing a song opens its page; Play plays it (#332)
• ui: centre the play triangle by one rule, sidebar and Play discs (#331)
• album: a released song on an upcoming album plays, by its own playParams (#292)

Performance

• ui: the playing glyph moves in sub-pixel steps at the display's rate (#296)

Plus 5 internal changes (docs, CI, build, refactors).

Installing

Every file is listed in SHA256SUMS and has signed build provenance:
gh attestation verify <file> --repo coredev-uk/sona-go.

macOS (Apple silicon, macOS 14 or later). Open Sona-<version>-macos-arm64.dmg and drag Sona to Applications. The app is not notarised, so macOS 15 and later block the first open: System Settings → Privacy & Security → "Open Anyway", or run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Sona.app. Sign in with Apple Music from Settings; full tracks play.

Windows (x64). Run Sona-<version>-windows-x64-setup.exe (a per-user install, no administrator rights) or extract the portable Sona-<version>-windows-x64.zip anywhere you can write. SmartScreen warns about an unknown publisher: "More info" → "Run anyway". Sign in with Apple Music from Settings; full tracks play through a sandboxed host process with GStreamer's WASAPI output. Motion covers play through Windows' own Media Foundation, decoded by the graphics card where Windows offers a Direct3D 11 decoder and by the CPU otherwise.

Linux. The .deb, .rpm, Arch package and AppImage; see the README.

Installs of the macOS app and the Windows installer or zip update themselves from Settings → Updates; packages update through your package manager.

Sona 0.5.0-rc.4

Test build 0.5.0-rc.4 from 02449d6. Not for general use: it only updates to later test builds, with Settings → Updates → Test versions on.

Changes since v0.5.0-rc.3

Features

• album: a band in the cover's colour replaces the sleeve column (#287)
• theme: an accent selector for Sona's own themes, OLED in blue (#286)
• theme: a neutral board and a play colour at 3:1 in light themes (#282)

Fixes

• ci: pin Proton's secrets action to the commit that ships its build (#290)
• update: Windows updates install: no './' in the archive, the host let go, the sandbox re-granted (#285)
• discover: a click in the lead no longer stops it advancing (#281)
• ui: no eyebrow in Search's best match, no rank numbers on Home (#280)

Performance

• playback: fetch a queue's unstored catalogue songs in one batched request (#284)
• ui: the playing glyph moves smoothly instead of stepping three times a second (#283)

Plus 4 internal changes (docs, CI, chores).

Installing

Every file is listed in SHA256SUMS and has signed build provenance:
gh attestation verify <file> --repo coredev-uk/sona-go.

macOS (Apple silicon, macOS 14 or later). Open Sona-<version>-macos-arm64.dmg and drag Sona to Applications. The app is not notarised, so macOS 15 and later block the first open: System Settings → Privacy & Security → "Open Anyway", or run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Sona.app. Sign in with Apple Music from Settings; full tracks play.

Windows (x64). Run Sona-<version>-windows-x64-setup.exe (a per-user install, no administrator rights) or extract the portable Sona-<version>-windows-x64.zip anywhere you can write. SmartScreen warns about an unknown publisher: "More info" → "Run anyway". Sign in with Apple Music from Settings; full tracks play through a sandboxed host process with GStreamer's WASAPI output. Motion covers play through Windows' own Media Foundation, decoded by the graphics card where Windows offers a Direct3D 11 decoder and by the CPU otherwise.

Linux. The .deb, .rpm, Arch package and AppImage; see the README.

Installs of the macOS app and the Windows installer or zip update themselves from Settings → Updates; packages update through your package manager.

Sona 0.5.0-rc.3

Test build 0.5.0-rc.3 from dfe6336. Not for general use: it only updates to later test builds, with Settings → Updates → Test versions on.

Changes since v0.5.0-rc.2

Fixes

• deps: update module golang.org/x/mod to v0.43.0 (#274)

Installing

Every file is listed in SHA256SUMS and has signed build provenance:
gh attestation verify <file> --repo coredev-uk/sona-go.

macOS (Apple silicon, macOS 14 or later). Open Sona-<version>-macos-arm64.dmg and drag Sona to Applications. The app is not notarised, so macOS 15 and later block the first open: System Settings → Privacy & Security → "Open Anyway", or run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Sona.app. Sign in with Apple Music from Settings; full tracks play.

Windows (x64). Run Sona-<version>-windows-x64-setup.exe (a per-user install, no administrator rights) or extract the portable Sona-<version>-windows-x64.zip anywhere you can write. SmartScreen warns about an unknown publisher: "More info" → "Run anyway". Sign in with Apple Music from Settings; full tracks play through a sandboxed host process with GStreamer's WASAPI output. Motion covers play through Windows' own Media Foundation, decoded by the graphics card where Windows offers a Direct3D 11 decoder and by the CPU otherwise.

Linux. The .deb, .rpm, Arch package and AppImage; see the README.

Installs of the macOS app and the Windows installer or zip update themselves from Settings → Updates; packages update through your package manager.

Sona 0.5.0-rc.2

Test build 0.5.0-rc.2 from 7d6bf27. Not for general use: it only updates to later test builds, with Settings → Updates → Test versions on.

Changes since v0.5.0-rc.1

Features

• ui: redesign every page, add themes and sidebar shuffle (#277)

Plus 1 internal change (docs).

Installing

Every file is listed in SHA256SUMS and has signed build provenance:
gh attestation verify <file> --repo coredev-uk/sona-go.

macOS (Apple silicon, macOS 14 or later). Open Sona-<version>-macos-arm64.dmg and drag Sona to Applications. The app is not notarised, so macOS 15 and later block the first open: System Settings → Privacy & Security → "Open Anyway", or run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Sona.app. Sign in with Apple Music from Settings; full tracks play.

Windows (x64). Run Sona-<version>-windows-x64-setup.exe (a per-user install, no administrator rights) or extract the portable Sona-<version>-windows-x64.zip anywhere you can write. SmartScreen warns about an unknown publisher: "More info" → "Run anyway". Sign in with Apple Music from Settings; full tracks play through a sandboxed host process with GStreamer's WASAPI output. Motion covers play through Windows' own Media Foundation, decoded by the graphics card where Windows offers a Direct3D 11 decoder and by the CPU otherwise.

Linux. The .deb, .rpm, Arch package and AppImage; see the README.

Installs of the macOS app and the Windows installer or zip update themselves from Settings → Updates; packages update through your package manager.

Sona 0.5.0-rc.1

Test build 0.5.0-rc.1 from b61919b. Not for general use: it only updates to later test builds, with Settings → Updates → Test versions on.

Changes since v0.4.0

Features

• media: motion artwork through the OS's own video engine on macOS and Windows (#264)
• use MyGo v0.9.0's session-end quit, KeepRunning, DefaultApp and GPU YUV (#263)

Fixes

• deps: update MyGo to v0.9.0 (#262)
• playback: a skip supersedes a slow load instead of queueing behind it (#260)

Plus 10 internal changes (CI, refactors).

Installing

Every file is listed in SHA256SUMS and has signed build provenance:
gh attestation verify <file> --repo coredev-uk/sona-go.

macOS (Apple silicon, macOS 14 or later). Open Sona-<version>-macos-arm64.dmg and drag Sona to Applications. The app is not notarised, so macOS 15 and later block the first open: System Settings → Privacy & Security → "Open Anyway", or run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Sona.app. Sign in with Apple Music from Settings; full tracks play.

Windows (x64). Run Sona-<version>-windows-x64-setup.exe (a per-user install, no administrator rights) or extract the portable Sona-<version>-windows-x64.zip anywhere you can write. SmartScreen warns about an unknown publisher: "More info" → "Run anyway". Sign in with Apple Music from Settings; full tracks play through a sandboxed host process with GStreamer's WASAPI output. Motion covers play through Windows' own Media Foundation, decoded by the graphics card where Windows offers a Direct3D 11 decoder and by the CPU otherwise.

Linux. The .deb, .rpm, Arch package and AppImage; see the README.

Installs of the macOS app and the Windows installer or zip update themselves from Settings → Updates; packages update through your package manager.

Sona 0.4.0

0.4.0 (2026-11-11)

Features

• album: redesign the not-out-yet album page (#251) (529f3b0)
• cli: sona lyrics prints and follows the playing song's lyrics (#253) (a9979ec)
• media: motion artwork on Windows (#231) (0c64349)
• playback: the CDM host and playspike on Windows (licence prototype) (#220) (b77076d)
• playback: Windows playback: engine, AppContainer sandbox, packaging (#222) (3305485)
• playlist: readable Updated dates in calendar words (#244) (7017a21)
• playlist: sort and find the songs on the playlist page (#250) (cb8a73f)
• theme: SF Symbols for the controls on macOS (#246) (9baf4c3)
• ui: ? opens the shortcut help on GTK and AppKit (#245) (5063e69)

Bug Fixes

• deps: update golang.org/x/sys to v0.50.0 and golang.org/x/term to v0.48.0 (#243) (655dd22)
• deps: update module github.com/pressly/goose/v3 to v3.30.0 (#241) (a6bdb6a)
• deps: update module golang.org/x/text to v0.44.0 (#238) (f5d7840)
• library: a deleted playlist leaves Recently added (#242) (8e3a646)
• library: a pre-added album shows as not out, with its unreleased songs unplayable (#252) (e85649a)
• nix: install the release build from the flake (#247) (8bc6e30)
• nix: update vendorHash for the go-sqlite3 and MyGo bumps (#239) (7f798b9)
• windows: uninstall removes the playback sandbox; retry preview playback on network errors (#230) (050df46)

Installing

Every file is listed in SHA256SUMS and has signed build provenance:
gh attestation verify <file> --repo coredev-uk/sona-go.

macOS (Apple silicon, macOS 14 or later). Open Sona-<version>-macos-arm64.dmg and drag Sona to Applications. The app is not notarised, so macOS 15 and later block the first open: System Settings → Privacy & Security → "Open Anyway", or run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Sona.app. Sign in with Apple Music from Settings; full tracks play.

Windows (x64). Run Sona-<version>-windows-x64-setup.exe (a per-user install, no administrator rights) or extract the portable Sona-<version>-windows-x64.zip anywhere you can write. SmartScreen warns about an unknown publisher: "More info" → "Run anyway". Sign in with Apple Music from Settings; full tracks play through a sandboxed host process with GStreamer's WASAPI output. Motion covers play, decoded by the graphics card where Windows offers a Direct3D 11 decoder and by the CPU otherwise.

Linux. The .deb, .rpm, Arch package and AppImage; see the README.

Installs of the macOS app and the Windows installer or zip update themselves from Settings → Updates; packages update through your package manager.

Build dependencies (CI mirror)

Not a Sona release. The official GStreamer packages Sona's Windows and macOS builds link and ship, pinned by build/windows/gstreamer.sha256 and build/darwin/gstreamer.sha256, mirrored from gstreamer.freedesktop.org for CI (.github/workflows/build-deps.yml). Their licences are GStreamer's; each file's SHA-256 is its pin.

Sona 0.4.0-rc.3

Test build 0.4.0-rc.3 from 07ea24c. Not for general use: it only updates to later test builds, with Settings → Updates → Test versions on.

Changes since v0.4.0-rc.2

Only 1 internal change (CI).

Installing

Every file is listed in SHA256SUMS and has signed build provenance:
gh attestation verify <file> --repo coredev-uk/sona-go.

macOS (Apple silicon, macOS 14 or later). Open Sona-<version>-macos-arm64.dmg and drag Sona to Applications. The app is not notarised, so macOS 15 and later block the first open: System Settings → Privacy & Security → "Open Anyway", or run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Sona.app. Sign in with Apple Music from Settings; full tracks play.

Windows (x64). Run Sona-<version>-windows-x64-setup.exe (a per-user install, no administrator rights) or extract the portable Sona-<version>-windows-x64.zip anywhere you can write. SmartScreen warns about an unknown publisher: "More info" → "Run anyway". Sign in with Apple Music from Settings; full tracks play through a sandboxed host process with GStreamer's WASAPI output. Motion covers play, decoded by the graphics card where Windows offers a Direct3D 11 decoder and by the CPU otherwise.

Linux. The .deb, .rpm, Arch package and AppImage; see the README.

Installs of the macOS app and the Windows installer or zip update themselves from Settings → Updates; packages update through your package manager.

Sona 0.4.0-rc.2

Test build 0.4.0-rc.2 from f912c8e. Not for general use: it only updates to later test builds, with Settings → Updates → Test versions on.

Changes since v0.4.0-rc.1

Features

• media: motion artwork on Windows (#231)

Fixes

• windows: uninstall removes the playback sandbox; retry preview playback on network errors (#230)

Plus 1 internal change (CI).

Installing

Every file is listed in SHA256SUMS and has signed build provenance:
gh attestation verify <file> --repo coredev-uk/sona-go.

macOS (Apple silicon, macOS 14 or later). Open Sona-<version>-macos-arm64.dmg and drag Sona to Applications. The app is not notarised, so macOS 15 and later block the first open: System Settings → Privacy & Security → "Open Anyway", or run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Sona.app. Sign in with Apple Music from Settings; full tracks play.

Windows (x64). Run Sona-<version>-windows-x64-setup.exe (a per-user install, no administrator rights) or extract the portable Sona-<version>-windows-x64.zip anywhere you can write. SmartScreen warns about an unknown publisher: "More info" → "Run anyway". Sign in with Apple Music from Settings; full tracks play through a sandboxed host process with GStreamer's WASAPI output. Motion covers play, decoded by the graphics card where Windows offers a Direct3D 11 decoder and by the CPU otherwise.

Linux. The .deb, .rpm, Arch package and AppImage; see the README.

Installs of the macOS app and the Windows installer or zip update themselves from Settings → Updates; packages update through your package manager.