Diffuse 0.16.0: Help blocked journeys continue

Diffuse 0.16.0

Help the journey when it gets stuck

A blocked journey now asks for guidance in chat, for example: “I can’t find the remaining recipes. What should I try?” The question stays with the saved steps and recording. Older blocked runs also offer a help conversation.

Write an answer and classify the blocker:

• Issue with the experience
• AI missed something
• Not sure yet

Then choose Stop journey or Continue. Stop saves the assessment and optional guidance without another AI call. Continue saves the answer and uses it as instructions for a linked continuation from the current page. It inherits the journey settings and preserves the earlier evidence.

The classification records your assessment of this blocker separately from the AI’s original findings and scores. It does not automatically create an issue or rewrite unrelated findings. Login, access, payment and other sensitive-action restrictions remain in force.

If continuing fails, your answer remains saved. Retrying reuses the saved response and does not create a duplicate continuation. Closing the help conversation does not force it open again on each refresh.

Update

Replace the files in your existing official Diffuse folder, reload Diffuse at chrome://extensions, and refresh the reviewed page. Keep the existing installation to retain saved reviews, journeys, connections, and settings.

Diffuse 0.15.0: Personas, chat and continued journeys

Diffuse 0.15.0

Configure the user and the review

Before a journey, describe who is trying the task. Adjust technical confidence, product familiarity, task familiarity, and willingness to keep trying. The saved profile guides decisions, assessment, and follow-up discussion. It is an AI simulation, not research with real participants.

Choose what AI should check: task completion, discoverability and clarity, feedback and recovery, interaction states, accessibility, and layout consistency. Unobserved or unsupported checks must remain untested. Execution duration is not a measure of human hesitation.

Choose balanced or thorough exploration, add instructions, and explicitly allow moving the test records needed for your task when appropriate. Lists and dialogs expose their own scroll targets so the journey can inspect more than the initially visible items.

Discuss and continue

Ask AI opens a chat with the journey or selected step as context. Keep asking follow-up questions in the same conversation, inspect cited steps, and fork a proposed alternative route.

Continue journey is available for stopped, blocked, and inconclusive runs. Add instructions and continue from the currently open page on the same website, with prior steps as context. Diffuse does not navigate back to the start or reset application data. The continuation has its own recording, steps, and action count; the previous run stays saved.

Try another route still starts again at the original starting page. Paused runs retain the ordinary Resume action.

Fixes

Fixed the first-open journey error, “Cannot read properties of null (reading 'updatedAt')”, when no saved run exists.

Update

Replace the files in your existing official Diffuse folder, reload Diffuse at chrome://extensions, and refresh the reviewed page. Keep the existing installation to retain saved reviews, journeys, connections, and settings.

Diffuse 0.14.0 — Journey follow-ups and alternative routes

Journey recordings show where each click happens. After a run, ask about any step and explore an alternative route without replacing the original attempt.

• A translucent yellow halo and click pulse appear in journey recordings and short comment recordings. Journey clicks include a brief visible lead-in before navigation.
• Ask about this step answers from the saved observations, action summaries, and outcomes. Supporting steps link back to the evidence. Up to 20 questions are retained with each journey.
• Fork journey… prepares an editable alternative route. Run alternative route returns to the original starting URL and creates a separate run and recording. Existing app data is not reset.
• The extension popup has four actions: Start Diffuse, Load Review, Review Reports, and Settings. Start Diffuse also reopens an active review and restores capture access when needed.
• The sidebar separates Review with AI, Journey Testing with AI, and Diff View, with a clear comment shortcut legend and Settings at the bottom. Short recordings start inside comments; Stop recording remains available during a capture.

Follow-up questions use your saved Anthropic key and can incur API charges. They send the recorded journey context and selected step screenshot, not the full video. A question itself never performs browser actions. Alternative routes run only after you start them.

Replace the files in your existing keyed Diffuse folder and reload the extension at chrome://extensions. Saved reviews remain in the same Chrome profile. See the journey guide for the workflow and its limits.

Validation uses local test pages and simulated model responses, including a full multi-page run, a follow-up answer, a fork through a different path, retained original evidence, and recorded click feedback. Live-model judgement quality is not established by those tests.

Download Diffuse-0.14.0.zip below. Unzip it and load the Diffuse folder in Chrome. Existing users can replace the files in their current Diffuse folder, then reload the extension.

Diffuse 0.13.0 — AI journey reviews

Diffuse 0.13.0

Give AI a task to try

Open Test a journey in the review sidebar and describe a goal, such as “Add Oat milk to the ingredients table with ml as its unit.” Diffuse discovers visible controls, follows the task through multiple pages on the same website, and checks the observed outcome.

Add optional success criteria, test data, or specific steps. The journey uses your existing Anthropic key and model. Keep the reviewed tab visible; Pause, Resume, and Stop remain available.

Watch what happened

Each attempt keeps a silent recording of the reviewed tab, screenshots, and notes for its steps. Watch this step jumps to the corresponding moment in the movie. Download the full WebM recording when you want to keep or share it. Pausing the journey pauses recording too.

Results distinguish completion, observed failure, blocked progress, and an inconclusive outcome. They show page visits, click attempts, backtracking, and five AI assessments: discoverability, clarity, effort, feedback, and recovery. Assessments include their reasoning, confidence, and supporting steps; untested dimensions remain unscored.

Accept useful suggestions as normal review comments. Each accepted finding keeps the page, screenshot, and reproduction path for Jira, GitHub, or review exports. The full journey movie stays in local history and can be downloaded separately.

Scope and verification

This first version operates one tab on one website origin, at the selected viewport, with a maximum of 30 actions or ten minutes. It uses rendered page evidence. Login challenges, external sites, sensitive controls, unsupported widgets, and uncertain outcomes can stop a run. Use a test environment: the journey can submit forms and create records.

AI assessments are suggestions to inspect, not a human usability study or proof of backend correctness. Each decision sends page evidence to Anthropic and can incur API charges. The full recording is not sent to the model. See the journey guide and privacy notice.

Browser validation covers a real multi-page ingredient-creation flow, native sidebar controls, screenshots, recording playback and seeking, pause/resume, accepted findings, and saved history. The test uses controlled model responses; it does not measure live-model judgment quality.

Ordinary recordings also release their busy state as soon as saving finishes. The short-lived retry cache no longer prevents selecting a Diff reference for another minute.

Update

Unzip Diffuse-0.13.0.zip. For an official installation from 0.10.2 onward, replace the files in the existing Diffuse folder, click Reload in chrome://extensions, and refresh the reviewed page. Keep the same installation to retain reviews and settings.

For a new installation, enable Developer mode in chrome://extensions, choose Load unpacked, and select the Diffuse folder. From 0.10.1 or earlier, export reviews before installing separately and import them with Load review.

Diffuse 0.12.0: Visual PR reviews

Diffuse 0.12.0

Give feedback, make the change, and review the result in one shared pull request.

Two sides of the review

• Give feedback: select findings from a saved review, choose the PR and preview, and inspect the text, captured evidence, repository visibility, and commit before publishing. Diffuse maintains one summary with native GitHub screenshots and recordings.
• Work through feedback: read the summary in GitHub without installing Diffuse, or use Load from a GitHub PR to restore the findings on your chosen preview at their recorded route and viewport. After making a change, capture and inspect updated evidence before sharing Ready for recheck.
• Review the change: capture a fresh screenshot or a short recording before sharing Verified or Still present. The PR shows the original and updated captures, who checked them, and the associated commit. A new commit makes earlier checks historical; it does not automatically mark feedback as fixed.

These are activities within a review. A reviewer can be a designer, stakeholder, or manager; the person working through feedback can be a designer or engineer. The same person can switch between both activities.

Evidence and control

Updated screenshots and silent recordings are previewed before sharing. Recordings can be up to 30 seconds, with shorter clips sometimes needed to fit the sharing limit. Capturing or connecting an account does not publish anything. Interrupted publications resume from saved receipts; uncertain status updates can be confirmed without creating another check.

Original captures and shared history remain intact when a finding is remapped or revisited. The original publisher can update authored feedback; collaborators with repository write access can share evidence and status checks. Read access supports reading and loading reviews. Previously published findings remain when a selected subset is updated.

Connect GitHub

Open Settings → GitHub reviews and sign in. Public repositories are enabled by default. Include private repositories explicitly requests GitHub's broader repo permission for public and private repositories your account can access. Diffuse also requires its GitHub App to be installed on each chosen repository; an owner or administrator may need to approve that installation. No personal access token or personal server is required.

The person reviewing confirms the preview-to-commit association. Diffuse does not prove that a deployment serves a particular commit, merge PRs, approve code, or bypass website logins. See the GitHub review guide and privacy notice.

Install or update

New installation: unzip Diffuse-0.12.0.zip, enable Developer mode in chrome://extensions, choose Load unpacked, and select the Diffuse folder.

From an official 0.10.2 or 0.11.0 installation, replace the files in the existing Diffuse folder, click Reload in chrome://extensions, and refresh reviewed pages. Keep the same installation to retain its identity, reviews, and settings.

From 0.10.1 or earlier, export reviews first, keep the old installation intact, install this release separately, and import with Load review. Reconnect optional accounts and disable the old copy after checking the imports.

Diffuse 0.11.0 · Comment directly on the page

Diffuse 0.11.0

Write feedback beside the element you are reviewing.

• Tap C, release it, and click: a pin and focused comment popover open on the page, even while the sidebar is open.
• Category and severity are compact dropdown badges at the top right.
• Write a comment and optional expected result. Title, component, and state fields are removed from the composer. Reproduction steps are collapsed until needed.
• Inspect the attached screenshot or add a short recording inside the same popover. Capture retries and recordings retain your text.
• The popover stays inside the viewport. The sidebar keeps review controls and provides Return to comment.
• Newly placed pins keep the clicked position within their element, including in exported/imported reviews.
• The Jira preview uses your configured Anthropic key and model to suggest a title from the full comment. Titles remain editable before tickets are created. Existing titles are preserved; a comment excerpt is used when AI is unavailable.

Update

From an official 0.10.2 installation, replace the files in your existing Diffuse folder with this release, then click Reload in chrome://extensions and refresh the page being reviewed. Keep the same installation; do not uninstall it. The extension identity, saved reviews, and settings are retained.

For 0.10.1 or earlier, export saved reviews first, keep the old installation intact, install this release separately, and import the reviews using Load review. Reconnect optional accounts and disable the old copy after checking the imports.

New installations: unzip Diffuse-0.11.0.zip, enable Developer mode in chrome://extensions, choose Load unpacked, and select the Diffuse folder. Jira sign-in remains available through Settings → Jira connections → Connect Jira.

Diffuse 0.10.2 · Connect your Jira account

Diffuse 0.10.2

This release fixes Jira sign-in for the shared extension ZIP. Official downloads now have one stable extension identity, approved by the hosted connection service. Each person connects their own Atlassian account; Jira connections and reviews are not shared between users.

Install and connect

1. Download Diffuse-0.10.2.zip and unzip it into a permanent folder.
2. Open chrome://extensions, enable Developer mode, choose Load unpacked, and select the unzipped Diffuse folder.
3. Open Diffuse → Settings → Jira connections → Connect Jira and sign in to Atlassian.

No installation-ID submission, API token, local server, or personal OAuth app is needed. Your Jira permissions and your organization's app policy still apply. Atlassian may display an unreviewed-app notice.

Keep reviews from 0.10.1 or earlier

The new identity has separate browser storage. Before upgrading, export each review you want to keep using ⋯ → Export review. Keep the old installation and folder intact; install this version separately and import your exports with Load review. Reconnect Jira and optional AI/Figma settings. Disable the old copy after checking your imported reviews. Do not replace the old files expecting Chrome to migrate their storage.

Future official versions will keep this identity and can be updated in place, using Reload without uninstalling. The release script also leaves the legacy unpacked installation untouched.

Other changes

• Unsupported installations get a specific update message instead of the generic service-unavailable error.
• Settings use normal sign-in guidance and reserve the extension ID for support diagnostics.
• A confirmed expired or removed Jira connection clears its cached account details; temporary network failures retain the connection.
• The hosted service includes scheduled Atlassian account-data reporting and cleanup. See the privacy notice.

Fresh-profile and different-folder Chrome tests verify the shared ID and preservation of exported review text and screenshots. Provider tests cover OAuth isolation and failure handling. See Jira verification for live checks and remaining coverage; these tests do not claim a completed sign-in on every recipient's account or a real ticket creation.

Diffuse 0.10.1 · Light and dark appearance

Diffuse 0.10.1

Diffuse now includes an optional dark appearance. Open Settings → Appearance and choose Light, Dark, or System. Light remains the default, and System follows changes to your device's appearance.

• A deep navy palette carries across the popup, sidebar, review notebook, settings, comparison controls, custom menus, and on-page comments.
• Open Diffuse views update immediately when the preference changes. Severity and category colors keep their meaning in both appearances.
• Appearance stays local to this Chrome profile. The reviewed website and original evidence remain unchanged; shared reviews do not contain your appearance preference.
• No new permissions are required. All existing review, Figma reference, and Jira functionality is preserved. Downloaded HTML reports retain their portable light presentation.

Download Diffuse-0.10.1.zip, replace the files in your existing installation folder, and choose Reload on the existing Diffuse card in Chrome's extensions page. Refresh reviewed pages afterward. Keeping the same installed folder preserves your extension ID and access to saved reviews.

Validation passed: 401 automated tests, 9 native browser checks, and syntax/manifest checks. The release ZIP contains 61 files, each checked byte-for-byte against the extension source and setup documents. The case-study preview also passed keyboard and layout checks at desktop and phone sizes.

Diffuse 0.10.0: Figma MCP design references

Diffuse 0.10.0

AI reviews can now use a Figma frame as a design reference. Connect the desktop MCP server in Settings → Figma reference, then paste a frame or layer link into AI review → Figma frame or the review instructions. The link must include a node-id; whole-file links are not supported.

• Diffuse reads available design context, variables, and inline screenshots using supported read-only tools. It sends the reference with the captured page to the configured Anthropic model when the reviewer runs AI review.
• Accepted findings retain the Figma URL, captured context, and up to two reference images in shared JSON reviews, HTML/Markdown exports, and Jira handoffs.
• Custom compatible Streamable HTTP servers can use HTTPS and an optional bearer token. Tokens stay in trusted extension storage, use session storage by default, and are not reused when the endpoint changes.
• Cancellation and session changes stop the review without publishing results into another session. Failed reference retrieval does not silently fall back to an audit without the reference.

Keep the matching file open in Figma desktop, with the Desktop MCP server enabled in Dev Mode. The default endpoint is http://127.0.0.1:3845/mcp. Figma's hosted OAuth connection is not supported. Asset links returned by the server are not downloaded; text-only references remain usable with a visible limitation when no inline screenshot is supplied.

The release check passed 386 automated tests. MCP protocol, credential handling, cancellation, and export coverage use controlled fixtures; this release has not been verified against a live Figma desktop session. The ZIP was checked byte-for-byte against the extension source and packaged setup documents: 58 files matched, including the MCP modules and shared UI styles. Manifest and package versions both read 0.10.0.