Kite 0.1.2811

Kite 0.1.2811 is the first release since 0.1.1080. Highlights:

• Agents space: run Claude Code sessions in a terminal inside Kite.
• Add extensions from any store: Chrome, Edge, Opera, Firefox and Safari extensions, or a file.
• Onboarding asks for every macOS permission Kite uses up front, offers browser import, and resumes if you quit halfway.
• Import from Arc finds Arc's data on its own and brings over profiles, Air Traffic Control routes, extensions and, if you tick it, sign-ins.
• Export Data writes an HTML bookmarks file too, so your sidebar moves into any browser.
• Session backups, with Help › Restore Data.
• Much lower RAM, battery and GPU use, and tabs that keep their history when they sleep or Kite relaunches.
• Energy Saver is on by default.
• Settings › Advanced › Keep this many pages loaded.

Sidebar and windows:

• Sidebar plus buttons, the New Tab row and the bottom bar's + now look and behave as Arc's, with its hover wash and inactive-window dimming.
• Sidebar hover titles no longer get stuck on screen.
• Folders toggle on every click.
• Arc's missing tab and folder context-menu items.
• The Favorites tray pages with its space, as Arc's does.
• Traffic lights show in colour while the window is focused.
• Double-click the window's border to zoom, as on a Mac title bar.
• No flicker when a dragged space lands, and a grey theme's space icon is readable.
• Split view: pages stay put, Arc's pane bars and focus ring, and a held ⌘L adds one pane, not one per key repeat.
• Swipe back on a trackpad after 8% of the pad, as Arc does.
• Menu bar parity with Arc: New Folder…, Services, Jump to Selection and PDFs.
• Warns before moving tabs to a space on another profile.

Command bar:

• Find tabs by site name, and switch to an open tab instead of searching with ⌘L.
• Learns your picks.
• Typing after a site search completion keeps it.

Pages:

• HTML fullscreen on Chromium pages, such as YouTube's full screen button.
• Asks "Leave site?" before you close a page with unsaved changes.
• Widevine (DRM video) works within seconds of a fresh profile's first launch.
• Extension popups size to their content.
• 1Password's Unlock opens its popup; LastPass and other password managers are supported.
• Other apps' links (app URL schemes) open in their apps; app links close the tab they opened.
• Cloudflare's challenge loads normally.
• Site Controls show a live microphone level.
• Permission prompts ignore clicks that land just after they appear.
• The page menu and ⌘-clicks open and save only addresses a page can reach itself.
• Downloads: kept per profile, incognito downloads stay in memory, a running download hidden from Kite stays hidden.
• Picture in picture that a page starts automatically is fenced off from stealing focus.
• Little Kite's ⌥⌘N global hotkey is off until you turn it on.

Claude in Kite:

• Hand-offs ring the control you need on the page itself, take you to the step, can go back a step, fill card details from 1Password, and alert you when Claude is waiting on you.
• Claude's tabs show one clear state; a tab Claude drives keeps only its dot.
• Tabs a Claude tab opens stay in its folder, and Claude follows them.
• Claude sees Peeks, page dialogs, permission prompts, file choosers and HTTP sign-ins.
• Claude can type a code from one page into another page's field, or into a terminal's password prompt, without ever seeing it.
• Claude can read extension workers' consoles.
• Diagnostics for Claude, and a local action trace of every tool call and browser event.

Fixes:

• A swipe crash, store data loss, undo, AppleScript javascript: URLs, leaks and Claude timeouts.
• An Arc import with a repeated or circular folder no longer crashes.
• Restored tabs come back loading, not blank.
• The ad blocker wakes the main thread less and lets dedicated workers start.
• Debug builds can't become the default browser.

Kite 0.1.1080

• Command bar: typing a favorite's address puts it first (#294)
• Helix W9b: the space bar (Windows) (#290)
• Command bar: find favorites and tabs by name, ordered like Arc (#293)
• Handoff: Take Me Back and Reopen Tab instead of steps vanishing (#292)
• Handoff: say what blocks a step, on the card and to Claude (#291)
• Handoff ring: settle on the real control as SPA pages redraw, grey out disabled controls (#288)
• Helix M1: test-safe sign_in and password manager under diagnostics (#289)
• Windows W9a: switching spaces, the theme crossfade and the pages' slide (#284)
• docs: Windows animation rule allows the frame clock only for per-frame shader redraws (#287)
• AppKit migration PR 11: the address field's password manager key (#286)
• AppKit migration PR 10: Claude's page border, sign-in pill and handoff card (#285)
• Windows W8b: BrowserWindowController owns the window (#283)
• Windows W8: keyboard shortcuts (#282)
• Windows W3b: backdrop under the title bar, Kite's caption buttons (#281)
• Close the Library on Escape, as Arc does (#280)
• Windows W5b: cap live pages at six (#279)
• Windows W5: close, archive and reopen tabs (#278)
• Sidebar menus go through KITE_TEST_CONTEXT_MENU; menus and drag edge cases verified (#277)
• Kite for Windows: sidebar interaction (Helix W4b) (#276)
• Kite for Windows: sidebar skeleton (Helix W4) (#274)
• Hidden SwiftUI hosts leave the window: page toolbar, Library, Claude bubble (#275)
• Kite for Windows: the command bar (W7) (#273)
• Command bar in AppKit (#272)
• Kite for Windows: the command bar's model (W7a) (#270)
• Sidebar: no SwiftUI root; Mini Player and Create a Space as islands (#271)
• Kite for Windows W6: Chromium pages, one windowed browser per tab (#266)
• Sidebar: space bar in AppKit (#269)
• Sidebar: favorites tray in AppKit (#268)
• Sidebar: header row and address field in AppKit (#267)
• Kite for Windows W3: theme backdrop on DirectComposition (#261)
• Sidebar: the column and space pages in AppKit (#265)
• Sidebar: header, Today divider and Instant Links rows in AppKit (#264)
• Keep a popup's opener alive, so Sign in with Apple and Google finish (#263)
• Kite for Windows: native C++ shell, model core and Helix (#260)
• Sidebar: the space list in AppKit (#262)

Kite for Windows (preview)

An early preview of Kite for Windows (64-bit, Windows 10 or 11).

Unzip it and run Kite.exe; nothing is installed. It isn't code-signed yet, so SmartScreen warns the first time: choose More info, then Run anyway. It doesn't update itself yet, and it's behind the Mac version.

The Mac version is the latest release.