v0.8.0-alpha

[nicotem]

Connect QualCoder to Claude for AI-assisted qualitative data analysis — explore your coded data conversationally, code with a human-in-the-loop approval gate, and now: let the AI propose new codes you review before they exist.
This is an alpha. It works and it's been tested hard, but it's early — please work on copies of your projects, never originals.

New in this release

Inductive / open coding — the AI can propose brand-new codes from your data, with supporting evidence. You review, rename, recolour, merge or reject every proposal; nothing exists until you approve it, and creation is all-or-nothing with a backup first.
One-word span control — every coding suggestion carries precomputed shorter/longer span alternatives (sentence ↔ full speaker turn), so "longer on #3" fixes a quote instantly. Born directly from early tester feedback.
Report exports — codebook, coded-segments report, and frequency/matrix CSVs, with counting rules matched against QualCoder's own source so the numbers agree with your Reports screen (any deliberate divergence is stated in the output). Optional sanitize_formulas flag for spreadsheet safety.
Cases, attributes & annotations — create cases, define and set attributes (with correct numeric semantics), write annotations; plus merge_category and backup retention (prune_backups).
Editable suggestions — adjust a pending suggestion's span or code before approving (edit_suggestion).
Works in Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or any MCP client (new docs section).
Tool surface: 48 → 67. Test suite: 1130 automated tests, cross-platform CI (macOS/Linux/Windows, Python 3.10 & 3.13). Every feature implemented against QualCoder 3.8.2 source ground truth and gated through independent QA and security review. This release also fixes two subtle v0.7 bugs the ground-truth research exposed (numeric attribute queries matching unset values; case-link duplicate detection).

Safety

Read-only by default. Every write is preceded by an automatic backup, verified against QualCoder's format, and refused while QualCoder has the project open. Destructive operations preview first and take a safety backup.

Requires

Python 3.10+, a Claude client (Desktop or Code), QualCoder 3.8.x with at least one project. macOS, Linux, or Windows.

Support

Bugs, questions, and feature ideas via GitHub Issues — see SUPPORT.md. Early adopters shape the roadmap — this release's span controls and multi-code guidance came straight from the first tester.
Full changelog: CHANGELOG.md. MIT licensed, no warranty.

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This discussion was created from the release v0.8.0-alpha.