patchloom: v0.4.0

Patchloom for VS Code 0.4.0

This release tracks Patchloom CLI 0.28.0: recommended binary bump, clearer agent-facing error hints (suggested_op, empty paths, non-regular files), better upgrade actions by install source, and Windows install guidance that prefers managed install and Scoop over lagging community packages.

Highlights

• Recommended CLI is 0.28.0. Managed Install / Update Patchloom still download the latest GitHub release with checksum verification. Minimum supported CLI remains 0.3.0.
• Smarter upgrade actions. Status and command warnings pick the action that can actually fix your active binary: Update for managed installs, Open Settings for patchloom.path, Open Releases for PATH installs. Managed Update no longer pretends to replace an outdated PATH binary.
• Richer CLI error peels in the UI. Failure messages still prefer JSON error / error_kind, and now append suggested_op when the CLI provides it (for example multi-match doc.update after a fail-closed doc.set).
• Windows install path. Prefer the extension managed installer or Scoop. Winget and Chocolatey are called out as lagging channels; do not use them when you need the latest CLI the same day.

CLI 0.28 still exposes 58 MCP tools by default (11 in the core pack). No settings migration is required.

Aligned with Patchloom CLI 0.25–0.28

You do not need every CLI feature to use the extension. These matter if you upgrade the binary from 0.24.x:

CLI	What you get with a current managed install
0.25	Clearer create/rename peels; ambiguous markdown headings report error_kind: ambiguous
0.26	Multi-path specials (FIFOs and similar) report refused[].reason: not_regular_file instead of looking like a permission error
0.27	Fail-closed doc navigation may include suggested_op (doc.update or doc.delete_where) so agents and the extension can hint the multi-match sibling
0.28	Empty, whitespace-only, or format-character-only paths fail early with error_kind: invalid_input and message path must not be empty

Workspace Quick Actions and Batch Apply still pass global --contain. Patch merge still skips containment when the patch file may live outside the project.

New features

• CLI 0.28 alignment. Recommended version, requirements, troubleshooting, and MCP counts updated for 0.25–0.28 peels; Batch Apply template includes multi-match doc.update next to doc.set (#226).
• Shared binary remediation. Missing or broken CLI prompts use one path for status and commands: Install, Reinstall, Update, Settings, or Open Releases depending on source and managed storage (#228, #229).

Bug fixes

• Managed Update for an outdated PATH CLI left you stuck. Resolution order is still setting, then PATH, then managed. Offering Install/Update managed when the active binary came from PATH or patchloom.path could refresh storage without changing what the extension runs. Upgrade actions now follow the active source (#229).
• Missing binary only offered Open Settings. When managed install is available, status and command warnings prefer Install Patchloom or Reinstall Patchloom instead of sending you only to settings (#228).

Improvements

• suggested_op in Output and notifications. When the CLI returns a multi-match hint on fail-closed doc navigation, the extension surfaces it next to the error text (#226).
• Windows and upgrade docs. Install and troubleshooting prefer managed install and Scoop; document Scoop/scoop update for PATH upgrades and managed Update for storage installs (#226, #229).
• Dependency hygiene. Cleared high npm audit findings (including brace-expansion override pin) and bumped publishing/test tooling used in CI (#228, #229, #223, #224, #225).

Numbers

Metric	Notes
Extension version	0.3.0 → 0.4.0
Recommended CLI	0.24.0 → 0.28.0 (minimum still 0.3.0)
Unit tests	313 (node:test unit suite on this release)
MCP tools (CLI 0.28 full / core)	58 / 11

Upgrading

1. Update the extension to 0.4.0 (VS Code Marketplace, Open VSX, or .vsix from the GitHub Release).
2. Update the Patchloom CLI using the channel that matches how the extension resolved it (see Patchloom: Show Status → Source):

# Managed install (extension storage): command palette
# Patchloom: Update Patchloom

# PATH via Scoop (preferred Windows PATH channel)
scoop update patchloom

# PATH via Homebrew
brew upgrade patchloom

# npm / cargo / shell installer: see README Install section

3. Confirm with Patchloom: Show Status that the detected CLI is 0.28.0 or newer (0.3.0+ still runs; 0.28.0 is recommended).
4. Optional: open Batch Apply and try the doc.update example, or trigger a command with an outdated PATH binary and confirm the status action points at Open Releases rather than a no-op managed update.

Install

• VS Code Marketplace
• Open VSX
• GitHub Release assets: patchloom.vsix and build provenance (patchloom.vsix.intoto.jsonl)

Full changelog

patchloom-v0.3.0...patchloom-v0.4.0