Vanish v1.0.0

Vanish - Release Notes

Version: 1.0.0
Date: 2026-05-06

1. Release Overview

This release provides the finalized production baseline for Vanish with full hide/restore orchestration, trigger configuration, licensing integration, tray operations, and release packaging automation.

2. Delivered Capabilities

2.1 Core Concealment

• process-targeted hide list workflow
• hide/restore through orchestrator-managed flows
• taskbar and Alt+Tab concealment through extended style management

2.2 Triggering and Interaction

• global shortcut capture via low-level hook
• 8-zone cursor edge monitor with debounce/tolerance controls
• UI and tray command parity for operational controls

2.3 Audio Behavior

• optional mute on vanish
• optional restore on restore
• warning-only failure handling to preserve core flow continuity

2.4 UI and Configuration

• General, Triggers, Shortcuts, About pages
• process selector, language picker, close dialog, trial-expired dialog
• theme and language runtime persistence

2.5 Licensing and Trial

• 7-day trial management with file + registry backup resolution
• Lemon Squeezy activation path
• local HMAC verification after activation

2.6 Telemetry and Logging

• asynchronous local file logging with retention cleanup
• Sentry bridge integration where configured

2.7 Packaging and Delivery

• CI quality gates for build/tests/coverage
• release workflow producing Velopack packages and MSI installer
• installer custom actions for install hint and user-data cleanup path

3. Notable Engineering Characteristics

• explicit layered architecture with interface-first contracts
• session-volatile reset of hide list and active flag on load by design
• UI-thread orchestrator startup requirement for keyboard hook behavior

4. Known Limitations

• Windows-only support
• no hidden-window recovery after crash
• third-party window and audio session behavior may vary

5. Operational Notes

• settings path: %APPDATA%\Vanish\settings.json
• license path: %APPDATA%\Vanish\license.dat
• logs path: %APPDATA%\Vanish\logs

6. Upgrade and Uninstall Notes

• upgrades follow MSI major-upgrade strategy in release process
• full uninstall triggers cleanup custom action for user data paths under defined conditions

7. Validation Summary

Release pipeline requires:

• successful build
• passing unit/integration/end-to-end test suites
• passing coverage threshold gate

8. Architectural Release Narrative

This release formalizes the production baseline architecture around four layer boundaries:

1. Domain contracts and models.
2. Application orchestration and persistence services.
3. Windows integration for hooks, Win32 window mutation, audio, and startup registry integration.
4. UI composition and interaction surfaces.

Operational benefit:

• clearer contract boundaries for maintenance and testing.

9. Runtime Behavior Clarifications

9.1 Activation and Gating

• Vanishing start behavior is capability-gated by active trial/license state.
• Activation uses remote validation and local verification material persistence.

9.2 Session-Volatile Fields

• HideList and IsVanishingEnabled reset at load boundary by design.
• This is intentional safety behavior, not data-loss regression.

9.3 Trigger Routing

• Shortcut routing is based on canonical string matching.
• Zone routing uses debounce and tolerance semantics with active-state gating.

10. Operator Impact Summary

1. Release procedures must continue enforcing test and coverage gates before packaging.
2. Support teams should treat hide-list reset behavior as expected baseline behavior.
3. Incident triage should prioritize startup, concealment, restoration, and activation paths as critical domains.

11. User Impact Summary

1. Users can control core operations from main UI and tray paths.
2. Trial and activation outcomes are reflected in About page workflows.
3. Runtime language/theme changes remain available through settings.

12. Known-Risk Watchlist for Next Releases

1. third-party app variance in style/placement restoration.
2. audio session continuity limitations for restarted processes.
3. shortcut/zone configuration complexity for first-time users.

13. Post-Release Verification Recommendations

After deployment, validate:

1. startup behavior on clean profile and upgrade profile.
2. trigger responsiveness for shortcut and zone paths.
3. stop/exit restore behavior with hidden windows present.
4. activation flow and failure messaging paths.
5. uninstall cleanup behavior under expected conditions.