Kate v0.23.8

The August 2023 experimental release for Kate is here! (Just barely cutting it in August :'>)

This release focused on adding the necessary support for making game dev and similar tools that run within Kate. Next we'll focus on moving the current command line tools for publishing Kate cartridges into graphical tools that you can use from within Kate (so distributed as a regular cartridge, with the same security guarantees). As always, full release notes are available here.

The first tool cartridge done for testing the waters here is a much simpler project however: The Kate Importer allows taking a release of a game for a platform such as PC (made with certain engines) and patching it to run in Kate. Currently supporting only Ren'Py and Bitsy games, but more to come.

There are a few other important changes:

• New cartridge format: This is a huge breaking change, the older formats are no longer supported. The new format is simpler but not yet final — the format will change at least once.
• Better offline support: Installing Kate as a web-app now works as expected. There's a new "cache refresh" option to deal with possible issues with outdated caches.
• New powerful capabilities: The OS now supports capabilities to extend default powers. This version introduces powers for external URL navigation, file access, cartridge installation, and downloading of files — all needed for tools.
• Audit logs: This version has proper audit logging for all persistent actions in the console. Ephemeral and runtime actions will be added on the next version.
• Lots of other minor changes, including improved support on mobile phones (and iOS), better communication of cartridge expectations, better support for games in larger resolutions, better UI support for longer cartridge titles, and more.

This version is fully incompatible with all older Kate versions, so you can't just upgrade the usual way. If you've used Kate before (if the version at the bottom says anything besides "0.23.8-a4"), you'll first need to clear all Kate data — either clearing it from the browser's "clear site data" option or from within Kate's "Settings -> Diagnostics & Recovery -> Delete all data" works. You can also upgrade by simply accessing https://kate.qteati.me/?reset=erase-all-data

If you'd rather run the native version (it's still unsandboxed!), here's the docs on how to build it from source.