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radical v0.3.0

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@github-actions github-actions released this 27 Oct 13:52
· 21 commits to main since this release
v0.3.0
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Learn about vigilant mode.

Radical keeps your architecture as a model, not a drawing: a folder of Markdown files in your repository. Studio, your coding agent and CI all read and write the same files. This is the first tagged release. One version, 0.3.0, now covers the CLI, the MCP server, the Studio desktop app and the VS Code extension.

Get started

From an empty folder, with or without Node.js installed:

mkdir my-system && cd my-system
curl -fsSLO https://radical.tools/radical.sh && sh radical.sh setup          # macOS, Linux
curl.exe -fsSLO https://radical.tools/radical.cmd && radical.cmd setup      # Windows

If Node.js is already installed, npx @radicaltools/cli setup in your repository does the same. The Studio desktop installers are attached below, and Studio also runs in the browser at studio.radical.tools.

Highlights

Connect your coding agent in one command

  • radical setup guides you through the steps:

    • starts a model in an empty folder;
    • connects Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex, Cursor and VS Code to it;
    • adds the git hooks that keep Changes on branch up to date.

    It keeps every other entry in the agents' configuration, backs up your own files first, and pins the MCP server to the CLI's version.

  • radical setup --status checks the whole chain without changing anything: Node, the model folder, each agent's entry and a live call to each server. It tells you what is broken and how to fix it.

  • radical.sh / radical.cmd start from nothing. They find Node.js, or download it from nodejs.org after asking and check it against its SHA-256 sum. Commit the launcher next to the model, and everyone on the team runs the same version.

Smart Layout that tidies like a person

  • Smart Layout improves the diagram you already have one move at a time, instead of redrawing it:
    • a store sits beside its user;
    • an actor goes on top;
    • a queue sits between its producer and consumer;
    • elements line up with their kind.
  • Tidy around tidies only the selection and what it relates to. Everything else, and every pinned element, stays where it is.
  • Keep smart tidies a view after every change, including changes an agent makes, and the elements glide into place.
  • The metamodel holds layout hints: a role for each element type and a reading direction for each relation type.
  • Layouts leave room for labels and arrowheads, and lines take orthogonal routes.
  • Smart Layout runs in the background with a Stop button. A second run on its own result has nothing left to do.

Find anything

  • Quick Search covers:
    • views, folders, elements (by name or by property value), relations, sequences, slides and milestones;
    • prefixes such as e:, type: and status:accepted;
    • > for commands.
  • ⌘/Ctrl+F finds elements in the open view.
  • Agents get the same search through FIND in search_model.

Model faster on the canvas

  • One special key (Option/Alt) connects elements, selects several at once and nests elements in containers. The canvas shows where a relation or a drop can go before you let go.
  • Add or link reads as a sentence (Account is realised by a software system). It links an element the model already has instead of adding a duplicate.
  • Explore from here grows a temporary view from one element, one + at a time. You can save the result as a view.
  • Elements dropped into a container fall into a tidy grid.
  • The properties card lists every view that shows the element.
  • The Focus switch turns off the dimming and the camera framing.

Decisions you don't forget: the Concern Hub

  • The Hub holds concern packs, such as authentication, personal data, secrets and deployment. Each settles one concern with a few questions and records the answer as an ADR bound to the elements it covers.
  • radical check and Studio's Inspector act as a critic. They flag concerns the model raises that no accepted decision covers yet.
  • Radical Forge spots the concerns a description raises and proposes answers for you to accept.

Radical Forge builds a fuller model

  • Forge keeps the input description as a Need and derives the requirements from it.
  • Each stage fills gaps it finds in earlier stages. Forge asks before every refinement.
  • It asks how you want the views organised before it models.
  • A Mockups stage generates wireframes for the screens.

Read and write the model as a wiki

  • Wiki pages read like encyclopedia articles.
  • A Glossary explains each element and relation type the view uses.
  • Each element has one [edit] menu.
  • The wiki search looks through what the pages say.
  • Discussions: in a folder model, start a thread on any element, reply and resolve. Threads are kept in their own file beside the model.

Studio

  • A VS Code-style activity rail holds Models at the top and Settings at the foot. The toolbar is grouped like VS Code's.
  • About Radical Studio shows the version and build. Studio warns when an agent writes the model with an MCP server of another version.
  • Desktop installers for macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel), Windows and Linux.

Worth knowing when you upgrade

  • Studio opens a model read-only (Viewer) unless the link names another perspective. New models and Forge runs open in Designer.
  • The properties card opens on a double-click. A single click only selects.
  • To select several elements, hold the special key (Option/Alt) instead of Shift.
  • Smart Layout over a whole view takes the pins off. Tidy around keeps them.
  • The Hub holds only concern packs. Its requirements, ADRs, patterns and blueprints are gone.
  • The desktop app's version went down from the never-released 1.0.0 to the product version. 0.3.0 is the first desktop release.

Full list

Every change, fix and the detail behind each highlight is in the changelog for 0.3.0.

Update, 27 October 2026: the desktop installers were rebuilt with the new app icon, the mark of radical.tools. The app is unchanged: it was built from v0.3.0 with only the icon replaced (commit ca8f512, branch release/v0.3.0-icon).

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