PiClaw v3.3.1 — “The Last Starfighter”

PiClaw v3.3.1 — “The Last Starfighter”

The Department of Release Scheduling has acquired a calendar. Previously it worked from Earendil’s release announcements, which arrived with such enthusiasm that yesterday’s compatibility work occasionally qualified as archaeology before lunch. PiClaw is moving to a monthly release cadence, allowing upstream releases to accumulate, receive proper testing, and enter the building through the same door as everyone else.

Most future development will focus on transitioning to pi-durable, whatever that turns out to be once the plans have finished negotiating with the implementation, and reviewing and merging community pull requests. Contributions are welcome. The maintainer will continue tending the machinery, but will cease personally answering every upstream trumpet with a fresh expedition.

This also leaves room for other projects: rcarmo/gi and a pi-durable-based Obsidian extension using rcarmo/fixtures-vibes. The latter proposes to give the notes a durable agent, which should at least ensure that someone remembers why all those notes were written.

Local-model hotfix

Local models now use the normal system prompt and active tools by default. The compact local-lite profile is explicitly opt-in through Settings → Compaction → Local models → Local-lite prompt and tools in both web skins. Turning it off restores the previous tools on the next turn. The persisted setting is domains.tools.localLitePromptProfileEnabled, default false; Ollama, llama.cpp and private-network endpoints no longer trigger automatic tool removal unless it is enabled.

This v3.3.1 retag includes 754097577.

Release-tip update

This retag includes #1613, which fixes negative process-group operands in the local test runner’s stop/resume commands. A -- delimiter prevents the group ID from being parsed as a signal option. Linux regression tests cover both signals and preserve the child exit code.

The previous Docker publication failed because the ARM64 runner could not find bun before starting its smoke gate. Image publication is being retried; this test-runner fix does not repair that workflow setup issue.

Highlights

• A shared live browser pane. CDP streaming provides a common browser surface with input, fit modes and resizing, qualified against Chromium and Safari-engine clients.
• Less uncertainty while working. Immediate prompt-submission feedback, safer editor saves, stable thought previews and per-window workspace state make the interface easier to trust.
• Pi 1.1.0 compatibility. The Pi package family moves together to the exact 1.1.0 release. The existing integration wrapper is retained; a durable-runtime migration is future work.
• Stricter packaging checks. Vendor inventory, gzip and metadata checks detect repository payload drift; Docker smoke failures block publication.

Windows, editors and messages

An About dialog exposes version information, and each window remembers its workspace state. Divider scroll chevrons are visible on both sides. Quick-action popups ignore keys already handled elsewhere and repeated typeahead keys, preventing two officials from processing the same form.

Prompt submission reports sending and startup progress immediately. Stale HTTP responses no longer revert newer thought previews. Editor saves preserve edits made while a save is in flight, and conflict copies are created beside the original file instead of being dispatched to an unrelated district.

GPU meters retain previously proven rows through transient telemetry loss, with unavailable samples represented as gaps rather than invented measurements.

Agents and browser work

Agents gain quota inspection and combined model/thinking controls. Multi-agent responsiveness improves through reduced session churn and shorter cleanup stalls.

The shared CDP browser pane supports manual input, resizing and fit modes across the browser clients. These changes improve the common streaming surface; they do not turn an attached browser into an unrestricted remote desktop.

MCP and upstream compatibility

The runtime uses the exact Pi 1.1.0 family while retaining its integration wrapper. Legacy MCP configuration permissions are migrated, and an MCP configuration problem no longer prevents core sessions from starting.

MCP settings offer a constrained, experimental Native engine option. Apply feedback is clearer about the selected engine. Adapter remains the conservative choice; Native is experimental and must be selected deliberately. The planned pi-durable transition is not implemented by this release.

Packaging and release machinery

A tracked vendor inventory records shipped asset sizes and checksums. Generated gzip siblings must decompress to the inventoried source bytes. Vendor metadata checks verify declared output paths, sizes and hashes; eight stale JetBrains Mono path records were corrected without changing font bytes or versions. These checks establish repository consistency. Upstream authenticity and licence clearance require separate evidence.

Docker smoke checks are required before image publication. Playwright setup artefacts are cached with integrity verification. An Actions report measures distinct executions rather than double-counting reused jobs.

Private exact-source local CI receipts record local validation. A signed receipt boundary is defined but remains inactive; this release does not activate production trust based on those signatures. Bun archive qualification adds metadata and hostile-entry fixtures; it is qualification work, not a blanket declaration that every archive is safe.

The default assistant template also gains resource-awareness guidance and quieter agent-to-agent messaging rules. This documentation change affects newly provisioned templates; existing workspace instructions are not automatically rewritten.

Known limits

• Native MCP is experimental; keep Adapter selected unless deliberately testing Native.
• pi-durable migration and the Obsidian extension are future development priorities, not delivered features.
• Vendor checksum checks do not resolve provenance or licence questions.
• Add-ons have their own repository and publication lifecycle. Related add-on inventory work is listed separately below.

Upgrade

Use the repository’s installation and upgrade instructions to update to v3.3.1. Preserve workspace data and configuration, and use the service manager appropriate to your installation when restarting. Keep MCP Adapter selected unless you intend to test the experimental Native engine.

The calendar is now installed. The Department has requested that upstream refrain from releasing another calendar before the end of the month.

Complete core PR list

• #1466 — About dialog and per-window workspace state.
• #1571 — Agent quota and model/thinking controls.
• #1572 — Visible divider scroll chevrons.
• #1588 — Prevent stale HTTP responses reverting thought previews.
• #1589 — Require Docker smoke checks before publication.
• #1591 — MCP configuration permissions and core-session startup recovery.
• #1592 — Preserve editor changes made during saves.
• #1593 — Private exact-source local CI receipts.
• #1594 — Reduce multi-agent session churn and cleanup stalls.
• #1595 — Verified Playwright setup caching.
• #1597 — Distinct Actions execution measurements.
• #1598 — Conflict copies beside original editor files.
• #1599 — Immediate prompt submission and startup feedback.
• #1600 — Inactive signed local CI receipt boundary.
• #1601 — Handled and repeated popup typeahead keys.
• #1602 — GPU meter continuity through transient telemetry loss.
• #1604 — Shared live CDP browser pane.
• #1605 — Bun archive metadata and hostile-entry qualification.
• #1606 — Exact Pi family 1.1.0 migration.
• #1607 — Tracked vendor payload inventory.
• #1608 — Generated gzip vendor consistency checks.
• #1609 — Constrained experimental Native MCP engine.
• #1610 — Vendor output metadata validation and font path corrections.
• #1611 — MCP engine Apply feedback.

Related add-on work

• piclaw-addons #190 — Vendor payload inventory and checksum-drift checks. This is a separate add-ons change, not a core PR.

• #1613 — Delimit negative process-group operands in test-runner kill calls.