v4.1.0 - Providers, Controlled Self-Evolution, Skills & Diagnostics

[siddsachar]

v4.1.0 - Providers, Controlled Self-Evolution, Skills & Diagnostics

This release builds on v4.0.1 with a broad provider and runtime reliability
pass. It adds first-class Atlas Cloud support, introduces a Claude Subscription
provider path, lands controlled self-evolution, improves skill activation and
pinning, hardens custom tool creation, and fixes several model-picker,
streaming, voice, vision, setup, and diagnostics regressions that surfaced
after the 4.0.0 rebrand.

Provider Runtime & Model Catalog

• Atlas Cloud first-class provider - adds Atlas Cloud as a native provider
  instead of treating it as a generic custom endpoint, with provider identity,
  setup copy, authentication wiring, runtime routing, and model references that
  behave like the existing first-class providers.
• Atlas Cloud model catalog fetching - adds live Atlas model discovery,
  cache integration, provider-qualified model refs, catalog refresh handling,
  and status/readiness checks so Atlas models appear through the same catalog
  path as other providers.
• Atlas Cloud agent capability classification - maps Atlas-hosted models
  into chat and agent-ready surfaces using the provider's API metadata plus
  curated fallbacks for known frontier/provider families, including OpenAI,
  Anthropic, Gemini, Qwen, Kimi, GLM, MiniMax, DeepSeek, and similar
  tool-capable chat models.
• Atlas Cloud vision capability support - classifies Atlas-hosted
  multimodal chat models as vision-capable where supported, including hosted
  OpenAI, Gemini, Anthropic, Qwen-VL, Kimi-VL, GLM vision, and related model
  families.
• Atlas Cloud media-model filtering - keeps Atlas image-generation and
  video-generation models out of chat, agent, and vision picker surfaces for
  this phase, preventing non-chat media models from leaking into incompatible
  workflows.
• Atlas Cloud streaming fixes - scopes the OpenAI-compatible buffered
  tool-call path so Atlas can stream assistant text after tool calls without
  disturbing existing OpenAI-compatible providers.
• Atlas Claude transport handling - adds Atlas-specific Claude behavior for
  streaming, tool-call replay, and native tool-history cleanup so
  Anthropic-hosted models behind Atlas can complete agent turns reliably.
• OpenAI-compatible transport regression coverage - expands tests around
  streaming, buffered tool output, Claude-shaped tool calls, and
  provider-specific transport behavior to protect OpenRouter and other existing
  compatible endpoints.
• Provider capability resolution - strengthens the shared
  capability-resolution path used by catalogs, readiness checks, vision
  routing, and agent eligibility so provider metadata, curated known-good
  families, and cached model data agree more consistently.
• Provider status and readiness improvements - updates provider readiness,
  runtime selection, status reporting, catalog cache behavior, and auth-store
  integration to support the new providers without changing the behavior of
  existing ones.

Claude Subscription Provider

• Claude Subscription provider support - adds a first-class provider path
  for Claude Subscription usage, with provider registration, auth-state
  detection, model references, runtime selection, and setup/status surfaces.
• Claude Subscription messages transport - adds a dedicated transport for
  Claude Subscription message exchange, including prompt conversion, tool-call
  handling, and response normalization.
• Claude Subscription auth and diagnostics - adds provider
  subscription-auth helpers, external credential handling, readiness checks,
  and tests so the app can report whether the subscription runtime is actually
  available.
• Provider selection integration - wires Claude Subscription into
  provider/model selection without taking over Anthropic API-key behavior or
  other Claude-compatible provider paths.

Controlled Self-Evolution

• Controlled self-evolution engine - introduces the first controlled
  self-evolution runtime, with structured change proposals, reviewable
  execution boundaries, persistence, and test coverage.
• Self-reflection skill updates - adds bundled self-reflection guidance so
  Row-Bot can reason about improvement opportunities through a constrained
  skill flow instead of ad-hoc code changes.
• Dream-cycle integration - connects controlled improvement work into the
  existing dream-cycle and memory-policy systems so reflection output can be
  captured and revisited safely.
• Prompt and agent integration - updates agent and prompt wiring so
  self-improvement behavior is explicit, bounded, and aligned with the rest of
  the assistant runtime.
• Command Center visibility - adds UI/status hooks for evolution state and
  related activity so controlled self-evolution is observable instead of hidden
  background behavior.

Skills, Developer Tools & Custom Tool Builder

• Skill pinning defaults - adds default pinning behavior and activation
  tests so important skills can remain discoverable and stable across sessions.
• Skill activation reliability - improves the skill activation path and
  channel command handling, with coverage for pinned skills, command routing,
  and activation edge cases.
• Custom tool builder hardening - strengthens Git and virtualenv handling
  in the custom tool builder so new tool projects are created more reliably
  across local environments.
• Developer Studio storage and capsules - improves developer storage, tool
  capsule handling, and Developer Studio UI behavior used by the custom tool
  flow.
• Tool-builder guidance updates - refreshes the custom tool builder guide
  to reflect the safer Git/venv workflow and the current implementation.

Chat, Voice & Model Picker Reliability

• Anthropic thinking-block normalization - fixes normalization of
  Anthropic thinking blocks so reasoning content does not corrupt downstream
  transcript handling.
• Local voice talk submission fix - repairs local voice talk submission so
  voice input can be sent through the normal chat path again.
• Ollama vision cache handling - fixes Ollama vision model detection to
  respect cached capability data instead of losing vision support after catalog
  refreshes.
• Migration wizard repair - fixes migration wizard UI and Ollama status
  behavior so setup and upgrade flows do not report misleading provider state.
• Model-picker regression coverage - adds tests around chat-only, vision,
  provider readiness, and model-picker behavior to prevent capability labels
  from drifting again.
• Streaming batcher coverage - expands streaming tests around batched output
  so incremental rendering remains responsive after provider and tool-call
  changes.
• Chat keybinding coverage - adds chat keybinding tests to protect composer
  behavior while provider and streaming internals continue to evolve.

Insights, Status & Diagnostics

• Insights status tray diagnostics - fixes the insights status tray
  diagnostic path so provider and runtime issues are surfaced with more useful
  state.
• macOS tray reliability - restores the packaged macOS launcher to the
  pystray green/grey status dots after the native menu-bar icon path proved
  unreliable on test installs.
• Row-Bot status tool updates - refreshes the Row-Bot status tool and
  guide, including provider/media reporting paths used during diagnostics.
• Provider settings and status UI - updates provider settings, status
  checks, status bar, setup wizard, and related UI state for the new
  provider/runtime readiness model.
• Home and performance stability - improves home-screen performance
  behavior and adds UI performance coverage for the post-rebrand shell.
• Application stability tests - adds broader app-stability hardening tests
  around setup, settings, provider state, streaming, and catalog interactions.

Documentation, Website & Architecture

• Architecture docs refresh - updates the architecture documentation and
  diagrams to match the Row-Bot rebrand and current runtime/provider structure.
• Website download links - updates the docs site download links for the
  v4.0.1 package line.
• Runtime and provider documentation alignment - updates README and docs
  surfaces touched by provider setup, installer guidance, and architecture
  diagrams.

Tests & Release Validation

• Atlas Cloud coverage - adds first-class Atlas tests for model catalog
  fetching, capability classification, auth/setup behavior, OpenAI-compatible
  transport behavior, streaming, tool calls, and vision refs.
• Claude Subscription coverage - adds Claude Subscription auth, transport,
  provider runtime, and subscription-readiness tests.
• Controlled self-evolution coverage - adds controlled self-evolution tests
  around proposal handling, persistence, guardrails, and integration points.
• Skill and command coverage - adds tests for skill pinning, skill
  activation, channel skill commands, and custom tool builder flows.
• Provider runtime coverage - expands provider catalog, runtime, selection,
  readiness, auth-store, API-key storage, and subscription-auth tests.
• UI and workflow coverage - expands tests for migration wizard behavior,
  insights provider status, status media, chat keybindings, streaming batching,
  home performance, and settings/provider contracts.

Breaking Changes And Caveats

• Atlas Cloud requires an Atlas Cloud API key and a successful catalog refresh
  before its live model list can be used.
• Atlas Cloud image-generation and video-generation models are intentionally
  hidden from chat, agent, and vision surfaces in this phase.
• Atlas capability labels depend on provider metadata plus curated known-good
  model families; newly released Atlas models may need a catalog refresh or
  future classification update before they appear with the most specific
  capability label.
• Claude Subscription support depends on the local subscription auth/runtime
  path being available and should not be confused with the Anthropic API-key
  provider.
• Controlled self-evolution is deliberately constrained to reviewable, bounded
  flows; it is not an unrestricted autonomous code modification mode.
• Custom tool builder reliability still depends on a working local Git and
  Python virtualenv environment.

Files Changed

File	Change
src/row_bot/providers/atlascloud.py	Adds Atlas Cloud provider definition, setup metadata, catalog fetching, model filtering, and capability classification.
src/row_bot/providers/claude_subscription.py	Adds Claude Subscription as a first-class provider.
src/row_bot/providers/transports/openai_compatible.py	Updates OpenAI-compatible streaming/tool-call handling, including Atlas-scoped buffering behavior.
src/row_bot/providers/transports/claude_subscription_messages.py	Adds Claude Subscription message transport.
src/row_bot/providers/capability_resolution.py	Adds shared provider capability resolution for chat, agent, and vision readiness.
src/row_bot/providers/catalog.py, model_catalog.py, model_catalog_cache.py	Updates provider catalog discovery, caching, and model metadata handling.
src/row_bot/providers/runtime.py, readiness.py, selection.py, status.py	Updates runtime selection, provider readiness, selection, and status reporting for new provider behavior.
src/row_bot/api_keys.py, external_credentials.py, providers/auth_store.py	Updates provider authentication and credential-state handling.
src/row_bot/models.py, vision.py	Updates model refs and vision capability handling.
src/row_bot/evolution.py	Adds controlled self-evolution engine.
src/row_bot/dream_cycle.py, memory_policy.py, prompts.py, agent.py	Integrates controlled self-evolution, reflection, and provider/runtime behavior into agent flows.
bundled_skills/self_reflection/SKILL.md	Adds self-reflection guidance for controlled improvement work.
src/row_bot/skills.py, skills_activation.py	Adds skill pinning defaults and activation improvements.
src/row_bot/developer/storage.py, developer/tool_capsules.py, developer/ui.py	Hardens Developer Studio storage, tool capsules, and UI flows.
src/row_bot/tools/custom_tool_builder_tool.py, tool_guides/custom_tool_builder_guide/SKILL.md	Hardens custom tool builder Git/venv flow and updates guidance.
src/row_bot/tools/row_bot_status_tool.py, tool_guides/row_bot_status_guide/SKILL.md	Updates status diagnostics and guide behavior.
src/row_bot/ui/*	Updates provider settings, setup wizard, status surfaces, streaming, chat, home, sidebar, task dialog, and performance behavior.
src/row_bot/channels/*	Updates channel skill-command behavior across Discord, Slack, SMS, Telegram, and WhatsApp.
docs/ARCHITECTURE.md, docs/index.html, README.md, installer/README.md	Refreshes docs, download links, architecture diagrams, and installer guidance.
tests/*	Adds or expands Atlas Cloud, Claude Subscription, provider runtime, controlled self-evolution, skill pinning, custom tool builder, status, streaming, model picker, migration wizard, and UI performance coverage.

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This discussion was created from the release v4.1.0 - Providers, Controlled Self-Evolution, Skills & Diagnostics.