v4.5.0 - Secure Computer Use, Agent Budgets & Public Documentation

v4.5.0 - Secure Computer Use, Agent Budgets & Public Documentation

This release builds on v4.4.0 with a native-computer-control, agent-safety,
local-retrieval, and documentation pass. It adds an opt-in Computer Use beta
for native Windows and macOS applications, introduces checkpoint-safe work
budgets and configurable child-agent capacity, makes local embedding recall
recover cleanly when a cached model is unavailable or still loading, hardens
browser and live-control isolation, and publishes a comprehensive searchable
user guide with reviewed screenshots and machine-readable references.

Native Computer Use (Beta)

• Native application control - adds a provider-neutral computer_use tool
  for launching allowlisted applications, selecting one target window, reading
  its accessibility tree or screenshot, clicking, typing, pressing keys,
  scrolling, and dragging in native desktop interfaces.
• Browser remains separate - keeps DOM-based browser automation as the
  preferred path for websites and routes native applications and operating
  system dialogs through the new Computer Use engine instead.
• Task-scoped exclusive sessions - gives one interactive local task an
  exclusive Computer Use lease covering discovery, capture, optional Vision
  fallback, and input, preventing overlapping agents from controlling the
  desktop at the same time.
• Generation-bound targeting - uses opaque target and element tokens that
  expire after observations, reconnects, approvals, target drift, and user
  takeover so stale coordinates or accessibility nodes cannot be replayed.
• Live control card - shows the active application, bounded ephemeral
  preview, current state, and direct Stop, Take over, and Resume controls in
  chat while shielding the preview during user or approval handoff.
• Human takeover - cancels queued mutations before handing control to the
  user, retains the paused lease, and requires a fresh target-window
  observation before automation can resume.
• Point-of-risk approvals - classifies routine and consequential desktop
  actions, always confirms foreground escalation and sensitive consequences,
  and hands credentials, OTPs, CAPTCHAs, biometrics, UAC/TCC, terminals,
  password managers, and secure desktops back to the user.
• Vision fallback - can send an ephemeral target-window screenshot to the
  configured Vision provider only when accessibility information is
  insufficient, with the active local or cloud disclosure shown in Settings.
• Interactive-only boundary - keeps Computer Use unavailable to schedules,
  channels, background workflows, child agents, headless/server callers, and
  plugin or general MCP exposure.

Computer Use Setup, Privacy & Recovery

• Off-by-default setup - adds a state-driven Settings flow for enablement,
  installation, health checks, a Calculator verification run, repair,
  reinstall, removal, and an explicitly configured reviewed system binary.
• Reviewed Cua runtime - pins Cua Driver Rust 0.7.1 for Windows x86-64,
  Windows ARM64, and macOS universal, downloads it only after an explicit
  Install action, verifies the platform SHA-256, and extracts it into Row-Bot's
  private data directory without invoking the upstream installer or updater.
• Mandatory telemetry disclosure - requires Continue or Cancel before any
  Cua executable invocation and documents the reviewed upstream telemetry
  fields and endpoint; Row-Bot still adds no first-party telemetry.
• Narrow driver allowlist - exposes only the reviewed application,
  target-window observation, input, health, permission, configuration, and
  session operations while blocking recording, desktop-wide capture, CDP,
  arbitrary configuration, updates, autostart, telemetry mutation, skills,
  process control, and maintenance surfaces.
• Ephemeral sensitive data - excludes typed values from logs, history,
  checkpoints, approval payloads, memory, and durable media, and does not
  persist target-window screenshots.
• macOS permission recovery - detects missing Accessibility and Screen
  Recording access, explains the recovery steps, links directly to the
  relevant Privacy & Security panes, and rechecks readiness after permissions
  are granted or the app is re-added.
• Runtime readiness diagnostics - distinguishes disabled, disclosure,
  install, permission, test, ready, repair, and unsupported states with
  actionable, non-technical recovery guidance.

Agent Runtime Budgets & Delegation

• Checkpoint-safe work budgets - gives every new logical agent turn an
  explicit model-iteration budget, charges one round per successful model
  response, persists progress through interrupts, and derives the LangGraph
  recursion ceiling from remaining capacity.
• Graceful budget completion - reserves an exactly-once, tool-free final
  response when the work-round budget is exhausted instead of surfacing a raw
  recursion error or leaving the run in an ambiguous state.
• Repeated-action protection - detects identical tool requests without
  storing their arguments, blocks the fourth repeat, and terminates continued
  no-progress loops on the fifth request.
• Configurable runtime limits - adds Settings controls for maximum work
  rounds, nested agent levels, active children per parent, active children
  across the app, and an optional child active-time limit.
• Reviewed defaults - starts new runs with 90 work rounds, one child level,
  three active children per parent, eight active children application-wide,
  and no child timeout.
• Queued child capacity - queues excess child agents in order until both
  parent and global capacity are available instead of rejecting them, while
  preserving Stop behavior for queued work.
• Run snapshots and progress - snapshots effective settings into durable
  Agent Run rows, records safe model-iteration counters and heartbeats, and
  keeps active runs on the limits they started with when Settings change.
• Optional active-time timeout - applies the configured child limit only
  while a child is executing, excludes queue time, and records a clear terminal
  timeout reason.

Local Embeddings & Memory Recall Reliability

• Strict cache-only runtime - resolves local embedding models from the
  existing Hugging Face cache and sets local-only loading so normal recall,
  indexing, status checks, and startup cannot trigger a surprise model
  download.
• Explicit download and repair - keeps network access behind the user-run
  local-model download or repair action and reports whether the selected model
  is cached, missing, loading, ready, or failed.
• Shared background loading - coalesces concurrent recall callers onto one
  local embedding load and gives the first recall a bounded grace period rather
  than starting duplicate model loads.
• Fast deterministic fallback - remembers missing, failed, or timed-out
  local-model state so later recall attempts fail fast and continue through
  bounded lexical and graph retrieval instead of stalling the response.
• Visible fallback notice - emits one safe per-generation notice explaining
  when semantic memory search fell back and points to the local model setup
  action without exposing memory content.
• Recall diagnostics - records semantic status, fallback code, wait time,
  retrieval-stage timings, selected counts, and bounded ranking details for
  troubleshooting.
• Workflow-safe retrieval - applies the same bounded fallback to agent
  turns and workflow knowledge lookups while preserving existing provenance,
  ranking, and no-mutation recall policy.

Browser & Interactive Control Hardening

• Thread and task isolation - scopes browser tabs and live-control state to
  their owning thread/task and cleans them up when work finishes or a thread is
  removed.
• Navigation policy - validates browser destinations and redirects before
  mutation so unsafe or out-of-scope navigation cannot silently broaden an
  agent's authority.
• Consequence-aware actions - applies shared approval and consequence
  classification to browser mutations while keeping observation and control
  state explicit.
• History redaction - prevents sensitive typed values and unsafe action
  details from leaking into durable browser history or tool traces.
• Cancellation and readiness - makes browser operations responsive to Stop,
  reports unavailable runtimes clearly, and keeps takeover/resume state
  consistent with Computer Use.
• MCP result isolation - normalizes private Computer Use MCP results without
  registering its driver as a general MCP server or exposing unreviewed tools.

Public Documentation & Website

• Comprehensive user guide - expands the Docusaurus site with concepts,
  request lifecycle, profiles/goals/agents, workflows, integrations, extension
  trust, operations, mobile/native guidance, knowledge provenance and repair,
  wiki vault, settings, and reference pages.
• Control-level Settings reference - generates a searchable inventory of
  visible Settings controls, defaults, declared ranges, dependencies, restart
  notes, security notes, and source locations.
• Reviewed UI screenshot library - refreshes desktop Settings and Home
  images and adds chat, approval, tool trace, profiles, workflows, Developer,
  Designer, Skills Hub, Plugin Marketplace, MCP, and mobile screenshots from an
  isolated neutral demonstration profile.
• Safe capture automation - refuses the normal Row-Bot data directory,
  disables background autostart and network status checks, seeds display-only
  provider/channel/plugin/MCP states, and validates screenshot review metadata.
• Searchable static publication - adds Pagefind search, committed GitHub
  Pages output under docs/, a generated sitemap, and structural validation of
  the published search artifacts.
• Machine-readable docs - publishes llms.txt and llms-full.txt alongside
  the human documentation and links them from the docs footer.
• Docs CI coverage - regenerates inventories and LLM files, checks generated
  references, validates screenshots and source, builds the review report and
  Docusaurus site, runs docs tests, and verifies the committed Pages artifact.
• Publication synchronization - adds a deterministic sync command that
  refreshes only generated documentation assets while preserving the
  hand-curated marketing homepage, feature pages, contact form, analytics, and
  shared site assets.
• Navigation and mobile fixes - restores reliable Home/Docs navigation,
  aligns the landing, feature, architecture, and contact pages, and improves
  responsive layouts without changing the desktop visual system.
• Maintenance contract - documents the authoritative UI coverage map,
  screenshot capture/review workflow, publication steps, and generated-file
  ownership, with repository attributes marking built docs as generated.

Tests & Release Validation

• Computer Use contracts - adds deterministic fake-driver coverage for the
  private client, allowlist, leases, observation tokens, actions, approvals,
  cancellation, takeover, text privacy, Vision fallback, readiness, runtime
  manifest, installer package data, and UI state.
• Agent budget coverage - tests checkpoint schema, iteration charging,
  repeated-action termination, exactly-once finalization, settings validation,
  FIFO capacity queues, nesting limits, active-time timeout, and durable run
  progress.
• Browser regressions - adds focused cancellation, consequence, redaction,
  live-control, navigation, readiness, and tab-isolation tests.
• Embedding regressions - covers cache-only model resolution, shared loads,
  missing/failed/timeout fast paths, explicit repair downloads, fallback
  notices, recall timing, workflow knowledge lookup, and bounded ranking.
• Documentation automation tests - validates source coverage, screenshot
  metadata, generated references, Pagefind artifact structure, Pages sync, and
  cross-platform path handling.

Breaking Changes And Caveats

• Computer Use is a beta, is off by default, and supports reviewed Windows and
  macOS artifacts only. Linux, unattended/background automation, channels,
  schedules, workflows, child agents, and headless callers are not supported.
• Enabling Computer Use requires accepting the separate Cua Driver telemetry
  disclosure. Cua telemetry is third-party behavior, not Row-Bot telemetry;
  canceling the disclosure leaves the tool disabled and does not install or run
  Cua.
• The Computer Use component is downloaded on demand and therefore needs
  network access for initial install or repair. Normal use runs the verified
  private local executable with its updater disabled.
• macOS users must grant Accessibility and Screen Recording access to the
  relevant Row-Bot/Cua application entries. Permission changes may require the
  app entry to be removed, re-added, and rechecked.
• Local embedding models are no longer downloaded implicitly during recall or
  startup. If the configured model is not already cached, use the explicit
  Settings download action; recall continues with lexical/graph fallback in the
  meantime.
• Agent runtime limit changes apply only to new runs. A low work-round or child
  active-time limit can stop long tasks before they finish, while queued child
  time does not count toward the active-time limit.
• Published docs under docs/assets, docs/docs, docs/img, docs/pagefind,
  and docs/search are generated artifacts. Update their source and run the
  documented synchronization flow instead of editing them directly.
• Windows signing, macOS notarization, clean-machine artifact smoke tests,
  previous-version updater checks, and real provider/channel/MCP/Computer Use
  validation remain manual release gates after CI artifacts are built.

Files Changed

File	Change
src/row_bot/computer_use/*, src/row_bot/tools/computer_use_tool.py	Adds the reviewed Cua client, runtime manifest/install/readiness flow, policy, exclusive service, and model-visible native application tool.
src/row_bot/ui/computer_use.py, src/row_bot/ui/live_control.py	Adds Computer Use Settings, telemetry disclosure, installation/repair, macOS permission recovery, ephemeral preview, and Stop/Take over/Resume UI.
src/row_bot/tools/browser_tool.py, src/row_bot/ui/tool_trace.py, src/row_bot/ui/streaming.py	Hardens browser and Computer Use routing, cancellation, navigation, redaction, live-control state, and tool traces.
src/row_bot/agent_budget.py, src/row_bot/agent_settings.py, src/row_bot/agent.py	Adds checkpointed model-iteration capacity, repeated-action detection, graceful terminal finalization, and typed local runtime settings.
src/row_bot/agent_runner.py, src/row_bot/agent_runs.py, src/row_bot/tools/agent_tool.py	Adds child-agent capacity queues, nesting and active-time limits, settings snapshots, budget progress, and durable terminal reasons.
src/row_bot/ui/settings.py, src/row_bot/ui/agent_drawer.py, src/row_bot/tools/row_bot_status_tool.py	Exposes agent runtime limits, Computer Use readiness, and safe live capacity/progress status.
src/row_bot/embedding_providers.py, src/row_bot/embedding_config.py, src/row_bot/memory_policy.py	Adds strict cache-only local embedding resolution, shared background loading, explicit download/repair, fallback notices, and diagnostics.
src/row_bot/knowledge_graph.py, src/row_bot/documents.py, src/row_bot/tasks.py	Applies bounded semantic fallback and timing to memory, document, and workflow retrieval paths.
src/row_bot/mcp_client/requirements.py, runtime.py, results.py	Adds private Cua runtime resolution and result handling without exposing the driver as a general MCP integration.
docs/COMPUTER_USE_SECURITY.md, AGENTS.md, CONTRIBUTING.md	Records the accepted Computer Use dependency/telemetry decision and tightens contributor rules for third-party telemetry review.
docs-site/docs/*, docs-content/metadata/*, docs-site/static/img/screenshots/*	Expands the public guide, generated references, coverage metadata, and reviewed real-UI screenshot set.
scripts/docs/*, docs-content/MAINTENANCE.md, .github/workflows/docs.yml	Adds safe docs capture/generation, review, validation, Pagefind build, GitHub Pages synchronization, and CI verification.
docs/assets/*, docs/docs/*, docs/img/*, docs/pagefind/*, docs/search/*	Publishes the generated Docusaurus, screenshot, search, sitemap, and machine-readable documentation artifacts.
docs/index.html, docs/features.html, docs/architecture.html, docs/contact.html, docs/site.css, docs/site.js	Overhauls the 4.4 marketing site, aligns navigation and shared styling, and improves responsive layouts.
src/row_bot/version.py, scripts/cut_release.py, Start Row-Bot.command, installer/*, .github/workflows/release.yml	Prepares the 4.5.0 runtime, CI, Windows, macOS, and Linux release surfaces and keeps the legacy macOS launcher fallback under the canonical release cutter.
tests/contracts/*, tests/integration/computer_use/*, tests/subsystem/computer_use/*	Adds deterministic Computer Use contracts, end-to-end fake-driver flows, safety invariants, installer coverage, and UI integration tests.
tests/subsystem/agents/*, tests/subsystem/browser/*, tests/test_embedding_provider_config.py, tests/test_generation_stop.py	Adds agent-budget, delegation, browser, local-embedding, fallback, and cancellation regression coverage.

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