v5.3.1 - Real Work, Video, Linked Conversations & Waits

v5.3.1 - Real Work, Video, Linked Conversations & Waits

Row-Bot 5.3.1 is about getting real work done. It follows the approval level you
chose, with far fewer refusals. It can make and edit videos and talk to its
other conversations. A chat or workflow can wait for something without using
your plan, and Row-Bot tells you what it's doing as it works. From 5.3.0 it
arrives through background updates: Settings › Updates offers Restart now.
Read Upgrade Notes below before upgrading.

New Since The Beta

• Weekday schedules run on weekdays - a workflow set to "1-5" runs Monday
  to Friday, as in standard cron, and its label and next run say so.
• "Check back in 10 minutes" waits in the chat instead of making a
  one-time workflow, and a one-time run keeps its answer after it goes.
• Updates - switching the channel or finishing a check no longer makes Check
  now fail with "Update status changed".
• Linked conversations - a message from another chat says where it came
  from, and a chat waiting on that chat answers once.
• The Browser pane opens by itself when Row-Bot starts using the browser in
  the chat you're looking at; a file:// address gets a plain answer.
• A provider you connect later lists its ready models in the pickers.
• Read-only pipelines - a listing piped into a sort, a pick or a count runs
  without asking; a command that needs ffmpeg offers Row-Bot's own.
• Library › Media keeps pictures and videos sent from the workspace, and a
  video from the turn in flight opens in the Video panel.
• Narrated videos - each scene says its own line when the title has a
  version number in it; a video can be narrated as a whole, shown on the
  timeline; and its checks catch long quiet gaps and pictures held too long.
• Video Download saves the video in the desktop app, and turning a video's
  own sound off works.
• Sandboxes - one without a model shows under Needs you, and Settings ›
  Data › Sandboxes is easy to find.
• Clearer cards and Home - an approval for one value names it, and Home says
  what it's waiting for instead of "All quiet".

One Safety Rule That Fits Real Work

• Your approval level decides - every action follows the level you chose:
  Block, Ask, Auto or Hands-off. Row-Bot still refuses, at any level, to touch
  secrets and passwords, approve its own cards or raise its own level, wipe a
  drive, or go past a platform's limits.
• Files and folders outside the workspace - reading or changing them asks
  with a clear card instead of being refused, and the shell can use Row-Bot's
  own ffmpeg. Approve "for this chat" as well as "for this turn", for any tool.
• Your network - addresses on your LAN, Tailscale or intranet open in the
  browser and read_url once you allow them for the chat; workspace file://
  pages open too.
• Computer use in workflows and helpers, with the Stop bar on screen; typing
  into a terminal goes through the command check instead of being refused.
• Bigger files - long dictation, 150 MB Outlook attachments, larger uploads,
  downloads and PDFs, and up to 20 background processes per chat.
• Apps, skills and plugins - MCP tools that change things are on, gated by
  your level; skills can be updated; a plugin may run programs when it says so
  on its install card.
• Auto does what you asked - the reviewer approves a send that clearly
  matches your request. Money, posts in your name and permission changes still
  come to you.
• Safer at home - a request to Row-Bot's port from this computer no longer
  counts as you unless it comes from the app, the launcher or a signed-in
  session. Row-Bot's browser and child processes can never approve anything.

Video In Row-Bot

• Library › Media - every picture, video and sound Row-Bot made or you
  added, with search and tags.
• The Video panel - a video as scenes on a timeline, with versions and a
  live preview of edits.
• Every shape - one video as wide, tall, square or a GIF. Square and tall
  cuts follow the pointer, and captions fit each shape.
• A brand kit - one look for every video.
• Recording - full size, with a drawn pointer, paced steps and beats.
• Voice, music and checks - Row-Bot's own voice (one download, asked once),
  original music, transcripts, a narrated mix, and checks before it says a
  video is done.
• Sandboxes - a second Row-Bot on made-up data, for demos and trials, with
  its own workspace. Its cards name it and say nothing leaves this computer; a
  sandbox left behind by a crash is ended.

Conversations That Work Together

• Linked conversations - a chat can start another, propose one, send it a
  message and hear back. A note can go without asking for a reply, or wait for
  a workflow's next run.
• Wait and come back - a chat or workflow can wait without using your plan
  for a background process to finish, a check (a command or a page) to pass, a
  time, or another conversation to finish. Then it carries on with "Checked
  back: …". The chat shows one "Waiting for …" row with Stop, and Home lists
  waits under Needs you.
• Row-Bot reads what you send while it works at its next step, instead of
  after the whole reply.
• Row-Bot says what it's doing - a short line as it works through tools,
  in chats and workflow runs.
• Conversation details show Waiting, Running, Workflow and Linked
  conversations.

Workflows

• Workflows are scheduled chats - one conversation each, written as
  messages, with no steps, tool lists or step limit. Long runs ask "Keep going?"
  after 1,000 rounds.
• What a chat has - skills, their own details and notes, a time zone, and
  helpers they can hand work to. Reach a workflow by its name.
• After a denial - a denied action ends only that action; the run says what
  it made, what's left, and remembers it.
• Guides that say how - the workflow guide covers review slots, waiting
  instead of hourly checks, and least access.

X And Growth

• Home › Review - posts with a time wait there together in time slots;
  edit a scheduled post's text or drop a picture before it goes. A post that
  didn't go out stays in Review with the reason and what to do.
• Pictures and video on X - posted through X's upload. A picture can come
  from Library › Media or a chat file, and each screenshot has its own name.
• Numbers - X post numbers and totals, and Google Analytics through Apps.
• Post limits and Edit on X's cards; adding another account signs in again
  instead of failing.

Fixes And Polish

• An open page no longer keeps Row-Bot busy - it used to hold a write lock
  on every read.
• A local page rides out a network drop - a Row-Bot page on this computer
  stays connected, with your draft, when Wi-Fi drops.
• Ready, not Idle - Buddy says Ready after a turn, with a quieter sidebar
  card; no toast repeats the waiting line.
• The chats list follows activity, and "Row-Bot sent you …" shows at once.
• One shared browser - no Take control or Give back; Row-Bot asks with a
  question when it needs you.
• Local models - recover from broken or dropped tool calls, and Stop ends a
  local reply that streams nothing.
• Tool search finds tools by their word forms.
• Skills - a skill dropped into your skills folder is used without a
  restart; a skill drafted in chat can be saved; applying a proposal asks with
  the approval card. The self-improvement filter matches whole words only.
• Copy over plain HTTP - Copy works when Row-Bot is opened at a LAN address
  without HTTPS.
• Long-open approval cards - an answer to a card left open for a while still
  goes through.
• Smaller fixes - the details card on wide windows, a page's script errors
  named with their line, clearer data-folder hints, and access renewal only
  when it's due.
• Libraries with security fixes - filelock, brotli, fpdf2, langgraph,
  hydra-core, msgpack and the client's and docs site's build tools.

Upgrade Notes

• From 5.3.0 or the beta, in the background - Row-Bot downloads 5.3.1 and
  says Restart to update.
• Weekday schedules - a workflow whose cron schedule names days by number
  ran a day late before ("1-5" ran Tuesday to Saturday). It now runs on the
  standard days; check any workflow you shifted to make up for it.
• X: sign in once more - posting pictures and video needs X's media access.
  Row-Bot asks you to reconnect each X account once, before its next post.
• Fewer refusals - actions that used to be refused now follow your approval
  level. Under Hands-off they run without asking. Check the level of any chat
  or workflow you set to Hands-off.
• Scripts that call Row-Bot's port - a request from this computer now needs
  the app's sign-in like any other device.

schema: 1
files:
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  row-bot-update-5.3.1.json: sha256=51acf3e37a860e289e2e46945d25e36c52bbe0ef32c282af8c051ba0a35097f5