v0.5.0 — Clearer Settings and safer delivery

Download

Your Windows PC	Recommended download
Snapdragon / ARM64 (for example Surface Pro 11 or Surface Laptop 7)	openwritr-windows-arm64-v0.5.0-setup.exe
Intel / AMD x64	openwritr-windows-x64-v0.5.0-setup.exe

Portable ZIPs are available for both architectures. Installer upgrades preserve existing settings, downloaded models, and logs under %LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenWritr\.

The GitHub binaries are not code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen may appear. Verify downloads with SHA256SUMS.txt.

Highlights

• Clear, responsive Settings. The redesigned dialog uses a scrollable content area with a persistent header and action footer, remains usable at compact sizes and scaled Windows displays, and clearly separates shortcut, transcription, output, enhancement, and advanced controls.
• Truthful engine readiness. Every engine shows CPU/NPU execution, hardware availability, first-use download size, and local cache status. Snapdragon NPU engines remain visible but cannot be selected or downloaded on unsupported hardware.
• Safer recording shortcuts. Settings show a live shortcut explanation, require safe modifier/trigger combinations, allow standalone F13-F20 keys, and preserve older shortcuts until the user chooses a compliant replacement.
• Explicit transcript delivery. Choose either paste into the active app or retain the transcript on the clipboard. Paste failures and clipboard failures are surfaced, and guarded restoration no longer overwrites newer clipboard content.
• Predictable text enhancement. Enhancement can run Never, only with an additional Shift press, or Always. GitHub Copilot and OpenAI-compatible readiness is checked before saving, while audio always remains local.
• Raw-text fallback. If optional cleanup fails, OpenWritr still delivers the original transcript and shows a visible warning instead of silently losing the result.
• Safer settings and credentials. Unsaved edits require confirmation before closing. Atomic, revision-checked writes and Credential Manager rollback protect settings and API keys, including legacy migration conflicts.
• More reliable model caches. Settings inspect model caches without network access, incomplete caches are explained, and valid caches automatically repair missing metadata receipts.
• Consistent ARM64 and x64 behavior. Product wording, engine gating, packaging, and screenshots now accurately describe both Windows architectures.

Upgrade behavior

• Existing settings, models, logs, and saved credentials are preserved.
• Legacy enhancement off becomes Never; an enabled legacy provider becomes When Shift is additionally held.
• Existing auto_paste: false configurations now retain completed transcripts on the clipboard rather than discarding them.
• Legacy shortcuts continue to work, but Settings requires a safe replacement before saving other changes when the old combination does not meet the new shortcut rules.

Privacy

Audio capture and speech recognition stay on the device. Optional enhancement sends only recognized text to the provider selected by the user; setting enhancement to Never keeps the complete workflow local.

Release validation

The release passed the complete Rust test suite, ARM64 and x64 release builds, staged self-checks, canonical artifact verification, installer generation, and SHA-256 checksum generation.