1.8.1: A more robust Text Selection Widget

Some people were having issues with the text selection widget not working and having greyed out entries in the quick menu.

This version should fix that and add support for more apps: Google Docs, Outlook, Zen Browser, Numi.

New video:

• 5 features of Alter in 2 minutes ⚡

Latest videos:

• Summarize Youtube Videos: What's faster, Alter or ChatGPT?
• How to generate images with Ideogram without prompting
• Chat with your emails on Apple Mail
• Write in your style with Alter

Bug fixes:

• Text selection widget: fix for not working and greyed out entries in the quick menu
• Browser: add support for Zen Browser

1.8.0: Share actions with your friends

Now you can export your Alter actions and share them with people!

1. Open the action editor
2. Click on the export icon in the top right corner

To install an action, just double click on the .alter file.

It's the first step towards a marketplace for discovering new actions!

New video:

• 5 features of Alter in 2 minutes ⚡

Latest videos:

• Summarize Youtube Videos: What's faster, Alter or ChatGPT?
• How to generate images with Ideogram without prompting
• Chat with your emails on Apple Mail
• Write in your style with Alter

New features:

• Action editor: export actions as .alter files and import them back
• Chat: the default model is now always the one in your settings
• Action panel: as some actions work better with specific models, a new indicator was added to show which model is recommended for a given action

Bug fixes:

• Artifacts: handle tags opening without text before it

1.7.1: OpenAI compatible endpoint

Now you can use your Alter credits to power other AI tools!

We're opening our API as an OpenAI compliant endpoint supporting chat completions and model listing.

This feature means you can access models provided by Alter on any tools supporting OpenAI endpoints.

Instead of having your billing details across many providers, you can enjoy having Alter as your centralized billing entry point.

This opens a world of new possibilities. For example, you can use the Alter API for popular and specialized projects:

• Cline: Autonomous coding agent for VSCode
• SillyTavern: Roleplaying chat app
• NovelCrafter: Book writing

Or you can develop your own project and use Alter as your LLM provider!

Head over to Preferences to create your first API key.

New video:

• Summarize Youtube Videos: What's faster, Alter or ChatGPT?

Latest videos:

• How to generate images with Ideogram without prompting
• Chat with your emails on Apple Mail
• Write in your style with Alter
• 📺 Repurpose content with Alter: A step-by-step guide
• Chat with a Reddit Page Using Alter MacOS App

New features:

• API: add support for OpenAI compatible endpoint
• Partners: Straico users can use the models and credits of the Straico platform

Bug fixes:

• Re-login: connection issues with the database were causing logouts.
• Anthropic: sometimes generation were dropped; Anthropic made Alter Tier 4 to handle more traffic
• Ideogram: fixed the aspect ratio for the V2 models
• Preferences: check login state to avoid crash in API settings view

1.6.0: Welcome Ideogram!

We're introducing Ideogram for generating images.

Ideogram is ideal for generating illustrations or images with lots of text. It's also better than Flux models at following your instructions when you have a specific composition in mind.

New video:

• How to generate images with Ideogram without prompting

Latest videos:

• Chat with your emails on Apple Mail
• Write in your style with Alter
• 📺 Repurpose content with Alter: A step-by-step guide
• Chat with a Reddit Page Using Alter MacOS App

New features:

• Images: generate images with Ideogram V2 models
• Vision: add support for Gemini 1.5 Pro and Flash models

Bug fixes:

• Text selection context on Safari: sometimes Alter was unable to retrieve the text selection making actions like LinkedIn Post and Reply unavailable.

1.4.3: Bug fixes

Some users were unable to login. It's now fixed, sorry for that!

Latest videos:

• 📺 Repurpose content with Alter: A step-by-step guide
• Using Notebook LM and Alter to Generate a Podcast and Its Website
• Chat with a Reddit Page Using Alter MacOS App

Bug fixes:

• Login: Fix login issues where the login window would not show up for users on macOS 13
• Images: Fix an issue where the images would be regenerated on history open instead of showing the first generation
• Sharing: Fix an issue where the HTML presentation would be shared in his print view instead of the HTML view
• Artifacts: Fix Tailwind React App missing title issue that would break sharing the app

1.4.2: Performance improvements

Some users reported app hangups when using Alter. This release includes performance improvements to make Alter more responsive in many different situations.

New videos:

• 📺 Repurpose content with Alter: A step-by-step guide
• Using Notebook LM and Alter to Generate a Podcast and Its Website
• Chat with a Reddit Page Using Alter MacOS App

Bug fixes:

• Performance: Load context early and concurrently
• Performance: Permissions are checked asynchronously
• App hanging: Now AppSense uses a 2-second time budget to avoid hanging on long context retrieval
• Performance: Text selection context is retrieved asynchronously

Version 1.4.1: Hallo!

Alter is now available in German!

New features:

• German support: interfaces and actions are now available in German

New videos:

• How I Use Alter to Generate Microsoft Excel Formulas and Charts - English
• Comment j'utilise Alter pour porter le contenu de ma newsletter vers Linkedin - French

Bug fixes:

• Properly export the PDF of HTML presentations
• Fix missed click on the contextual menu
• Context pills for context used in system prompts are now displayed
• Updated the Spreadsheet formula action to use an input form for instructions
• Fix a bug with OpenRouter to display error messages from them
• Fix a crash that could happen in the history menu

Version 1.2.0: Say hello to the Minimize mode

Some AI actions may take a long time to complete. Minimize mode lets you keep the conversation in the background while doing other things.

New features:

• Toggle AppSense with a keyboard shortcut (cmd + shift + A)
• Support importing images from AppSense when generating a Keynote Presentation
• Minimize mode to let the AI work in the background

Bug fixes:

• Fix a bug that could cause the app to crash when switching actions in the action editor
• Fix a bug that redisplayed the same artifact when retrying
• Prevent conflicting shortcuts with cmd+h
• Disable AppSense on actions without user inputs unless included in the action prompts
• Fix a bug where the artifact view would have an unnecessary scrollbar
• Add the action name to the list of conversations history
• Store the generated image URLs in the message history

1.1.0

Version 1.1.0: AppSense enabled by default

New features:

• Now AppSense fetch the description and URL of an image on web browsers
• AppSense is enabled by default for easier use

Bug fixes:

• Fix a crash that could occur when fetching the list of available models

1.0.0

Alter is out of beta!

This release marks the end of the beta period for Alter. We're excited to announce that Alter is now generally available!

With this release, Alter is now the most integrated AI assistant for Mac.

• Use a new set of actions to create artifacts similar to Claude Artifacts, available under the Create section:
  • Alter actions: easily create your own actions without the need to use the Action Editor.
  • Charts: create beautiful charts with Recharts from files, text selections, and more.
  • Diagrams: create mind maps, sequence diagrams, and more with Mermaid.
  • HTML presentations: create HTML presentations with RevealJS.
  • HTML pages: create single-page HTML apps similar to Claude Artifacts.
  • Images: create stunning images with Flux models.
  • Maps: create maps with LeafletJS.
  • Tailwind React Apps: create React apps with Tailwind CSS and PReact.
• Share your artifacts online with a single click or download them.
• Take screenshots of any window as vision context for GPT-4o and Claude Sonnet 3.5.
• Store your conversations in a local encrypted database using Apple Keychain.
• Pin your favorite actions to the top of the menu.

Other changes:

• Removed the Python dependencies, making Alter a lot smaller and faster.
• Added Context Pills to the chat to keep track of the context used in the conversation.
• Fixed bugs where retries wouldn't use the last message.
• Smoother scrolling in the Chat view.
• Various bugs in the Action Editor.

We'd love to hear what you think of Alter! You can send your feedback directly to the team at sam@alterhq.com.