Halo
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Pre-1.0 · newest first

Changelog

Halo has not launched. These 0.x notes are every published gated push since August 2026, newest first. Unpublished work stays off this page.

2026-09-15

0.11.0

Halo is downloadable, and it knows when it is out of date

The first public installer, and the last version you have to replace without being told.

New Features

  • Added a public download: a signed, timestamped Windows installer you can get from the site instead of asking for a build.
  • Added an update check. Three minutes after launch and once a day after that, Halo asks whether a newer build is published.
  • Added an update notice in the notch — Get it opens the download page, Not now sends it away — shown at passive priority so it never interrupts live work.
  • Added a switch for it in Settings → About & Updates, on by default, with a button that checks on demand whether or not the automatic check is on.
  • Added an install surface shaped like the notch itself, replacing the PowerShell console that used to be the first thing a new person met.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed Settings claiming there was no update channel at all on builds without production signing pins. It now reports what is actually published.

Refinements

  • Each version is announced once. A build you have already been told about stays quiet until a newer one arrives.
  • The update check sends a version string and nothing else: no account, no identifier, no telemetry.
  • Halo reports newer builds but never installs one by itself. The published build is signed with a development certificate, and that trust decision stays with the person at the elevation prompt.
  • Every download publishes its own SHA-256 so it can be checked before it is run.

2026-08-23

0.10.0

Live Activities, and a new face for Halo

The notch can host a primary live card plus compact secondaries, and Halo finally has its own brand.

New Features

  • Added a Live Activity coordinator so media, timers, the assistant, calendar, downloads, notifications, apps, file operations, calls, recording, transcription, and exports share one arbitration model.
  • Added live-activity actions on the surface so a timer, a meeting, or a download can be handled without opening Settings.
  • Added a new Halo brand system: redrawn app icons at every Windows target size, store listing tiles, and a master logo.
  • Added richer clipboard item metadata so Clips can participate in live-activity promotion.
  • Added live-activity tests for coordinator policy and on-surface metrics.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed Settings, Notes, Notification Center, and Onboarding windows mixing leftover placeholder logos.
  • Fixed avatar peek painting and expression timing after the Live Activity chrome landed.
  • Fixed media session artwork and source-app badges on live cards.

Refinements

  • Rebuilt Settings around the live-activity era, including a Surface preview that pushes Home, Media, Timer, Call, Notification, or Tray onto the real notch.
  • Tightened geometry so compact secondary indicators stay small and never compete with the primary title.
  • Softened onboarding and tray-icon copy to match the new mark.
  • Kept the outer canvas optically pure black.
  • Updated presentation geometry so a promoted activity morphs with the existing spring.

2026-08-21

0.9.0

Every Home widget gets its own look

Clock, apps, battery, weather, and new utility tiles remember how you like them drawn.

New Features

  • Added persistent per-widget display styles for Clock, Apps, Battery, Weather, and Microphone.
  • Added eleven Clock presentations: digital + date, flip, recording, countdown, date + weather, focus, calendar day, stopwatch, analog, digital + seconds, and minimal digital.
  • Added Apps styles: launcher glyph, live folder, and color folder.
  • Added Battery charging vs. level, Weather temperature vs. condition, and Microphone level vs. waveform.
  • Added Downloads, Processor, and Microphone as first-class Home widgets, with a real CPU sampler.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed Home hit-testing so a restyled wider or narrower tile still receives the click meant for it.
  • Fixed module-board previews drifting from the live notch after style changes.

Refinements

  • Kept the live Home row at six tiles. Style is a presentation choice, not a seventh widget.
  • Preserved 84-DIP row height and the 124-pixel reference canvases.
  • Wired the module board to the new style catalog so editor and notch read the same data.

2026-08-18

0.8.0

Capture, weather, modules, and a Home you can rearrange

Halo becomes a kit: sixteen widget kinds, a module catalog, screen capture, weather, High Alert, and a command palette.

New Features

  • Added a Home widget board with sixteen kinds: Radio, Clock, Weather, Apps, Battery, Media, Next Event, Notes, Timer, Quick Toggles, Outputs, Notify, Downloads, Processor, Microphone, and Utilities.
  • Added a visual module catalog of fifteen first-party modules with enable, disable, and reorder.
  • Added screen capture for region, window, and fullscreen, with annotation stamps and a color picker overlay.
  • Added a command palette for jumping to Halo actions without hunting Settings.
  • Added Open-Meteo weather on Home, consent-first, with no account.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed notification conversation tracking so replies and reactions stay attached to the toast they came from.
  • Fixed drop-action filtering so Convert, Zip, Unzip, and Play in Music only appear when the files can use them.
  • Fixed localization gaps for the new drop actions, modules, and capture commands across all ten languages.

Refinements

  • Extended media transport and routing so queue, output, and lock state survive the new Home composer.
  • Tightened default drop actions to a four-chip strip: Shelf, Share, Convert, Zip.
  • Gave Home a composer of its own rather than painting modules as one-off hub branches.
  • Kept capture, weather, and High Alert as real services with tests, not decorative toggles.
  • Added dashboard visual assets so the marketing site could show Home as a product.

2026-08-17

0.7.0

Playing Next, outputs, calendar tasks, a floating dock

Expanded media grows a queue and a speaker picker. Calendar grows tasks. The station bar can leave the top edge.

New Features

  • Added a Playing Next overlay on expanded media so the upcoming queue is a real surface.
  • Added an audio output picker on expanded media: enumerate playback devices and switch the default.
  • Added calendar tasks beside Windows appointments, with a phrase parser for dated tasks.
  • Added a station-placement setting for a floating bottom dock.
  • Added Spotify Connect queue APIs and wider OAuth scopes.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed clipboard captures of the same payload stacking as unique rows.
  • Fixed drag-and-drop catalogs so media files and ordinary files do not share one ineligible action list.
  • Fixed calendar agenda geometry after the task row landed.

Refinements

  • Split the surface host into Calendar, Dock, and Media Chrome partials.
  • Updated design tokens for queue rows, device rows, and dock hit targets.
  • Kept Share, Convert, and device switching on native OS APIs.

2026-08-14

0.6.7

Spotify Connect

Play this can leave the desktop app and talk to Spotify’s player API.

New Features

  • Added Spotify Connect with PKCE OAuth. Tokens live in the Windows credential vault, never in settings.json.
  • Added Settings → Media connection UI with a clear Premium requirement. Halo does not stream audio.
  • Added a structured play-track result so the mascot can say whether the track started, needs Premium, or fell back.
  • Extended the keyword parser for title by artist so Connect and desktop search share one query shape.
  • Bumped settings schema to 14 for the Spotify client ID.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed play requests that used to fail closed with no spoken reason.
  • Fixed fallback to the desktop-shortcut path when Connect is not configured.

Refinements

  • Kept cloud answers off the shipped path. Connect is optional music control, not a Halo account.
  • Documented that voice play through Connect is a Premium Spotify feature.

2026-08-14

0.6.6

Smarter play title by artist

Track resolution stops guessing the first search hit.

New Features

  • Added title-by-artist parsing for spoken and typed play commands.
  • Added MusicBrainz-assisted matching on top of Spotify search.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed media session calls that could throw on a disappearing GSMTC session and take the surface down.
  • Fixed assistant command flow so a new request clears stale chat history.

Refinements

  • Lengthened the search HTTP timeout so a slow provider is a delay, not a false miss.
  • Tightened search-result scoring before the desktop UI-Automation fallback runs.

2026-08-14

0.6.5

Spotify on the desktop, Settings rebuilt

If Connect is off, Halo can still drive the Spotify desktop app. Settings finally looks like a product.

New Features

  • Added Spotify desktop control: quick search plus UI Automation to confirm and play a result in the installed app.
  • Added junk-transcript filtering and silence detection for Whisper.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed local model-store assertions after the download UI landed.
  • Fixed media-query mocks so shuffle, repeat, and replay coverage matches the desktop path.

Refinements

  • Rebuilt Settings with a flush-left sidebar, in-window search, updated theme brushes, and a layout that resizes instead of clipping.
  • Shortened assistant launch-hold and follow-up conversation rules.
  • Kept Settings chrome fully opaque — no Mica, no Acrylic.

2026-08-14

0.6.4

Search and play across your music apps

Play, replay, shuffle, repeat, and what’s on my PC become assistant intents.

New Features

  • Added assistant intents for play track, replay, repeat, shuffle, date, time, list apps, and status.
  • Added cross-provider music search for Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and a web fallback.
  • Added a Whisper model catalog from Tiny through Large v3 / Distil, downloadable and deletable locally.
  • Added persistent chat history for a follow-up turn after a command.
  • Added PC-environment formatting for spoken answers about battery, volume, time, and now-playing.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed typewriter text on the AI station clipping mid-glyph.
  • Fixed media source-hint matching so on Spotify and in Music resolve to the right session.

Refinements

  • Put live transcripts and model choice on the AI hub instead of a debug window.
  • Kept every speech model on-device. Nothing is uploaded for recognition.

2026-08-14

0.6.3

Close it, minimize it, watch the mascot react

Voice can close or minimize the app you named, and the face has opinions.

New Features

  • Added close app and minimize app intents.
  • Added avatar reactions that change with intent, conversation state, and whether the command succeeded.
  • Added delete-and-size labels on local speech and language-model files.

Bug Fixes

  • Overhauled app resolution with soundex, fuzzy matching, and abbreviation handling.
  • Fixed assistant message layout: wrapping, avatar sizing, and Settings AI copy.

Refinements

  • Made failure a facial expression, not only a sentence.
  • Kept destructive model deletes in Settings, behind an explicit remove.

2026-08-14

0.6.2

Whisper, brightness HUD, the AI station

Speech moves on-device, brightness gets a pulse, and AI becomes a station next to Home.

New Features

  • Added the AI station on expanded chrome: face, status, Listen, suggestion chips, last reply.
  • Added on-device speech via Whisper alongside the Windows Speech API path.
  • Added a brightness HUD that pulses when the display level changes.
  • Added a local model store with progress-tracked downloads.
  • Added system intents for volume, brightness, and Wi-Fi / Bluetooth / Airplane radios.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed Settings page naming so AI is a real nav item.
  • Fixed geometry around the AI station so the mascot and transcript share Home-sized chrome without clipping.

Refinements

  • Kept Assistant off until Settings → AI is enabled. Halo is not always listening.
  • Documented the optional xAI key field as a non-shipped cloud path. Free-form answers use the on-device model.

2026-08-14

0.6.1

Open apps by voice, answers on this PC

Open Edge works. Free-form questions can stay on the machine.

New Features

  • Added a fuzzy app-launch resolver with common aliases, wired into favorite apps.
  • Added on-device language-model support with a progress-tracked download.
  • Added a microphone peak meter so the idle notch visualizes listening.
  • Added an assistant launch presentation when a voice command starts an app.
  • Taught the parser to extract media-source targets and app-launch commands.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed blink timing so greetings and listen clips do not fight the idle blink.
  • Fixed idle geometry after the accessory rail landed so the peek still sits on the left.

Refinements

  • Actions still run without a language model: timers, transport, volume, brightness, radios, calendar, clipboard, open, close, minimize.
  • The model is for questions Halo cannot turn into an action, and you can delete it.

2026-08-14

0.6.0

Talk to Halo

Click the face, or press Win + Alt + A. The notch listens, then does something.

New Features

  • Added an opt-in in-app assistant, off by default, on Settings → AI.
  • Added Win + Alt + A, rebindable, to start a listen session.
  • Added Windows Speech Recognition with command phrases for timers, media, and clipboard.
  • Added secure API-key storage through the Windows Password Vault.
  • Added assistant glance notifications on the compact notch.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed logging so assistant traces can appear in the debug window without spamming the tray.

Refinements

  • Sessions start from face click, hotkey, later the AI station, or a typed Ask Halo. There is no wake-word running in the background.
  • Private data stays local. Clipboard context for what did I copy is a separate opt-in.

2026-08-14

0.5.0

A face in the notch

Halo stops being an empty pill. A mascot peeks from the left of idle chrome.

New Features

  • Added a resident mascot peek on the idle notch — authored 3D-to-2D faces.
  • Added ten official variants: Halo, Citrus, Cubee, Cloudee, Freddy, Grok bot, Kirby, Nova, Onee, and Sunee.
  • Added Settings → Halo for variant choice, body and eye recolor, and reset to the variant palette.
  • Added idle, hover-curious, and poke hit-testing: empty bar opens Home; the face is its own target.
  • Added blink, ambient idle, and expression playback with reduce-motion respect.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed idle geometry so the peek occupies a dedicated left rail instead of colliding with compact media.
  • Fixed hover so holding the face does not expand Home out from under a poke.

Refinements

  • Kept the silhouette black. The face lives in the notch, it is not a second window.
  • Preview clips in Settings use the same projector the live peek uses.

2026-08-14

0.4.0

Clips — text, images, files, and color

Clipboard history grows up. Clips is no longer a text dump.

New Features

  • Added multi-type clipboard capture: text, images, files, and color swatches.
  • Added a Clips UI with category filters, preview cards, and relative-age labels.
  • Reworked native clipboard interop so paste restores the original type.
  • Added design tokens and item-kind enums for later library and OCR work.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed history items that used to collapse images and files into text-like rows.
  • Updated marketing screenshots so Clips on the site matches the new cards.

Refinements

  • Kept Clips opt-in and local. Nothing leaves the PC.
  • Foreground paste still excludes Halo’s own window, so copying from Clips does not echo.

2026-08-12

0.3.0

Write without leaving the notch

Notes get an in-notch editor. Calendar gets a real month. Craft gets sharper.

New Features

  • Added an in-notch Notes editor: title, body, checklist, autosave; back returns to the list.
  • Rebuilt the calendar month as a 4-row, 28-day grid.
  • Added foreground-aware clipboard paste that never pastes into Halo itself.
  • Added Hub actions for calendar navigation and editor interactions.
  • Added the first marketing screenshot set, captured from the live notch on white.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed Settings loading copy that still talked like a stub.
  • Fixed clipboard test mocks after the foreground-paste path landed.

Refinements

  • Improved GDI+ decoding with high-quality scaling and correct alpha compositing.
  • Raised app-icon extraction to 512×512 so notch badges stay crisp on high-DPI displays.
  • Converted drop-action image exports through System.Drawing for direct PNG output.
  • Tightened Bluetooth, media, and status tokens after the first visual QA pass.

2026-08-12

0.2.0

Home, Control Center, and the rest of the desk

The notch learns radios, calendar, notes, brightness, drop actions, and ten languages.

New Features

  • Renamed the Nook hub to Home — live media, favorite apps, modules, time, and battery in one dashboard.
  • Added Control Center from time and battery: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth radio, Airplane, volume, and brightness.
  • Added Bluetooth device rows with battery percent when the device reports it.
  • Added Windows Calendar: week strip, day agenda, and event reminders with Focus, Snooze, Dismiss, and Join.
  • Added local Notes stored under %LocalAppData%\Halo\notes.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed clipped station labels and tight geometry after Home replaced Nook.
  • Fixed packaging manifests and project references so Bluetooth, Calendar, Notes, and Localization build as first-class assemblies.
  • Updated tests for the new modules and for copy that still said Nook.

Refinements

  • Kept every new capability on native Windows APIs: WinRT radios, Windows appointment store, local files.
  • Updated onboarding to teach Home, not a code-name hub.
  • Added reference visual captures so later pixel QA had a baseline.

2026-08-12

0.1.0

First light — a Dynamic Island for Windows

A native, quiet, focus-safe notch. Media, files, timers, calls, settings, and the silhouette itself.

New Features

  • Added a topmost, no-activate tool window that does not steal focus and does not appear in Alt+Tab or the taskbar.
  • Added an attached, optically pure-black notch with inverted scoop shoulders at the top center of a chosen display.
  • Added Idle, Compact, and Expanded chrome with interruptible spring morphs and optional expand-on-hover.
  • Added path-based hit-testing so clicks outside the silhouette pass through to the desktop.
  • Added per-pixel alpha and supersampled silhouette fidelity at every DPI.

Bug Fixes

  • Stabilized Tray so opening Files Tray no longer paints media into the shelf geometry.
  • Stabilized empty-Tray keep-open so a shelf with no files still holds its size.
  • Stabilized compact media padding and station-row hit testing so a Tray miss does not shove the notch sideways.
  • Fixed working-set regressions by deferring the Settings window until it is asked for.

Refinements

  • Established design tokens for geometry, spacing, motion, and content craft.
  • Established product principles later versions are not allowed to violate: quiet until relevant, no focus steal, local-first privacy, native Windows identity, pure-black outer canvas.
  • Established the test spine for surface, orchestrator, geometry, media, audio, power, shelf, settings, hotkeys, and notifications.