alchemist/CHANGELOG.md

Changelog

All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.

[0.3.0] - 2026-03-28

Rust & Backend

• Upgraded from Rust 2021 to 2024, set the MSRV to 1.85, upgraded sqlx to 0.8 with runtime-tokio-rustls, and upgraded rand to 0.9.
• Removed async-trait, adopted native async fn in traits, and added trait-variant so ExecutionObserver remained object-safe behind Arc<dyn ...>.
• Fixed the Apple VideoToolbox probe by using synthetic lavfi frames with format=yuv420p and -allow_sw 1, allowing HEVC and AV1 detection to succeed on Apple Silicon.
• Split server.rs into src/server/ submodules for auth, jobs, scan, settings, stats, system, SSE, middleware, wizard, and tests.
• Moved ffprobe execution to tokio::process::Command with a 120-second timeout.
• Added poisoned cancellation lock recovery in the orchestrator and truncated oversized FFmpeg stderr lines before logging.
• Invalid notification event JSON now warned instead of silently disabling the target, and invalid schedule day JSON now warned instead of being treated as empty.

UI & Frontend

• Reworked the app shell by removing page h1 headers, replacing the old header block with a thin engine control strip, and dropping the sidebar icon container for wordmark-only branding.
• Flattened engine controls into one horizontal row with the status dot, Start/Pause/Stop actions, a divider, About, and Logout.
• Moved the Background, Balanced, and Throughput mode pills into Settings -> Runtime and wired them to the engine mode API.
• Rebuilt the setup wizard inside the main app shell with a grayed sidebar, removed the centered card layout, and replaced progress with a 2px solar line at the top of the content area.
• Setup wizard errors now surfaced as toast notifications instead of an inline error block below the content.
• Redesigned library selection around a flat recommendation list with Add buttons, selected-folder chips, and equal Browse/manual path entry; the preview panel was removed.
• Restructured the dashboard around a compact stat row, a savings summary, and a larger Recent Activity panel.
• Updated the log viewer to group entries by job_id into collapsible job sections while rendering system logs inline.
• Normalized job status badges to sentence case without letter spacing, aligned table column headers, and standardized the job detail modal radius and section headers.
• Cleaned banned CSS patterns from ServerDirectoryPicker, ToastRegion, and SavingsOverview, and modernized the login page with wordmark-only branding and tighter field styling.
• Darkened the global background gradient slightly, reduced scrollbar width to 6px, increased border radius one step across cards and buttons, and gave inputs more contrast against the page.

CI/CD

• Added a nightly workflow that runs on every push to main after Rust checks pass, builds all platforms, publishes ghcr.io/bybrooklyn/alchemist:nightly, and replaces the previous nightly pre-release with {VERSION}-nightly+{short-sha}.
• Extracted a shared reusable build.yml workflow so nightly and release builds use the same pipeline.
• Simplified docker.yml to PR preview builds only, removed the workflow_run trigger, and removed the main branch trigger from ci.yml.
• Frontend validation in CI now runs the e2e reliability suite after the frontend check passes.

Docs & Tooling

• Added CLAUDE.md and GEMINI.md as agent context files, added CONTRIBUTING.md with GPL-3.0 CLA terms, and started CHANGELOG.md.
• Hardened the justfile with safer process cleanup, a stronger db-reset, and --frozen-lockfile docs installation.

[v0.2.10-rc.5] - 2026-03-22

Runtime & Queue Control

• Engine runtime modes now support background, balanced, and throughput, with manual concurrency overrides and drain/resume controls exposed through the API and dashboard header.
• Engine status reporting now includes pause source, drain state, concurrent-limit metadata, and mode visibility for troubleshooting.
• Queue management continued to harden with safer active-job controls, clearer failure surfacing, and better per-job operational feedback.

Media Processing & Library Health

• VAAPI-first Intel handling, remux planning, subtitle sidecars, and library health issue reporting were expanded across the planner, FFmpeg integration, and dashboard.
• Hardware detection and probe logging were improved to make CPU/GPU backend selection and diagnostics easier to understand.
• Stream rules landed for commentary stripping, audio-language filtering, and keeping only the default audio track when needed.

Paths, Setup & Docs

• Default config and database paths were normalized around the alchemist runtime home, and the repo now ships a justfile for common dev, release, Docker, and database workflows.
• The docs site moved onto Starlight and now builds locally with a proper content config, localized collection wiring, and a corrected splash-page schema.
• Release automation now bumps repo-wide version manifests, supports checkpoint commits before release validation, and isolates web-e2e onto a separate port so a local server on 3000 does not block release verification.

CI/CD & Release Tooling

• Docker publishing is now gated behind successful validation, and local release verification covers Rust checks/tests, frontend verification, docs build, actionlint, and the reliability Playwright suite.
• just update does not create the release commit, git tag, or push until the full validation gate passes.

[v0.2.10-rc.2] - 2026-03-21

Stability & Reliability

• VMAF quality gating: encodes falling below a configurable minimum score are now rejected rather than silently promoted.
• Exponential retry backoff for failed jobs: 5 / 15 / 60 / 360 minute delays based on attempt count prevent tight failure loops.
• Orphaned temp file cleanup on startup: interrupted encodes no longer leave .alchemist.tmp files on disk indefinitely.
• Log table pruning: configurable retention period (default 30 days) prevents unbounded log growth on busy servers.
• Auth session cleanup: expired sessions are pruned on startup and every 24 hours.
• Resource endpoint caching: /api/system/resources is cached for 500ms to prevent redundant OS probes from multiple open browser tabs.

New Features

• Per-library profiles: each watch folder can have its own transcoding profile, with four built-in presets (Space Saver, Quality First, Balanced, Streaming) usable as starting points.
• Storage savings dashboard: the Stats page now shows total space recovered, average reduction percentage, a savings-over-time chart, and per-codec breakdowns.
• Library Doctor: scan your library for corrupt or broken files directly from System Settings.
• /api/jobs added as a canonical alias for /api/jobs/table.

Beginner Experience

• Plain-English skip reasons: skipped jobs now show a human-readable explanation with technical detail available in an expandable section.
• Auto-redirect to the setup wizard for first-time users with no watch directories configured.
• Setup wizard field descriptions: CRF, BPP, concurrent jobs, and CPU preset now include plain-English explanations inline.
• Telemetry is now opt-in by default, with a detailed explanation of exactly what is collected.

Job Management

• Skipped tab: dedicated tab in the Job Manager for skipped jobs.
• Archived tab: cleared completed jobs are now visible in an Archived tab rather than disappearing permanently.
• Sort controls: the job list can now be sorted by last updated, date added, file name, or file size.

UI & Design

• Font updated from Space Grotesk to DM Sans.
• Sidebar active state redesigned: a left accent bar replaces the filled background.
• Border radius tightened throughout with a more consistent scale across cards, buttons, and badges.
• Setup wizard refactored into composable step components.

Infrastructure

• CI/CD workflows fully rewritten: Rust caching, TypeScript typechecking, and a frontend build shared across all platforms.
• Multi-arch Docker images are now published for linux/amd64 and linux/arm64.
• Release binaries now ship as .tar.gz archives with SHA256 checksums; AppImage and .app bundles were removed.
• Dockerfile now uses the stable Rust image with pinned FFmpeg checksums.
• E2E test coverage added for all new features.

[v0.2.10-rc.1] - 2026-03-07

• Job lifecycle safety hardening: queued vs active cancel handling, active-job delete/restart blocking, batch-action conflict reporting, and stricter status/stat persistence.
• Output handling now supports mirrored output_root destinations plus temp-file promotion so replace mode preserves the last good artifact until encode, size, and quality gates pass.
• Scheduler, setup, and watch-folder parity updates shipped together: immediate schedule reevaluation, Intel Arc H.264 detection fix, H.264 setup option, canonicalized watch folders, and recursive watch configuration in the UI.
• Jobs and settings UX now expose per-job priority controls, output-root file settings, active-job-safe actions, and the Astro router deprecation cleanup.
• CI/CD rewrite for 0.2.10-rc.1: cached Rust checks, frontend typecheck/build validation, multi-arch Docker publishing, and unified prerelease metadata handling across workflows.
• Release packaging cleanup: Linux and macOS now ship plain .tar.gz binaries, Windows ships .exe, and every release asset includes a SHA256 checksum file.

[v0.2.9] - 2026-03-06

• Runtime reliability pass: watcher/scanner hardening, resilient event consumers, config reload improvements, and live hardware refresh.
• Admin UX refresh across dashboard, settings, setup, logs, jobs, charts, and system status with stronger error handling and feedback.
• Frontend workflow standardized on Bun, Playwright reliability coverage added under web-e2e, and deploy/docs/container updates shipped together.

[v0.2.8] - 2026-01-12

• Setup wizard auth fixes, scheduler time validation, and watcher reliability improvements.
• DB stability pass (WAL, FK enforcement, indexes, session cleanup, legacy watch_dirs compatibility).
• Build pipeline updates (rustls for reqwest, cross-platform build script, WiX workflow fix).
• Documentation and design philosophy updates.
• More themes!!

[v0.2.5] - 2026-01-11

Fixes

• Dashboard Crash: Fixed a critical bug where the dashboard would render as a blank screen if GPU utilization was null. Added strict null checks before toFixed() calls in ResourceMonitor.tsx.
• Animation Glitch: Resolved an issue where the "Engine Status" button would fly in from the top-left corner on page navigation. Implemented unique layoutId generation using useId() to maintain the morph animation while preventing cross-page artifacts.
• Migration Checksum: Fixed a startup error caused by a modified migration file. Reverted the original migration to restore checksum integrity and created a new migration for the version bump.

Improvements

• Resource Monitor Layout: Repositioned the GPU Usage section to appear between "Active Jobs" and "Uptime" for better logical flow.
• Animation Timing: Adjusted staggered animation delays in the Resource Monitor to match the new layout order.

Documentation

• Codebase Overview: Added codebase_overview.md explaining the monolith architecture (Rust + API + Frontend) and directory structure.
• Migration Policy: Updated MIGRATIONS.md to explicitly forbid modifying existing migration files to prevent checksum errors.
• Walkthrough: Updated walkthrough.md with detailed debugging logs and verification steps for all recent changes.

Infrastructure

• Version Bump: Updated project version to 0.2.5 in Cargo.toml, web/package.json, and VERSION.
• Database: Established 0.2.5 as the new minimum compatible version schema baseline.