Release Notes: v0.8.5

Release Date: January 27, 2026 Release Type: Feature Release (MUX-IMPLEMENT Complete)

Overview

MUX-IMPLEMENT is complete! This release completes the Modeled User Experience (MUX) super epic, delivering a fully accessible, consistent UI with lifecycle state support across all MUX objects.

Key achievements in this release:

WCAG 2.1 AA Accessibility: Full contrast compliance and ARIA landmarks across all components
Design Token System: Centralized CSS tokens with accessibility verification
Lifecycle State Persistence: Database support for lifecycle states on projects, work items, features, and todos
Navigation and Command Palette: Fully accessible keyboard navigation with ARIA patterns

New Features

MUX-IMPLEMENT Epic Complete (#403)

Complete navigation component with ARIA landmarks
Command palette with combobox ARIA pattern
Keyboard navigation support throughout
aria-controls, aria-expanded, aria-activedescendant attributes

Files: templates/components/navigation.html, templates/components/command_palette.html

P2: Document Access (#420, #421, #422)

Document query pre-classifier improvements
Portfolio integration
Document management UI

P3: Conversation Model (#423, #424, #425, #426, #427)

Conversation state management
Follow-up detection with context
Channel personality adapter
ADR-049 ProcessRegistry for guided processes

Commits: bbb741cd, 92ee6cc7, 43eb3706, 70adf068

P4: Accessibility & Polish (#428, #429, #430)

Full ARIA accessibility audit and fixes
WCAG 2.1 AA contrast compliance
Theme consistency with design tokens

Accessibility Improvements

ARIA Accessibility (#428)

8 components audited and enhanced:

Navigation: role="navigation", role="menu", role="menuitem", aria-current="page"
Command Palette: role="combobox", role="listbox", role="option", aria-activedescendant
Home Places: role="region", aria-labelledby, aria-live="polite"
SVG Icons: aria-hidden="true" for decorative elements

WCAG 2.1 AA Contrast (#429)

22 color combinations tested, 11 failing colors fixed:

Token	Before	After
`--color-primary`	3.15:1	4.84:1
`--color-accent-success`	2.87:1	4.72:1
`--color-accent-error`	3.82:1	4.85:1
`--color-accent-warning`	2.19:1	4.92:1
`--color-text-secondary`	2.56:1	5.24:1
`--color-text-disabled`	2.56:1	4.61:1

9 new tokens added including -decorative variants for brand color preservation.

Documentation: docs/accessibility/contrast-audit-2026-01.md

Design Tokens v1.1.0 (#430)

Centralized color, spacing, and typography tokens
High contrast mode support (prefers-contrast: more)
Reduced motion support (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce)
Systematic token naming with WCAG ratios documented

File: web/static/css/tokens.css

Bug Fixes

Issue #718: Lifecycle State Column Missing

Problem: Database tables missing lifecycle_state column reported in investigation.

Resolution: Already fixed - migration 70847a6596f3 adds lifecycle_state VARCHAR(50) to features, work_items, projects, and todo_items tables.

Commit: Migration verified applied in production database.

Architecture

ADR-049: Two-Tier Intent Architecture

ProcessRegistry pattern for guided processes established.

Commit: 70adf068

Feature Lifecycle Serialization (#705)

Feature.to_dict() now includes lifecycle_state when present.

Commit: c29f3a34

Test Results

=============== 5253 passed, 24 skipped ================

All unit tests passing
Accessibility audit verified
Contrast ratios verified with automated testing
1000+ new tests added during MUX-IMPLEMENT

Database Migrations

Migration: 70847a6596f3

Adds lifecycle_state VARCHAR(50) nullable column to:

features
work_items
projects
todo_items

python -m alembic upgrade head

Upgrade Notes

For Existing Users

git pull origin main
python -m alembic upgrade head  # Adds lifecycle_state columns
python main.py

For New Alpha Testers

git clone --depth 1 -b production https://github.com/mediajunkie/piper-morgan-product.git
cd piper-morgan-product
./scripts/alpha-setup.sh

Visit http://localhost:8001/setup to create your account.

Issue	Type	Description
#403	Epic	MUX-IMPLEMENT - Complete UI Polish
#419	Feature	Navigation & Command Palette
#420-422	Feature	Document Access
#423-427	Feature	Conversation Model
#428	Feature	ARIA Accessibility
#429	Feature	WCAG Contrast Compliance
#430	Feature	Theme Consistency
#705	Feature	Feature lifecycle serialization
#718	Bug	Lifecycle state column verification

What’s Next

M1: MVP Foundation - Core MVP features
M2: MVP Activation - User activation flow
M3: MVP Skills - Skill system development
Alpha tester feedback on new accessibility features

Full Changelog: v0.8.4.3…v0.8.5