Release Notes v0.8.8

Release Date: June 19, 2026 Branch: main → production Previous Version: v0.8.7 (M1+M2+M3, June 14, 2026) Sprint: D1 — RECONNECT (closed June 19, 2026) Release model: development continues on main; production carries the last stable, canonical-regression-passing build for alpha testers at alpha.pipermorgan.ai.

Summary

RECONNECT (D1) closes the gap between a working backend and a coherent product. This sprint was focused on making the alpha experience feel intentional: navigation that makes sense, a home that works, Radar as your primary workspace, and the BYOC credential layer that lets alpha testers bring their own LLM key.

The headline changes are structural: Radar is now the default Layer-2 panel (replacing a placeholder), navigation labels finally match what the surfaces actually do (History is now Radar; Collections is now Lists), and the home chat conforms to the full-height conversation paradigm. The compose UI now saves your work.

Quality posture (canonical regression, June 19): 252/252 clean. Gate cleared at 1163c3954.

What’s New

BYOC credential layer — bring your own LLM key

#1162 — Per-request user LLM key: alpha testers can supply their own Anthropic API key at the account level. The credential is decoupled from the server credential — each request uses the user’s key when present, falling back to the server key. This unblocks self-hosted and eventually pay-as-you-go alpha.

Radar as primary workspace

The Radar surface (your work-item feed) graduates from a side panel to the default Layer-2 experience.

#1090 — Radar as default Layer-2 panel (PM-authorized): Radar replaces the placeholder panel as the primary workspace view. Work items are live, not static.
#1239 — Work items as a live Radar entity: your assigned GitHub issues surface as first-class entities in the Radar feed, not just linked from conversations.
#6 — “My work” filter: Radar work items are scoped to issues assigned to your configured GitHub handle — your queue, not the whole repo.

#1268 / #1262 — IA relabels: History → Radar (it’s your work radar, not a history log); Collections → Lists (plain name for plain thing). CXO-ratified.
#1268 fix — un-gated the user’s own content in the nav — a trust gate must not hide a user’s own data from them.
#1280 / CXO spec — dark nav design + 3-column shell IA finalized; implementation follows in RECONNECT Phase 2.

Home experience

#1173 — Full-height conversation on home: the home chat now conforms to the full-height conversation paradigm — input anchored at the bottom, conversation fills the viewport (Option A, CXO-ratified).
#1225 — Collapse + dismiss affordances: home ambient modules (recently, insights, work items) can be collapsed or dismissed individually. State persists. PM UAT passed.
#1263 — Empty-state treatment: the left conversation-list rail now has a proper empty state instead of a blank panel.

Files — provenance and honesty

#1270 — Honest source-provenance badge: every file and artifact on /files now shows where it came from — “Generated by Piper” or “Uploaded”. No more ambiguity about what Piper made vs. what you provided.

Compose UI — save your work

#998 Phase 2 — Edit + Autosave: the compose UI now autosaves drafts as you type. Content is not lost on navigation. (Phase 1 was the scaffold in M3; Phase 2 is the working implementation.)

Floor quality

#1293 — Orientation questions answered directly: the floor previously deflected “what can you do?” and “how do you work?” questions by routing them away. They now receive a direct, honest answer in Piper’s voice.

Accessibility & CSS hygiene

#1254 — Font size px→rem: the entire type scale converted from px to rem (1:1 at 16px root). Screen readers and browser zoom now work correctly across all Piper surfaces.
#1251 — Insights CSS extracted: inline <style> on insights pages extracted to lint-covered insights.css.
#1271 — Nav CSS extracted: inline nav styles extracted to lint-covered nav.css.
#1149 fix — the debug router is now gated dev-only (was reachable in production, returning 404s).
#1164 fix — “Start private session” toggle hidden for beta. It was visible but non-functional, creating a misleading privacy signal. Will return when the feature is complete.

Skills (Claude integration)

install-skills.sh — one-command installer for Claude Code users: downloads and installs all Piper Morgan slash commands in a single step.
piper-draft-issue improvements: handles missing tracker gracefully; no longer hardcodes the mediajunkie/piper-morgan-product repo.

Under the hood

#1269 standup content fix (PM UAT): conversations removed from standup slots; page length capped at a readable limit.
fix(#1236) — Radar search placeholder restored to honest “Search conversations…” (was misleading “Search your work”).

Known limitations (alpha testers, read this)

RECONNECT is the first sprint after the M-series foundation. The alpha is functional but not yet polished:

Standup UI is still legacy — the backend honest standup engine is live; the frontend standup surface hasn’t been updated yet. Use the floor to ask Piper for your standup; the dedicated UI page is stale.
Append-to-document (#1283) is shelved — the wiring was designed but deferred to post-RECONNECT. “Add this to my [doc]” won’t work yet.
Cross-session memory is maturing (#976/#953/#669) — insights and provenance persist across sessions but broader composting is in progress.
BYOC key is account-level, not per-model — #1162 ships the credential layer; per-model key routing comes in a later sprint.

When Piper can’t do something or lacks context, it is designed to say so rather than fabricate — if you see it invent, that’s a bug worth reporting.

Version mechanics

Increment: 0.8.8 on the 0.8.x alpha development line. 0.9.0 reserved for the full Beta release at M5 close; 1.0 = GA.
Cut commit: 1163c3954 — docs(lead): session log — D1 gate cleared (#1293 closed, canonical regression 252/252 clean) (June 19, 2026).
pyproject.toml bump: 0.8.6 → 0.8.8 (two-version jump; 0.8.7 self-reports via tag only, per the v0.8.7 release notes).
Tag: v0.8.8 annotated — “Release v0.8.8 — D1/RECONNECT sprint (alpha coherence pass)”.
Production: production branch fast-forwarded to v0.8.8; serves alpha.pipermorgan.ai.
Forward cadence: M4 → 0.8.9, M5 / Beta gate → 0.9.0.

Upgrade Instructions

git checkout production && git pull origin production
pip install -r requirements.txt
python -m alembic upgrade head   # migrations from RECONNECT sprint
docker compose up -d              # postgres:5433, redis, chromadb
python main.py                    # port 8001 (or PIPER_PORT)

For alpha testers on alpha.pipermorgan.ai: the hosted instance will be updated automatically. No local steps needed unless you’re running your own instance.

Contributors

Claude (Lead Developer + Web + leadership/staff agent cohort) — implementation, testing, methodology
xian (PM/founder) — design, UAT, sprint management