Changelog

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

The format is based on Keep a Changelog, and this project adheres to Semantic Versioning.

[1.0.5] - 2026-08-29

Confirms the licence fix in 1.0.4 across a real update. No functional changes — 1.0.4 was the first build to mirror the licence outside the keychain, so it was also the first build capable of carrying one through an update. Verifying that needs a version to update to.

[1.0.4] - 2026-08-29

Fixed

• Updating could sign you out of your licence. The key was stored only in the OS keychain, and macOS ties a keychain item to the exact binary that created it when the app is unsigned. Installing an update replaces that binary, the new one is refused access, and Tracer reported no licence — to a customer who had just paid. The licence is now mirrored to the app-data file, the same two-store approach the trial has always used, so it survives updates.
• A licence revoked or refunded upstream was cleared from the keychain but left in the app-data file, where the next launch restored it. Both stores are now cleared together.
• Settings → Updates and Help → About now agree with the installed version in every case, including immediately after an update.
• On Windows, entering a key could appear to work and then be gone on the next launch, dropping you back into the trial. Same cause: the write went only to Credential Manager, and a failure there was discarded without a word.
• Manage showed only part of the licence key and its Copy button did nothing — both because the full key could not be read back from secure storage. If it ever cannot be read again, the modal now says so instead of showing a truncated key beside a dead button.
• Copy buttons throughout the app now work in WebView2 on Windows, where the browser clipboard API is not always available. This affected the licence key, the purchase link, the CRC result, and the scripting API address.

Note

• If an update logged you out, re-enter your key once. It will persist from 1.0.4 onward. Re-activating uses an activation slot; contact [email protected] if you run out because of this.

[1.0.3] - 2026-08-29

Fixed

• Purchase Pro still did nothing on Windows. 1.0.2 routed it through Tauri's opener plugin, which on Windows returns successfully without opening anything — the same reason the vault already shells out to Explorer rather than using it. Opening the browser is now done directly by the app, the way every other external launch in Tracer is done.
• If the browser cannot be opened at all, the modal now says so and points at the address, instead of the click appearing to do nothing.
• The link on a broadcast notice had the identical problem on Windows.

[1.0.2] - 2026-08-29

Fixed

• The Purchase Pro button did nothing on Windows. It was a plain link opening a new tab, which WebView2 silently swallows — no browser, no error. It now hands the URL to the operating system, which works on all three platforms.
• Help → About reported version 0.1.0 no matter what was installed. The version was a hand-maintained string that had not been touched since 0.1.0; it is now read from the app's own manifest and cannot drift again.

Added

• The purchase address is shown in full beneath the button, with a copy control, for machines where opening a browser fails.
• Settings → Updates shows the installed version.

[1.0.1] - 2026-08-29

Version bump to exercise the update mechanism end to end. No functional changes — the application is byte-for-byte the 1.0.0 build with a new version number, which is deliberate: anything that behaves differently after updating is the updater, not the app.

[1.0.0] - 2026-08-29

Initial public release.

Connection

• Any serial port, with baud rates from 300 to 2000000 and configurable data bits, parity, and stop bits
• Hardware (RTS/CTS) and software (XON/XOFF) flow control
• Up to four ports open at once, each in its own tab
• USB hotplug: a device matched by VID/PID/serial reconnects automatically after a reflash or a replug, and the session survives
• Per-port settings are remembered and restored on reconnect

Reading the stream

• Console — line-based log with timestamps and RX/TX colouring
• Terminal — a real VT-100 for shells, REPLs, and anything that redraws
• Hex — offset / hex / ASCII dump for binary protocols
• Plotter (Pro) — graphs numeric values as they arrive
• Modbus RTU (Pro) — decodes frames into function code, address, registers, and CRC, with per-frame validation
• Packet decoder (Pro) — split by idle gap, delimiter, or fixed length, then name the fields
• Split the pane to run two views over one stream side by side
• Pop-out windows (Pro) for watching two ports across two monitors

The vault

• Opening a port starts recording immediately — no record button to forget
• Sessions are saved to ~/SerialApp/Vault/ as plain files, readable without Tracer; anything never explicitly saved is still kept under Auto Log/
• Sidebar tree with drag-to-reorganise, inline rename, nesting, and delete
• Reopen any saved session as a read-only tab, with search, hex, and the decoders all still working on it
• Export to .txt or .csv, with annotations carried along
• Reveal in Finder; a filesystem watcher keeps the tree current

Finding things

• Live filter over the stream as it arrives — plain text or full regex, with matches highlighted in place, on live and recorded sessions alike
• Highlight rules (Pro) — colour whole lines by pattern
• Variable extraction (Pro) — pull a named value out of each matching line and watch it update above the log

Annotating

• Per-session Markdown notes (Pro), auto-saved as you type
• Inline comments (Pro) pinned to an exact line, marked in the margin, with a sorted comments panel that jumps back to the line

Talking back

• Line mode for commands, raw mode when every keystroke should go out as a byte
• Hex input, configurable line endings, real Ctrl-C/D/Z, BREAK, DTR/RTS reset
• Macros — saved text or hex payloads, grouped and reorderable
• Triggered macros (Pro) fire when incoming output matches a pattern; scheduled macros (Pro) fire on an interval
• CRC calculator with every common preset plus a custom mode
• File send — stream a file out in chunks, with progress and cancel
• Scripting API (Pro) — a local WebSocket server so your own scripts can read and send while you keep watching

Licensing and updates

• Pro is free for 7 days on first launch — no account, no card. When the trial ends the free features keep working and every recorded session stays put
• One-time Pro purchase, good for three machines, with a deactivate control to free a slot
• Signed automatic updates, disclosed in Help → About and switchable off in Settings → Updates
• Broadcast notice: a message the maintainer can push to running copies for things a release cannot fix on its own

Privacy

• No cloud, no account, no telemetry, no analytics. Serial data, logs, notes and vault contents never leave your machine. The only outbound request is the update check, and it can be turned off