Sasha Studio Release Notes: v1.0.1264 to v1.0.1286

Release Period: February 2026 - March 2026
Version Range: 1.0.1264 → 1.0.1286
Total Commits: 113

TL;DR - Business Summary

What's New in Plain English:

This release delivers 4 headline capabilities — a visual workflow editor, a skill editor, major Report Publisher upgrades, and improved sub-agent visibility:

Visual Workflow Editor - A brand-new drag-and-drop canvas for designing and running AI agent workflows. See your automation pipelines as interactive flowcharts, inspect each step, view artifacts and errors, and chat with the AI about your workflow — all in one visual interface.
Skill Editor - Create and edit Sasha skills directly in the UI. The skill editor extends the workflow editor with skill-specific parsing and inspection, making it easy to build reusable AI capabilities without touching code.
Report Publisher Evolution - The Board Pack Designer has been renamed to Report Publisher and gained PDF export, HTML interactive presentations, web export, cover page layouts, image fitting controls, and a --pages flag for selective generation. It's no longer just for board packs — it's a full document publishing engine.
Sub-Agent Visibility - You can now see exactly what Sasha's sub-agents are doing. Active sub-agent counts appear in the busy bar, tool bubbles show which sub-agent is working, elapsed timers track how long operations take, and stall detection is smarter about long-running multi-agent tasks.

Business Value:

Automation Made Visual: The workflow editor lets non-technical users design, understand, and run AI agent pipelines without writing code
Faster Report Generation: Report Publisher's PDF/HTML export and selective page generation dramatically speed up branded document creation
Operational Transparency: Sub-agent visibility means you always know what Sasha is doing and how long it's taking
Extensibility: The skill editor makes it easy to create new AI capabilities tailored to your organisation

Executive Summary

The headline addition is the Visual Workflow Editor, a React Flow-based canvas that transforms Agent Flow workflow definitions into interactive flowcharts. Users can view and edit workflows visually with step nodes, trigger nodes, artifact nodes, and error nodes — each with dedicated inspector panels. The editor includes a code view for direct YAML/markdown editing, a chat panel for AI-assisted workflow design, URL routing for deep-linking to specific workflows, and full execution controls with status display. This is the foundation of Sasha's no-code automation platform.

The Report Publisher (renamed from Board Pack Designer) evolved from a PowerPoint-only engine into a multi-format publishing platform. This release added PDF export with rich configuration, HTML export with interactive presentation mode, web export format, a CJK cover page layout system, image fitting with clip support, region alignment properties, and a --pages flag for selective slide generation. The CLI was overhauled with comprehensive help, error messages, and a full README. A dedicated editing skill was also created to guide AI-assisted configuration changes.

Sub-agent visibility addressed a key usability gap — users couldn't tell what was happening during multi-agent operations. The server now tracks active sub-agents and sends sub-agent-aware heartbeats. The UI shows sub-agent counts in the busy bar, labels on tool bubbles identifying which sub-agent is working, elapsed timers, and extended stall timeouts that account for legitimate long-running sub-agent work.

Other notable additions include the Trackmaker content truncation system for cleaner message display, aggregate container-level memory management, Knowledge sidebar scoping to the selected project, and multiple security fixes including Semgrep alert resolutions and dependency updates.

Major Features & Improvements

Visual Workflow Editor

React Flow Canvas - Interactive drag-and-drop workflow visualisation with step, trigger, artifact, audit, and error nodes
Step Inspector - Click any step to view and edit its configuration with natural language editing hints
Artifact & Audit Inspector - Clickable artifact and audit nodes with dedicated inspection panels
Error Inspector - Contextual error display with chat hints for AI-assisted troubleshooting
Workflow Chat Panel - Built-in AI chat for discussing and modifying workflows
Code View - Toggle between visual canvas and raw YAML/markdown editing
URL Routing - Deep-link directly to specific workflows in the editor
Run Button & Status - Execute workflows and see real-time execution status on all workflows
Workflow Manager - Enhanced management panel with scheduling and status display
Tooltip Edges - Informative connection lines between workflow nodes
Parser & Serializer - Robust markdown-to-graph and graph-to-markdown conversion with tests
Example Workflows - Client onboarding, summarise-document, transcript-to-report, and report-publisher pipeline templates

Skill Editor

Skill-First Editor - Dedicated editor extending the Workflow Editor for skill creation and editing
Skill Parser - Converts skill markdown into visual graph representation
Skills API - New server routes for skill CRUD operations
Error Handling - Robust error handling and simplified skills directory management

Report Publisher (formerly Board Pack Designer)

Renamed - Board Pack Designer → Report Publisher to reflect broader document generation capabilities
PDF Export - Rich PDF generation with configurable margins, fonts, and layouts
HTML Export - Interactive presentation format for browser-based viewing
Web Export - Additional export format for web distribution
CJK Cover Page - Branded cover page layout with centred text and region alignment
Image Fit Property - New imageFit region property with clip support for precise image placement
Region Alignment - New align property for fine-grained content positioning
Pages Flag - --pages CLI flag for selective slide generation with processing time documentation
Standard Logo Skip - Cover layouts can skip the standard logo for cleaner branding
Lazy-Load googleapis - Performance improvement: Google APIs only loaded for Slides exports
Comprehensive README - Full documentation with CLI help and error message improvements
Report Publisher Edit Skill - New skill for AI-assisted JSON configuration editing
Real Data Integration - Replaced fabricated data with real CJK pipeline outputs
QA Fixes - Layout, content, tables, and measurement corrections
Chart Improvements - Formatting codes, smart y-axis range, and visual enhancements

Sub-Agent Visibility

Sub-Agent Count in Busy Bar - See how many sub-agents are actively working (issue #43)
Tool Bubble Labels - Each tool bubble shows which sub-agent is performing the operation (issue #41)
Elapsed Timer - Track how long each sub-agent operation has been running (issue #41)
Server-Side Tracking - Backend tracks active sub-agents and sends sub-agent-aware heartbeat data (issue #41)
Extended Stall Timeout - Sessions with active sub-agents get longer timeouts before stall detection triggers (issue #41)
Streaming Visibility - Sub-agent tool bubbles now display during streaming, not just after completion (#40)

UI Improvements

Trackmaker Content Truncation - Unified system for collapsing long content blocks in chat messages
Knowledge Sidebar Scoping - Sidebar files now scoped to the selected project, not all projects
Auto-Refresh Knowledge Sidebar - File changes automatically reflected without manual refresh
Collapsed Content Preview - Expanded to show ~4 lines minimum for better context
Collapse on Open - File list collapses when opening knowledge files from sidebar
Sidebar Toggle Repositioned - Moved to first position with divider for quicker access
Toolbar Reorganisation - Cleaned up toolbar with tag editing added to preview panel
File Preview Improvements - Better defaults and frontmatter handling
PDF/DOCX Download - Download and copy-path options added to file manager preview
Chat Timestamps - Messages from previous days now show the date alongside the time
Removed Follow-Latest - Eliminated auto-switching between sessions in sidebar (#30)

Memory & Performance

Aggregate Container Memory - Container-level memory management across all processes (#39)
Lazy Google API Loading - Google APIs only loaded when needed, reducing startup time

Stability & Reliability

Security

Semgrep Alerts - Resolved 3 code scanning alerts identified by Semgrep
Minimatch ReDoS - Fixed regular expression denial-of-service vulnerability across 4 packages
Hono Update - Updated Hono 4.11.7 → 4.11.10 across 17 MCP servers
Dependency Bumps - npm_and_yarn group updates across multiple directories

Bug Fixes

Catastrophic Backtracking - Eliminated regex backtracking in frontmatter parsing that could freeze the browser
Code Block Collapse - Expanded code blocks no longer collapse unexpectedly on scroll
Control Panel Region - Region now correctly derived from service serverId, not config search order
Workflow Parser - Fixed WorkflowEditor not parsing API response correctly
Diagonal Lines - Fixed workflow edges using explicit handle IDs to prevent diagonal connection lines
Teams Transcriber - Updated selectors and added debug instrumentation for reliability
Skills Submodule - Converted skills from broken submodule gitlink to regular directory
Wrong-Project Flash - Prevented brief flash of wrong project content when switching (#40)

Developer Experience & Docs

Documentation Updates

Workflow Overlay Spec - Design specification for workflow overlay UI
Workflow Editor Implementation Plan - Detailed implementation plan and POC design document
Sub-Agent Design Docs - Visibility design, implementation plans, and behaviour documentation (issues #41, #43)
Report Publisher README - Comprehensive documentation with CLI reference
Report Publisher Edit Skill - Synced skill with PDF export capabilities
Board Pack Data Flow - Token mapping system documentation for data pipeline
README Update - Product overview and screenshots refreshed
Documentation Index - Updated to include new workflow and sub-agent docs

Development Tools

Workflow Parser Tests - Unit tests for workflow markdown parsing
Workflow Serializer Tests - Unit tests for graph-to-markdown conversion
Scheduler API Client - New API client for workflow scheduling
Vite File Watching - Optimised file watching for faster development builds

Upgrade Notes

Report Publisher Rename

Action Required: The board-pack-publisher module has been renamed to report-publisher. Update any scripts or references that point to the old name.
CLI commands and configuration remain the same, only the module/directory name changed.

Skills Directory

Automatic: Skills were converted from a broken submodule gitlink to a regular directory. No user action needed — this fixes previous skill loading failures.

Docker

Report Publisher in Image: The report-publisher is now included in the Docker image. The README.md is also included for in-container reference.

No Breaking Changes

All existing workflows, skills, and configurations continue to work without modification.

Changelog Summary (since v1.0.1264)

Features

Visual workflow editor with React Flow canvas, inspector panels, chat, and code view
Skill editor extending workflow editor for skill creation
Report Publisher: PDF, HTML, and web export formats
Report Publisher: CJK cover page, image fit, region alignment
Report Publisher: --pages flag for selective generation
Sub-agent count in busy bar and tool bubble labels with elapsed timers
Server-side sub-agent tracking with heartbeat integration
Trackmaker unified content truncation system
Aggregate container-level memory management
Knowledge sidebar scoped to selected project with auto-refresh
PDF/DOCX download and copy-path in file manager preview
Chat timestamps showing dates for older messages
Sidebar toggle repositioned to first position
Toolbar reorganisation with tag editing in preview panel
Scheduler API client and optimised vite file watching
Report-publisher-edit skill for JSON config editing
Workflow example templates: client-onboarding, summarise-document, transcript-to-report

Bug Fixes

Catastrophic regex backtracking in frontmatter parsing
Code block collapse on scroll
Control panel region derivation
Workflow edge diagonal lines
WorkflowEditor API response parsing
Teams transcriber selector updates
Skills submodule → regular directory conversion
Wrong-project flash on switch
Sub-agent tool bubbles during streaming

Security

3 Semgrep code scanning alerts resolved
Minimatch ReDoS vulnerability patched
Hono updated across 17 MCP servers
Dependency group updates across multiple directories

Documentation

Workflow editor spec, implementation plan, and POC design
Sub-agent visibility design and implementation docs
Report Publisher README and skill documentation
README product overview and screenshots refresh

Looking Ahead

Workflow Execution Dashboard: Real-time monitoring of running workflows with logs and progress tracking
Skill Marketplace: Share and discover reusable skills across Sasha instances
Report Publisher Templates: Pre-built templates for common report types (quarterly reviews, project status, board packs)
Advanced Scheduling: Cron-based workflow scheduling with calendar integration

Jargon Buster - Technical Terms Explained

React Flow

A JavaScript library for building interactive node-based editors and flowcharts
Think of it as a digital whiteboard where boxes connect to each other with lines
Powers the new visual workflow editor — each step in your workflow is a draggable box

Agent Flow

Sasha's system for defining multi-step AI automation pipelines
Like a recipe for AI tasks — "first do this, then do that, finally produce this output"
The workflow editor visualises Agent Flow definitions as interactive flowcharts

Sub-Agent

A secondary AI process spawned by the main Sasha agent to handle a specific task
Like delegating a sub-task to a colleague — the main agent coordinates while sub-agents do focused work
New visibility features let you see exactly which sub-agents are active and what they're doing

Trackmaker

Sasha's content truncation system for managing long text blocks in chat
Like a "read more" button — shows a preview of long content with the option to expand
Keeps chat messages readable without hiding important information

ReDoS (Regular Expression Denial of Service)

A vulnerability where a specially crafted text input causes a regex pattern to run extremely slowly
Like giving someone a puzzle that looks simple but takes millions of years to solve
Fixed in the frontmatter parser to prevent browser freezes on malformed file headers

Serializer/Parser

A parser reads structured text and converts it into data a program can work with; a serializer does the reverse
Like translation — the parser reads a foreign language into English, the serializer writes English back into that language
The workflow parser reads markdown workflow files into visual graph data; the serializer saves visual changes back to markdown

Cover Page Layout

A predefined template for the first slide of a presentation, typically featuring branding and title
Like a book cover — sets the visual tone before the content begins
The CJK cover page layout includes branded imagery, centred title text, and configurable logo placement

Thanks for upgrading. This release makes Sasha's AI automation visible, visual, and versatile — from workflow design to report publishing to sub-agent transparency.