What's new

Version 0.26.0

• Docent now answers inside Help: type a question in Help's search box ("how do I add a page") and the best answer from Help shows above the results, with the article it came from. Search also finds articles for questions in plain words.
• The Ask Docent button is put away until Docent can do more than Help search.
• Help now opens below the top bar, so the Help button stays in view.

Version 0.25.2

Bug fixes and code cleanup.

Version 0.25.1

Bug fixes and code cleanup.

Version 0.25.0

• Meet Docent, your guide to UXR. Choose Ask Docent just left of Help in the top bar (or press Ctrl+J, ⌘J on a Mac) and ask how to do something. Docent answers from UXR Help, shows which article the answer came from, and suggests others worth a look. Nothing you type leaves your browser.

Version 0.24.1

Bug fixes and code cleanup.

Version 0.24.0

• The side menu folds to icons. The side menu folds to a narrow strip of icons, so pages get more room. Use Collapse menu at the bottom of the menu, or press Ctrl+B (⌘B on a Mac). On smaller laptop screens it starts folded until you choose, and your choice is remembered. In the strip, each icon's name shows beside it when you point at it, and new counts show as a dot.

Version 0.23.1

Bug fixes and code cleanup.

Version 0.23.0

• The same layout as every Gestalt System app. The places you go are now in a menu down the left side, as in PM and Forms, instead of along the top, so nothing hides under More. Tags and Files sit in their own group. On a phone the menu opens from the left.
• Admin. Owners and Admins find Settings, Users and Activity under Admin in the user menu. Admin has its own header with the version and Back to app. The addresses haven't changed.
• The user menu matches the other apps: Theme Mode, Account, Admin, About, Release notes and Sign out, with the version at the bottom.
• Sign in uses the same card as the other Gestalt System apps. A site's own brand color still colors its button and links.
• Every page ends with a small "Gestalt System UXR by Phantomnaut" line.

Version 0.22.0

• The research app matches the other Gestalt apps more closely. Its text is set in Inter on every computer (before, only where Inter was installed). The font is served by this site, so nothing is loaded from anywhere else.
• Gestalt apps button. The header has the shared Gestalt apps button just left of Help, like every other Gestalt app, to open PM, Publisher and the Gestalt Studio apps.
• The Help button looks like Help in every other Gestalt app: a plain question mark icon, without the circle around it.
• Icons and small controls follow the shared sizes: icons at 18px (24px for the menu button), and small buttons at least 28px. The move up and down buttons in the study, card sort and prototype builders, Remove on a redaction term, More in the top bar, back links and fold-out sections use icons instead of typed arrows and symbols, and the page behind a dialog dims the same way everywhere.

Version 0.21.0

• On this page in Settings. Settings now lists its sections beside the page on a wide screen, with the one you are reading highlighted, so a click takes you straight to Sign-in and tools or any other section. On a phone or narrow window, a Jump to a section menu sits at the top instead.
• Material Symbols icons. The research app's icons are now the same Material Symbols glyphs as every other Gestalt app, in place of hand-drawn ones. The Theme Mode lamp in the account menu, the copy button beside a new access token and the icons in messages showed a small dot before; they now show their icons.
• Buttons match the boxes beside them. Make a token, and Save and Change password on the Account page, are now the same height as the text boxes next to them.

Version 0.20.0

• Install the site as an app. Chrome, Edge and Safari can now install the site in its own window, with the Gestalt UXR icon in the Dock, Start menu or home screen, named after your site. In Chrome or Edge, use the install icon in the address bar; in Safari on a Mac, choose File > Add to Dock. Research stays online only: nothing is kept for offline use.

Version 0.19.2

Bug fixes and code cleanup.

Version 0.19.1

Bug fixes and code cleanup.

Version 0.19.0

• Highlights from recordings. Select words in a transcript and press Highlight (or H). They become one of the note's quotes, with who said them and the moment they were said.
• Play the moment. Highlights are marked in the transcript, listed under it and shown on a bar under the player; a click plays just that part. In the note's Quotes, the time opens the recording there, and a board card made from a highlight has Play the moment.
• Note-takers can highlight on notes in their projects and remove their own. Researchers remove any. Stakeholders see highlights.
• Editing a note keeps its highlights. They aren't in the editor's quote list, and saving leaves them as they are. Deleting a recording keeps a highlight's words as a plain quote.
• Action: a database migration adds highlights to quotes (20261111000000_highlights); it runs on deploy.

Version 0.18.1

Bug fixes and code cleanup.

Version 0.18.0

• A home-screen icon out of the box. When someone adds the site to a phone's home screen, it now shows the Gestalt UXR icon until you upload your own Apple touch icon in Settings.

Version 0.17.0

• Transcripts of recordings. Press Write transcript on a recording and get every word with its time, in turns by speaker. Choose from 16 languages, or let it detect another one.
• Written on your device. The transcript is made in your own browser: the sound isn't sent anywhere, and the speech model comes from this site. An hour takes about 5 to 15 minutes on a recent computer. If it stops, Carry on picks up where it left off.
• Read along. The transcript sits beside the player (under it on a phone). The word being said lights up, and a click on any word jumps there.
• Fix it. Researchers fix a turn's words (the words they keep stay in step with the recording), change who said it, delete a turn, and name the speakers, for example Interviewer and P4.
• Find what was said. The notes search also lists matches in transcripts, under Said in recordings, and opens the recording at that moment. Only people who may watch a recording see its transcript.
• Action: a database migration adds transcripts (20261110000000_transcripts); it runs on deploy. The build downloads the speech model (about 250 MB) once into public/speech-model; set SKIP_SPEECH_MODEL=1 to leave it out, and transcripts say the model isn't there.

Version 0.16.0

• One web address. When a site owner sets a new address, visits to the old one move there by themselves, keeping the page, so saved links and study links people already have keep working.
• Action: to move this site to a new address, add the address to the hosting first, then set CANONICAL_HOST to it (for example uxr.thegestaltsystem.com), set UXR_PUBLIC_URL to the same address with https://, and update AUTH_URL too if it is set. Everyone signs in once more on the new address. Nothing changes until CANONICAL_HOST is set.

Version 0.15.0

• Recordings on notes. Researchers can add an interview's video or audio to a note (MP4, MOV, WebM, M4A, MP3 or WAV, up to 4 GB) and everyone who can read the note watches it there, on a computer or a phone.
• Consent first. Before anything uploads, the researcher records what the participant agreed to: internal research only, or clips that may be shared with stakeholders. It shows on the recording and can be corrected later (the change is logged).
• Large files, unsteady connections. The file goes straight from the browser to private storage in 10 MB pieces. If the connection drops, the upload pauses and Carry on sends only what is missing, even after closing the page.
• Private by design. Each play gets a link that lasts five minutes. Note-takers and Stakeholders watch but can't add, change or delete. Every add, play, change and delete is in the activity log. Deleting a recording, purging its note or erasing its project removes the file from storage.
• Action: recordings need a storage bucket (Cloudflare R2, Amazon S3 or MinIO), its CORS rule and four settings; see docs/recordings.md. Until then notes say recordings aren't set up. A database migration adds recordings (20261109000000_recordings); it runs on deploy.

Version 0.14.0

• An AI helper for workshops. The facilitator can ask for questions to put to the room, gaps nobody has mentioned, themes for the Discover notes, "How might we" statements, more ideas, a spot on the priority matrix for each shortlisted idea (with a reason), and a draft summary with decisions and next steps.
• You stay in charge. Every suggestion is marked as an AI suggestion and only the facilitator sees it. Edit it, accept it or dismiss it: nothing reaches the board until you accept it, and the decision log says what came from the AI. Suggested matrix spots show as dashed dots until you place them.
• Only the workshop's text is sent. The challenge, notes, themes, statements, ideas, decisions and next steps go to the AI; names of the team and guests never do. Requests count toward the AI limits and show in the usage log.
• A question on screen. Each stage can show one question at the top for everyone, guests too. Type it yourself or pick one from the AI helper.
• A workshop summary. Write it in Deliver, or start from the AI's draft. Everyone on the project sees it.
• Off until you turn it on. An Owner or Admin turns on AI in workshops in Settings → Add-ons; it also needs AI turned on in Settings → AI. Every workshop still works by hand without it.
• Action: a database migration adds AI suggestions, the question on screen, the summary and the switch (20261108000000_workshops_ai); it runs on deploy.

Version 0.13.0

• Live sessions for workshops. Press Start a live session and everyone follows the stage you are on, while the page updates by itself every few seconds. Names and votes start hidden, so nobody anchors on the first or loudest answer; show them when you're ready.
• A shared timer. Start a timer for 1 to 30 minutes, pause it, add a minute or stop it. Everyone sees the same countdown.
• Guests without an account. Turn on a guest link and anyone with it can join with just their name, add notes and ideas, and vote, in that one workshop only. You see who joined, can remove someone, replace the link or turn it off. Guests see the public look of your site.
• Works on a phone. Guests can join, add and vote from a phone.
• Action: a database migration adds live mode, the timer and guests (20261107000000_workshops_live); it runs on deploy.

Version 0.12.0

• Workshops (new add-on). Run a double diamond workshop with a product team: product managers, designers, business analysts and anyone else on the project. Everyone moves together through Discover (notes on what we know), Define (group the notes into themes, vote, write "How might we" problem statements), Develop (ideas for the chosen problems, vote, shortlist) and Deliver.
• A priority matrix. In Deliver the shortlisted ideas go on an impact and effort matrix (Quick wins, Big bets, Fill-ins, Money pits). Drag them, use the arrow keys, or on a phone pick a quadrant from a menu. The axes can be renamed for each workshop.
• Decisions and next steps. The Decision log keeps every decision and what the workshop picked along the way, including where each idea landed on the matrix. Next steps get an owner and a due date.
• Live or over a few days. Run a stage in one session, or give it an open-until date so people can add and vote on their own time.
• Who does what. Researchers, Admins and Owners run workshops. Everyone on the project, Stakeholders included, adds notes and ideas and votes.
• Off until you turn it on. An Owner or Admin turns Workshops on in Settings → Add-ons. Turning it off hides it for everyone and keeps everything.
• Action: a database migration adds the workshop tables and the switch (20261106000000_workshops); it runs on deploy.

Version 0.11.0

• Release notes. The new version card has a Release notes link, and the account menu has Release notes under About. Both open the release notes for Gestalt System UXR, newest first: the six latest versions, then View more with a search box at the top. Opened from the new version card, they show what is waiting and offer Refresh. Fix-only versions just say "Bug fixes and code cleanup."
• What's new. After an update with real news, a small card in the corner says so once, with a link to the release notes.
• The app's colors come from the Gestalt visual language 0.48, now copied here.

Version 0.10.0

• About card. About in the account menu opens the About card the Gestalt apps share: the UXR icon, name and purpose, “by Phantomnaut”, the version and build, “Part of Gestalt System” (the logo is a placeholder for now), who makes it, and the License, Privacy and Terms links. It names the product, not your site.
• Colors come from the Gestalt visual language 0.47, now copied here.

Version 0.9.0

• Notes from connected apps arrive once. When Gestalt System Forms (or another app) sends the same thing again, for example after a slow connection, UXR finds the note it added the first time instead of making a second one. Each such note remembers what it came from, and keeps its link back to the original. A database change is applied by the update itself.

Version 0.8.1

Bug fixes and code cleanup.

Version 0.8.0

• Videos from Vignette UI. Gestalt Studio's Vignette UI (and Montage UI, through it) can send a clip here as a new research note: its title, its link as the source, its summary and its chapters. The video stays in Vignette UI under that clip's own sharing. The transcript comes only when the sender ticks it, and is kept as the note's original text (editors only, never searched, exported or sent to AI).
• Let connected apps add notes, a new switch in Settings → Sign-in and tools, off by default. While it is on, an app using someone's personal token can add a new note as that person, only where they may add notes by hand. It can't change or delete a note, and every other tool stays read-only. See the Help article Videos from Vignette UI.
• Action: a database migration adds the switch (20261104000000_mcp_app_notes); it runs on deploy.

Version 0.7.1

Bug fixes and code cleanup.

Version 0.7.0

• New version notice. When a new version of the app goes live while someone has it open, a card in the bottom-left corner says so, with Refresh and Later. Nothing reloads by itself. Open tabs ask the new /api/version (never cached) every 5 minutes, when you come back to the tab and when the connection returns, and compare it with the build they loaded: the commit on Vercel, else git or the version (a Docker build without git shows the notice when the version changes). This follows the Gestalt visual language 0.21 (Update available), now copied here.

Version 0.6.0

• The Help panel closes when you go back to your work. Click or tap anywhere outside it, or press Escape, to close it; before, only its close button did. It also closes when you move to another screen, so it no longer shows up still open when you come back (a link inside an article still keeps it open on the screen it opens). This follows the Gestalt visual language Help panel pattern (0.18).

Version 0.5.0

• Import research notes from Gestalt System PM. Once PM is connected to this app, PM's Research Repository becomes read-only and points here. A PM Super Admin downloads its notes with Export for UXR, and an Owner, Admin or Researcher brings them in from Notes → Import from PM: into the unfiled inbox to review (recommended), or straight into the UXR project each PM project is linked to. Each note keeps its title, summary, tags, quotes and source, with a line saying who wrote it in PM. Notes already imported are skipped, and the file isn't kept.

Version 0.4.1

Bug fixes and code cleanup.

Version 0.4.0

• Gestalt System PM can show a project's research. When your company also runs Gestalt System PM, a PM project can be linked to a project here, and its Research tab lists that project's published insights, published personas and study summaries, with a link to open each one here. Each person in PM connects with their own personal token, so they see only what they could see by signing in here, and PM keeps none of it. AI tools connected with a token can now read published insights too (title, detail and how many observations support each one; never drafts or what is behind them).

Version 0.3.1

Bug fixes and code cleanup.

Version 0.3.0

• Connect a Design System. Settings → Appearance can now take the public pages' colors and fonts from a Gestalt Publisher DS, the same way Gestalt System PM does. Paste its address, tick what to take (brand, page and text colors, body and monospace fonts), and press Apply to the public pages. Refresh takes its latest look later, and Disconnect forgets it. The researcher app keeps the shared Gestalt look. Action: none; the new database column arrives with the update.
• Small fixes to match the Gestalt visual language: the last text sizes and corners that were off the shared scale now use it.

Version 0.2.0

• Updates: see what's new and update with one click. A new Updates screen (Owners only, from Settings) shows which version the site runs, whether a newer one is out and what changed since yours. When one is out, an orange Update pill appears in the header and the Dashboard shows a notice you can skip. On Vercel, Update Now brings the site's copy of the code up to date on GitHub (it asks GitHub to sync the fork), waits while Vercel builds the new version, and reloads. Set it up once by pasting a GitHub access key under Set Up One-Click Updates. On Docker or your own server, Update by Hand lists the steps. Other copies read the list of versions from the original site's new /update-feed.json, made from this file. Starting an update and changing its settings are written to the activity log; the key never is.
• On Vercel, the database updates itself during a production deploy. npm run build now runs prisma migrate deploy first on a Vercel production build (scripts/migrate-on-deploy.ts), so a new version's database changes arrive with it. If a migration fails, the build stops and the site keeps running the old version. Preview builds, local builds and the Docker image skip it (Docker still migrates on start with UXR_RUN_MIGRATIONS=1). Action: none for most sites. Set MIGRATE_ON_BUILD=0 to keep running migrations by hand, MIGRATE_ON_BUILD=1 to run them on a Node host that builds in place, and DIRECT_URL if your DATABASE_URL goes through a connection pooler that migrations can't use.

Version 0.1.0

• First release of Gestalt System UXR: projects, research notes with tags and files, studies (surveys, card sorts and prototype tests) that people take part in through a link, customer evidence with redaction, interview guides, affinity boards and insights, personas you can ask questions, simulated participants, an MCP server for AI tools, Help, and the shared Gestalt look.