Reasoning quality pass for the agent, plus two new mechanics reference modules. No new features, no breaking changes. Auto-update from v0.2.4 will deliver this on its own.

Improvements

• No more manufactured "free upgrade" recommendations. The agent used to occasionally test something speculative, see it come back as "0% DPS change, 0% EHP change", and surface that as a free upgrade. It can't anymore — before recommending any change as costless, it now has to name a real build constraint the change addresses (a tight attribute, a missing socket, a sustain breach), and read the gem's own description for non-DPS scaling stats PoB doesn't measure (travel distance on Frostblink, cooldown on movement skills, trigger threshold on CWDT, charge generation rate on Blood Rage). If the test was speculative and there's no real benefit to anchor it to, the recommendation gets dropped.
• Conditional bonuses are no longer presented at peak. PoB measures stats with the relevant buff treated as ACTIVE — Steelskin up, Diamond Flask up, max charges held, Fortify up, "while moving" / "recently killed" conditions met. In actual play, these effects have uptime well below 100%. Recommendations whose headline number depends on a conditional buff now get discounted by realistic uptime, or paired with the enabler. Example: "Immortal Call shows +34.5% EHP, but that's only while the guard buff is active. Without automation, uptime is 30-50% and the real continuous EHP gain is +10-17%. With Automation Support or CWDT, uptime reaches 70% and the real gain is +24%."
• Better mechanics reference for crit and charge builds. Two new reference modules get loaded automatically when the build profile triggers them. Crit-fundamentals covers crit chance/multi scaling, key interactions (Diamond Flask, Power Charges, Precision, Assassin's Mark, Perfect Agony), and anti-synergies (Resolute Technique, low-base-crit weapons). Charges covers per-charge bonuses, generation reliability (kill-only generators drop to zero against bosses), max-charge sources, and ascendancy synergies.
• Guard skill recommendations now factor uptime. The guard-skill module always loads when guards are present and now opens with concrete uptime ranges (manual ~30-50%, Automation Support ~70%, CWDT ~50-70% but threshold-gated). A swap from Steelskin to Immortal Call no longer gets shown as "+34.5% EHP" without context — it shows the real continuous-play gain.
• Hero rewrite on the website. The landing page now leads with "Theorycrafting, made accessible." with "Use Path of Building without learning it first." as the subhead. Broader framing leads, the concrete mechanism follows.

Polish and voice tightening. No new features, no breaking changes. Auto-update from v0.2.3 will deliver this on its own.

Improvements

• Analyses are written tighter. The same recommendation no longer gets restated four times across Summary, Recommendations, Practical Order, and Final Verdict — each finding lives in one place. Numbers are stated once in the form that actually informs the decision, not as the absolute, the percentage, and the before-and-after for the same stat. System jargon is gone too: "infeasible due to Strength deficit" becomes "you'd be 37 Strength short of equipping the chest". The agent is meant to give game advice, not write a QA report.
• Better follow-up offers. Analyses now close with a specific suggestion grounded in something they actually saw — a keystone the ladder uses but your build doesn't, a unique they didn't try this round, a defensive layer worth pushing further. The default "want me to run a trade search?" became boilerplate, so it's gone as the primary closer.
• "AI" rebranded to "agent" throughout the app. One coherent product noun across everything you read.
• Visual pass on the dark-fantasy styling. Inputs, panels, the build library hero, ascendancy fallbacks, atlas tree categories, and various small ornaments got a consistent Onyx Gold treatment: square corners with amber-onyx borders and inset shadows for the forge feel, Cinzel uppercase labels replacing leftover emoji icons.
• Website rewrite. Homepage, beta page, FAQ, privacy, terms, and download page all got a plainer-voice rewrite. The landing now embeds a launch demo video and shows real app screenshots instead of mockups.

One-time manual install required: auto-update has been silently broken since v0.1.4 — your installed app never actually checked for updates, no matter how long it ran or how many times you reopened it. v0.2.3 fixes that, but you have to download this version manually from the website one more time. After v0.2.3, every future release will auto-update on its own.

Fixes

• Auto-update is wired up again. The lifecycle driver was orphaned by a UI cleanup in March that assumed the version badge already drove the check — it doesn't, it only displays progress. The driver now lives in its own dedicated component mounted at the app root, and a regression test guards the wiring so this can't silently happen again.
• Sign in with Path of Exile (carried forward from v0.2.2). The OAuth fix shipped in v0.2.2 is included here too. If you couldn't sign in with your PoE account before, this release lets you do it.

Fixes

• Sign in with Path of Exile works again — the "PoE Account" button on the auth screen has been broken since v0.2.0 because the GGG OAuth credentials were silently missing from the shipped binary. v0.2.2 fixes the build pipeline and restores one-click PoE login. If you signed up via Account Tag / PoB Code in the meantime, you can now link your PoE account from Settings.

Fixes

• Analysis no longer fails halfway through with a session-expired error after re-authenticating in another window — the app now picks up rotated tokens automatically.
• Long passive-tree preflight phases no longer time out on slower machines. Notable, mastery, and cluster testing now stream progress so the analysis pipeline stays responsive.
• Session log uploads now work correctly. If you opt in to share session data, your analysis logs actually reach the server (this was silently broken in v0.2.0).

Polish

• Build Library — every guide's opening pitch was rewritten in a consistent, evocative voice. No more "Strength-stacking ballista totem wander" mechanics dumps where you wanted "the wander that doesn't die."
• Ladder Benchmarks — the Progression and Configs tabs were hidden until they have data behind them. Four populated tabs (Overview, Skills, Gear, Tree) instead of six with two empty ones.
• App and website now use the seer icon instead of the placeholder flame, with cyan glow accents matching the brand.

Heads up — existing users: one-time re-login required on first launch. Your character and stash data are safe; the login scope changed and old sessions no longer validate.

New Features

• Build Library — 38 hand-crafted progression guides, one per skill + ascendancy combo. Each guide shows a reference character at early mapping, endgame, and aspirational tiers with full gear, skills, and passive tree. Leveling section covers gem order, gear priorities, and a scrub-through tree plan per level.
• Ladder Benchmarks — a full six-tab drawer (Overview, Skills, Gear, Tree, Configs, Progression) replacing the old sidebar. The Progression tab shows how your archetype evolves across level tiers — where to go next, what to pick up, what to drop.
• Sign in with your Path of Exile account — full GGG OAuth flow replaces the old Account Tag / PoB Code workflow. Your characters show up automatically after one click.
• Unified whole-build analysis — a single analysis mode tests gear, skills, and passive tree together and produces cross-pathway upgrade packages, instead of running three separate passes.

Fixes & Polish

• Progression tab now renders with full tier data — a silent pkg-runtime regression was stripping the data on the way to the UI.
• Analysis no longer silently fails to start on session-log-consenting imports.
• Divine-orb-priced items now show their real cost instead of a stale chaos-equivalent fallback.
• Seven security and correctness fixes from the internal audit (session path traversal, sidecar auth, OAuth token leak, rate limits, gem swap replay, 45 typecheck errors).

Bug Fixes

• Fixed auto-update getting stuck in a loop — the app no longer re-downloads the same version repeatedly.
• Cleaned up duplicate update progress indicator in the header.

New Features

• Redesigned stats sidebar with a clean ledger-style layout that's easier to scan at a glance.

Improvements

• More accurate gear mod menus — the mod suggestions better reflect what's actually available for your item base.
• Herald auto-correction during skill analysis catches misconfigured heralds and fixes them before running calculations.
• Updated config panel text for clarity.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed credit tracking not recording which pathway and analysis consumed credits.
• Fixed PoB engine session leaks that could cause stale data across consecutive analyses.

New Features

• Automatic updates — the app now downloads and installs new versions in the background when you launch it. No more manual reinstalls.
• Version indicator in the top bar shows your current version and update progress at a glance.
• Analysis is paused while an update is installing to make sure you're always running the latest engine.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where the auto-updater couldn't connect on some Windows configurations.
• Cleaned up a duplicate version badge that appeared in the header.

New Features

• Timeless jewel awareness — the app now detects transformed keystones, highlights jewel sockets on the tree, and renders legion sprites so you can see exactly what your timeless jewels are doing.
• If an analysis gets interrupted (crash, network hiccup), it now picks up where it left off using context from the tools that already completed.
• New ascendancy swap simulation — test how your build would perform with a different ascendancy, complete with PoB-verified numbers.
• Per-pathway credit tracking so you can see exactly how your credits are being spent across Skills, Gear, and Tree analyses.

Improvements

• Analysis always runs to completion now — no more partial results from accidental cancellations.
• More accurate config measurements across all pathways.
• Faster app startup — the PoB engine now starts on demand instead of all at once.
• Jewel effects are now reflected on the passive tree visualization.
• Fixed spell suppression color in the stats sidebar.
• Analysis history no longer gets wiped when your browser storage fills up — old entries are pruned gradually instead.

Infrastructure

• The installer is now signed with a verified certificate — no more Windows SmartScreen warnings when you download or install.
• Upgrades are cleaner — stale files from previous versions are removed automatically.
• Error reporting from the desktop app helps us catch and fix issues faster.

First Public Release

• Desktop app with a bundled Path of Building engine — all calculations run locally on your machine.
• Import builds via PoB pastebin codes or directly from your GGG account.
• Three analysis pathways — Skills, Gear, and Tree — each powered by real PoB simulations with SSE streaming so you see results as they come in.
• Follow-up chat on each pathway to drill deeper, test alternatives, or ask game knowledge questions.
• Built-in auto-update system so you always have the latest version.
• Credit-based billing — buy packs and spend at your own pace, no subscriptions.
• Website with download page, beta access info, and account management.