Release Notes

What changed in each release, newest first. Version numbers match the ones on the download page.

1.1.0 — the installer release

The first version with a proper Windows installer, and the first with a fully open-source asset set.

Installing

A real installer. StarVault-1.1.0-setup.exe installs per-user with no administrator prompt, registers under a stable application identity so upgrades replace rather than stack, and can be uninstalled from Settings → Apps like anything else.
A packaged browser extension. The Chromium companion is now shipped as StarVault-Extension-2.1.0.zip for a clean "load unpacked" install.
Portable mode still works. StarVault.exe --portable keeps the vault beside the program for a USB stick.

Look and feel

Every emoji is gone. The interface used to mix emoji into labels and buttons — glyphs that render differently on every machine and come from a vendor font that cannot be redistributed. They are all replaced with Lucide icons, which are ISC-licensed and shipped inside the program, so every button looks the same on every computer.
A frameless window. The title bar is now StarVault's own, carrying the brand mark instead of a generic Windows chrome.
One brand mark everywhere. The icon, the title bar, the unlock screen and the nav bar all draw the same geometry.
Only open-source typography. The font pickers used to offer system faces — Segoe UI, Arial, Consolas, Courier New, Cascadia Code. Those are vendor fonts that cannot be redistributed with the program, so they are gone. What remains is seven open-source UI faces and three monospace faces, all bundled and all under the SIL Open Font License.
Inconsolata for code and secrets. Chosen by rendering the candidates in the real interface rather than by reputation, because it stays legible at the small sizes a secret is read at.
Layout fixed where it was measurably broken. The top bar used to request 2,491 pixels in a 1,240-pixel window, which collapsed eight of nine buttons to a single pixel. The inspector's timestamps were being cut mid-word. Long tags and group chips were clipped instead of elided. All three are fixed and verified on screen.
24 themes. Up from 13 — the new ones include Tokyo Night, Catppuccin (Mocha and Latte), Gruvbox, One Dark Pro, Monokai Pro, Rosé Pine, Kanagawa, Everforest, Cyberpunk 2077, Horizon, Cobalt2 and Midnight OLED, alongside the existing Dark, Light, Nord, Dracula and Console.

Speed

The single biggest complaint about earlier versions was that the window was slow, so this release is mostly about that.

The credential list no longer rebuilds itself when nothing changed. It used to destroy and recreate every card on every keystroke — around 350 widgets per character. It now notices that the visible set is the same and leaves the cards alone.
High-volume lists use lighter widgets. Rows in the group, keyring and file views are plain Tk widgets rather than CustomTkinter ones, which measure about 25× to 400× cheaper to create.
Heavy libraries load only when needed. OpenCV, numpy and PGPy were imported at startup whether or not anything used them; they now load on first use, which shortens the time to a usable window.
The extension bridge caches what it has already decrypted, so a browser asking for an entry does not trigger a fresh decrypt of the whole vault each time.
An honest note: an earlier attempt at this release made things worse by spreading card creation across idle callbacks. It was measured, found slower, and removed. The approach that stayed is the one that does less work rather than the one that spreads it out.

Under the hood

Local SSH and multi-format key installer — generate, verify, scan and bulk-export keys, with Ed25519 and RSA supported.
A local keyfile and verifier for the two-factor mode, including a bulk exporter.
122 automated tests, all passing.

1.0.0 — the first release

Everything the earlier internal versions had built up, in one program:

Argon2id key derivation and AES-256-GCM encryption, with the vault as a single offline SQLite file
Five kinds of entry — servers, services, domains, API keys and keypairs — with version history on every save
Encrypted file storage inside the vault
An encrypted-file vault with folder organisation
TOTP two-factor codes, and a local keyfile as a second unlock factor
A crypto workbench: hashing, key generation, certificates, and an SSH key installer
The Vault Health advisor, with a built-in offline engine and optional remote AI providers
Auto-Organize and Deduplicate
Export to CSV, files, keys and certificates, in a password-protected container
A browser extension for Chromium-based browsers
An MCP server so an AI assistant can work with the vault directly
The tray icon, global auto-lock, and clipboard clearing

Reporting a problem

Use the Bugs page. Including the version from the title bar and what you did just before the problem appeared makes it far quicker to reproduce.