Changelog

Stay up to date with the latest changes and improvements to ZITEXT.

v2.1.2 May 26, 2026

The Hardened Release

A security-focused release that tightens file access, rethinks the update prompt around persistent user choice, and eliminates the white-flash launch on Windows.

🔒 Sandboxed File Access

  • Stricter file authority: ZITEXT now only reads, writes, or lists files you have explicitly opened this session — through a menu, drag-and-drop, file association, CLI argument, or the session-restore prompt at launch.
  • Session-restore confirmation: if files were open last time you closed the app, ZITEXT asks before re-opening them — pick Restore or Skip from a native prompt. Recent Files is no longer treated as standing permission to silently re-read your files.
  • Rename-aware permissions: renaming an open file keeps it accessible without re-opening.

🛡️ Hardening

  • Bounded project search: folder-wide searches now stop after 50,000 files or 30 seconds and can be cancelled mid-flight — no more runaway searches on giant trees.
  • Safer external links: "Open in browser" actions go through the OS directly instead of a command shell, so special characters in a URL can no longer be reinterpreted as shell syntax.
  • Refined path-traversal rules: the kernel virtual filesystems (/proc, /sys, /dev) remain blocked, and every other path is gated by the new session-grant model above.
  • Markdown preview sanitization re-verified: the only HTML-rendering surface in the app is still gated by a strict DOMPurify allowlist — no inline styles, scripts, SVG, or MathML.
  • Directory-listing cap fixed: a single huge flat folder can no longer slip past the 5,000-entry limit before the recursion guard fires.

🔄 Cleaner Update Flow

  • New Update Available dialog with three clear choices: Update Now, Later, and Skip This Version.
  • "Skip This Version" sticks: once you skip a release, ZITEXT won't prompt you for it again — only for the next version that ships.

🎨 Theme & Launch Polish

  • No more white flash on launch (Windows): ZITEXT paints in your saved theme before the editor mounts.
  • Native titlebar follows the app theme on Windows — no more dark window with a stark white titlebar.
  • Theme repair on load: if your settings somehow end up with a dark window and a light editor (or vice versa), ZITEXT corrects it automatically.
  • Dark is now the default theme for new installs.

🖥️ Platform

  • Native menu bar on Windows and Linux: matches the macOS menu with the same Recent Files entries, keyboard shortcuts, and File / Edit / View actions.
v2.1.1 April 21, 2026

The Linux Reliability Update

A focused patch release that makes the Linux .deb install reliably, cleans up halo'd app icons across every platform, and lets the gutter folding controls breathe.

🐧 Linux Launch Fixes

  • System library requirements declared in the .deb (webkit2gtk-4.1, GTK 3, ayatana-appindicator, librsvg). If any are missing, apt refuses to install rather than leaving a broken app on disk.
  • Fixed silent launch failure on Ubuntu 22.04+, Debian 12+, and NVIDIA setups — worked around a WebKit rendering bug that caused ZITEXT to exit before showing a window.
  • Linux builds now produced against an older glibc baseline so newer build runners don't break older LTS distributions.

🎨 Icons

  • Regenerated app icons with proper transparent backgrounds — no more grey halo or shadow band around the icon in docks, taskbars, and trays.
  • Reproducible icon pipeline shipped in the source tree for future updates.

✨ Editor

  • Folding controls always visible in the gutter, with a language-aware folding strategy and highlighted regions for collapsed code.
  • Click past the end of a folded line to unfold it.
v2.1.0 April 15, 2026

The Security & Installer Update

A same-day follow-up to v2.0.1 that closes a clutch of dependency advisories, cleans up the in-app update banner, and fixes the Windows release pipeline to ship the signed NSIS installer.

🔒 Security

  • Upgraded TLS certificate validation dependency to address two advisories (RUSTSEC-2026-0098 / 0099).
  • Removed a remote configuration reference from the app config — ZITEXT no longer fetches anything from the network while it builds.

🔄 In-App Updates

  • Cleaner update banner with a single primary action — the redundant "Download" button has been removed.
  • Browser fallback on failure: if the in-app updater can't fetch the new release, ZITEXT now opens the website's download page automatically.

📦 Windows Installer

  • The Windows .exe download is now a proper signed installer (with an install wizard) rather than the raw application binary.
  • Code signing covers the installer end-to-end.

🛠️ Release Pipeline

  • Every release build now writes the correct version into the app at build time. Fixes a class of "update banner keeps appearing even after updating" bugs caused by version-file drift between the release tag and the installed binary.
v2.0.1 April 15, 2026

The Polish Release

A broad post-QA polish pass on the v2.0 platform — draggable split view, two-pane tab routing, tab drag rewrite, encoding auto-detection, the Help > About menu, and a stack of editor-quality fixes.

🪟 Split View & Tabs

  • Draggable split-view divider — resize the two panes anywhere between 15% and 85% by dragging the boundary.
  • Right-pane focus matters: clicking a tab while the right pane is focused opens the file on the right, instead of always replacing the left pane. Finally enables two different documents side-by-side without manual drag.
  • Each pane shows its own filename and unsaved-changes indicator in split view.
  • Tab drag-and-drop rewritten: smoother reordering, no more accidental drag from a click, no more chaotic jumps mid-drag.

📋 Native Menus

  • Help > About shows the app icon, current version, tagline, and copyright. Available on every platform.
  • Windows: dedicated Settings menu with Preferences (Ctrl+,) and Keyboard Shortcuts entries.

✨ Editor Quality

  • Column selection fixed: hold Alt while dragging for a rectangular block selection; release Alt and dragging selects text as expected. Column and multi-cursor selection now default to enabled.
  • Syntax highlighting fix: dark installs that had been showing light-theme colors (or vice versa) now correctly pick the matching editor theme, with automatic migration on load.
  • Files now tokenize and color-highlight immediately on open — no more waiting for you to scroll to see syntax colors.
  • Drag-selecting no longer collapses if you briefly pause mid-drag.
  • Automatic encoding detection (UTF-8 and Windows-1252) — opening a Windows-encoded text file no longer shows garbled characters.
  • Find and Replace shortcuts are fully rebindable from the Keybindings editor.

🎨 Icon Refresh

  • Every platform icon regenerated with transparent corners — no more white background bleeding through in dock and taskbar.
  • Welcome-screen logo no longer wears a white ring around it.

🔍 Find in Files

  • Added the missing close button, including in the empty state when no folder is open.
v2.0.0 March 31, 2026

The Platform Release

A major release that transforms ZITEXT into a secure, polished, cross-platform editor with auto-updates, modern UI, and production-grade reliability.

🎨 Redesigned UI

  • VS Code-style File Explorer: Colored SVG file and folder icons with language-specific badges, indent guides, and smooth chevron animations.
  • Modern Settings Panel: Sidebar navigation, toggle switches, grouped sections with a clean card layout.
  • New Command Palette: Search icon, category pills, keyboard navigation hints, and accent-color selection highlighting.
  • Redesigned Keyboard Shortcuts Editor: Styled key pills, pulsing capture animation, per-binding reset, and custom-binding indicators.
  • Custom Find & Replace Bar: Floating panel with match case / whole word / regex toggles, match counter, and replace-all support.
  • Modern Welcome Screen: App icon, inline quick actions with shortcut hints, file-icon-decorated recent files, and keyboard shortcut reference in a contained card.
  • Refreshed Status Bar: Pill-shaped language badge, minimap toggle with icon, and borderless zoom controls.
  • Lighter Theme: Tab bar, sidebar, and explorer header use softer tones matching VS Code's palette.

🔒 Security Hardening

  • CI Dependency Audits: npm audit and cargo audit run on every PR and block releases on known vulnerabilities.
  • GPG-signed Linux Artifacts: AppImage and .deb packages are signed with detached .asc signatures.
  • SHA-256 Checksums: Every installer ships with a .sha256 sidecar file for download verification.
  • Removed unused plugins: tauri-plugin-fs and tauri-plugin-opener removed to shrink attack surface.
  • Binary file detection: Null-byte check in first 8 KB prevents opening non-text files with a friendly warning.
  • DOMPurify hardened: Explicit tag/attribute allowlist; SVG, MathML, and inline styles blocked.
  • Symlink protection: Directory listing, search, and file metadata all skip symlinks.

🔄 Auto-Update System

  • Tauri Updater Integration: In-app download with progress bar and one-click restart.
  • Update Checker: Checks zitext.com/api/latest once per session (opt-out via Settings → Privacy).
  • Dynamic Downloads Page: Website fetches latest.json manifest — zero manual updates when a new version ships.

⚡ Performance & Reliability

  • Parallel Session Restore: Files restored in batches of 5 via Promise.allSettled for faster startup.
  • Crash-resilient Sessions: Periodic 30-second snapshots preserve untitled file content across crashes.
  • Criterion Benchmarks: Rust benchmark suite for read, write, search, and directory operations with CI tracking.
  • Frontend Performance Metrics: performance.mark() instrumentation for file open, save, and app startup.
  • Crash Logging: Global JS error handlers + Rust panic hook write to local crash.log with 1 MB rotation.
  • Session Health Dashboard: Diagnostics panel showing crash-free rate, session duration, and perf metrics (Command Palette → Show Diagnostics).

🖥️ CLI & OS Integration

  • CLI folder support: zitext . opens the current directory in the explorer sidebar.
  • Relative path resolution: CLI args resolved against cwd — zitext src/main.rs works from any directory.
  • --wait mode: zitext --wait file.txt blocks until the tab is closed — works as GIT_EDITOR.
  • Shell wrapper script: scripts/zitext for macOS and Linux with full --wait support.
  • Improved Open With: Files opened via Finder "Open With" now open correctly without stale session tabs.
  • Windows path fix: All dialog results cleaned of \\?\ prefix for reliable path matching.

🛡️ Privacy

  • Privacy settings tab: Toggle for update checks with clear data handling statement.
  • Zero telemetry: No analytics, no crash reporting to external services, no data leaves your machine.
v1.1.0 January 29, 2026

The Professional Update

A major feature update that transforms ZITEXT into a professional-grade development environment. This release adds powerful productivity tools, enhanced editing capabilities, and comprehensive data manipulation features.

🚀 Major New Features

  • Split View: View and edit two files side-by-side with independent cursor and scroll positions. Perfect for comparing code or working with multiple files simultaneously (Cmd/Ctrl+\).
  • Command Palette: Quick access to all commands with fuzzy search and keyboard navigation (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+P).
  • File Explorer Sidebar: Browse entire project folders with a tree view, expandable directories, file icons, and resizable width (150-600px). Toggle with Cmd/Ctrl+B.
  • Welcome Screen: Quick actions for New File, Open File, Open Folder, Recent Files, and keyboard shortcuts reference.

📊 Data Tools

  • JSON Tools: Format JSON (pretty print with proper indentation), Minify JSON (remove whitespace for production), Validate JSON (with line/column error reporting), Sort JSON Keys (alphabetically organize keys, recursive)
  • XML Tools: Format XML (auto-indent and structure), Validate XML (syntax checking)
  • YAML Tools: Format YAML (proper indentation and structure)

✨ Enhanced Editing

  • Column (Rectangular) Selection: Select and edit vertical blocks of text - perfect for CSV data or aligned code. Supports mouse drag (Alt/Option+Shift+Drag, Middle Mouse), and keyboard (Shift+Alt+Arrow).
  • IntelliSense & Code Completion: Context-aware code suggestions powered by Monaco Editor with intelligent completions.
  • Code Folding: Collapse and expand code blocks with gutter controls.
  • Smart Indentation: Automatic indentation based on programming language and context.
  • Comment Toggling: Toggle line comments (Cmd/Ctrl+/) and block comments (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+/).
  • Format Document: Auto-format entire document based on file type (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+F).
  • Minimap: Bird's-eye view of your code, toggleable from Status Bar or Settings.

⚙️ Customization & Settings

  • Auto-Save Modes: Three options - Off (manual), After Delay (500-10000ms), or On Focus Change.
  • Customizable Keyboard Shortcuts: Visual keybinding editor with conflict detection and platform-aware bindings.
  • High Contrast Themes: Added High Contrast Dark and High Contrast Light themes for enhanced accessibility.
  • Extended Font Size Range: 8-72px with quick zoom controls in Status Bar.
  • Read-Only Mode: Lock files from editing when needed.

📁 File Management Improvements

  • File Watcher: Detect external file modifications with automatic reload prompts (2-second polling).
  • Session Restoration: Now restores cursor position, scroll position, active tab, and all settings.
  • Copy File Path: Quickly copy full file path to clipboard.
  • Tab Reordering: Drag tabs to reorder them.
  • Lazy Loading: Directories load on demand for better performance with large projects.
  • Recent Files Enhanced: Quick access to 10 most recently opened files from Welcome Screen.

🔒 Security Enhancements

  • Content Security Policy: Strict CSP in production builds.
  • Path Traversal Protection: Blocks unauthorized access to system directories.
  • File Size Limits: 10MB maximum with 1MB warning threshold.
  • Safe Encoding: UTF-8 validation and proper error handling.
  • Operation Timeouts: Prevents hanging operations.

🎨 UI/UX Improvements

  • Enhanced Status Bar: Now displays file size, character/word count, selection length, and font controls.
  • Improved Search: Added in-selection search capability.
  • Auto-detect Language from Content: Smart language detection for untitled files.
  • Toast Notifications: Better error/success feedback with categorized messages.
  • Drag Overlay: Visual feedback when dragging files into the editor.

⚡ Performance Optimizations

  • Web Workers: Background syntax highlighting for better performance.
  • WebAssembly Support: Leveraging Monaco's WASM features for speed.
  • Efficient State Management: Modular hooks architecture (useTabManager, useFileManager, useSettingsManager, useSplitViewManager, useProjectState, useAutosave).
  • Optimized File Watching: Efficient 2-second polling interval.

🛠️ Technical Improvements

  • React 19: Upgraded to latest React version for improved performance.
  • Tauri v2: Leveraging latest Tauri features for better native integration.
  • TypeScript 5.8.3: Full type safety with latest TypeScript.
  • Monaco Editor 0.55.1: Updated to latest Monaco Editor version.
  • Error Boundary: Graceful error recovery with comprehensive error service.
v1.0.0 January 25, 2026

The Launch Release

We are thrilled to announce the official launch of ZITEXT! Built natively for macOS, Windows, and Linux, this version delivers a fast, minimalist, and powerful text editing experience with features familiar to power users everywhere.

🎯 Core Features

  • Monaco Editor Integration: Powered by the same engine as VS Code for professional-grade reliability and performance.
  • Tauri Powered: Lightweight native application wrapper using Rust for excellent security and minimal resource usage (under 300ms startup).
  • Multi-Tab Interface: Work on multiple documents simultaneously with a clean, responsive tab bar.
  • Session Persistence: Automatically restores your workspace, including unsaved tabs, when you relaunch the app.
  • Cross-Platform: Native apps for macOS (Intel & Apple Silicon), Windows (x64), and Linux (AppImage, deb).

✏️ Editing & Selection

  • Syntax Highlighting: Support for over 60 languages out of the box (JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Rust, Go, Java, C/C++, HTML, CSS, JSON, YAML, XML, Markdown, SQL, and many more).
  • Line Numbers & Word Wrap: Essential editor controls for clear code structure.
  • Multi-Cursor Editing: Edit multiple lines at once with Alt/Option+Click or Cmd/Ctrl+D for faster code refactoring.
  • Auto-Closing Brackets: Automatic pairing for quotes and brackets.
  • Find & Replace: Powerful search with case sensitivity, whole word matching, and regex support (Cmd/Ctrl+F and Cmd/Ctrl+H).
  • Go To Line: Quickly navigate through large files with line jumping (Cmd/Ctrl+G).

🎨 Experience & Design

  • Dual Themes: Light and Dark modes designed for developers.
  • Font Customization: Choose from 9 premium monospace developer fonts (Monaco, Consolas, JetBrains Mono, Fira Code, Source Code Pro, Menlo, Ubuntu Mono, Courier New, and monospace).
  • Status Bar: Real-time feedback on cursor position (line/column), language mode, encoding (UTF-8), and line endings (LF/CRLF).
  • Drag & Drop: Open files instantly by dropping them into the workspace.
  • Recent Files: Track and quickly access your 10 most recently opened files.