SmartHopper 1.0.0-alpha: Canvas Button, Component Badges & New Providers

[marc-romu]

This release introduces many exciting features; that's why the version is bumped to 1.0!! The Canvas button for a live assistance chat, component badges for model compatibility, new providers, and enhanced stability and security.

🎨 Canvas Button

• New button on the top-left corner of your canvas to trigger an AI chat with SmartHopper Assistant.
• Designed to help with Grasshopper tasks and equipped with tools for valuable information and basic tasks.
• Can be hidden in settings if not needed.

🏷️ Component Badges

• New badges display model compatibility with components before running them.
• Green tick badge for verified models (gpt-5-mini from OpenAI and mistral-small-latest from MistralAI).
• Blue badge indicates automatic replacement of incompatible models with compatible defaults.
• Red badge indicating that no model was found compatible.

🤖 New Providers & Streaming Support

• Added support for Anthropic and OpenRouter, alongside MistralAI, OpenAI, and DeepSeek.
• Now all providers can stream live responses, if provided by the API.

✨ Other Improvements

• Internal improvements for stability and expandability.
• Encrypted API keys with individualized keys for enhanced security.

🛠️ Technical Requirements

• Rhino 8.19 or above
• Windows 10/11 (macOS untested)
• Valid API keys for chosen providers (OpenAI, MistralAI, DeepSeek, Anthropic, OpenRouter)

⚠️ Important Notes

• Settings file will rewrite on the first run due to security enhancements. Save your API keys again if you encounter issues.
• Image generation currently supports only OpenAI DALL·E models.
• Automatic model fallback may override user-selected models to meet component requirements. You will see a blue badge on the component indicating that the model was replaced.
• API usage costs apply based on your provider plan.

🤝 We Value Your Feedback!

• Share your experiences and suggestions via the discussion forum
• Report issues or request features on the issue tracker
• Contribute to a better SmartHopper!

Happy designing! 🎨

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What's Changed

• test(infrastructure): add comprehensive unit tests for ModelManager and AIContextManager by @marc-romu in test(infrastructure): add comprehensive unit tests for ModelManager and AIContextManager #295
• feat(ui): add CanvasButton to trigger SmartHopper assistant dialog by @marc-romu in feat(ui): add CanvasButton to trigger SmartHopper assistant dialog #297
• refactor(settings): reorganize settings dialog into tabs and improve API key encryption by @marc-romu in refactor(settings): reorganize settings dialog into tabs and improve API key encryption #299
• fix(core): prevent temp file leaks in ImageViewer and resolve wildcard model default issue by @marc-romu in fix(core): prevent temp file leaks in ImageViewer and resolve wildcard model default issue #302
• refactor(infrastructure): unify AI request/return schema and provider APIs; migrate tools and WebChat by @marc-romu in refactor(infrastructure): unify AI request/return schema and provider APIs; migrate tools and WebChat #309
• refactor(model-manager): centralize model management and provider-scoped selection by @marc-romu in refactor(model-manager): centralize model management and provider-scoped selection #312
• feat(components): add model badges with hover labels and provider strip by @marc-romu in feat(components): add model badges with hover labels and provider strip #314
• feat(conversation): introduce ConversationSession; refactor AICall, streaming, validation, and model selection by @marc-romu in feat(conversation): introduce ConversationSession; refactor AICall, streaming, validation, and model selection #315
• feat(core-io): introduce safe versioned persistence (V2) by @marc-romu in feat(core-io): introduce safe versioned persistence (V2) #317
• feat(providers,ui,infra): Anthropic/OpenRouter providers, WebChat WebView UI, policy pipeline + streaming by @marc-romu in feat(providers,ui,infra): Anthropic/OpenRouter providers, WebChat WebView UI, policy pipeline + streaming #318
• refactor(webchat): Enhance conversation session and tool calling across providers by @marc-romu in refactor(webchat): Enhance conversation session and tool calling across providers #321
• fix(components): correct index parsing in AIListFilter component by @marc-romu in fix(components): correct index parsing in AIListFilter component #324
• docs: update documentation for 1.0.0-alpha release by @marc-romu in docs: update documentation for 1.0.0-alpha release #325

Full Changelog: 0.5.3-alpha...1.0.0-alpha

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This discussion was created from the release SmartHopper 1.0.0-alpha: Canvas Button, Component Badges & New Providers.