SubMiner/release/prerelease-notes.md

This is a prerelease build for testing. Stable changelog and docs-site updates remain pending until the final stable release.

Highlights

Added

• Auto-Updater: SubMiner can now check for and apply updates from the system tray or by running subminer -u. Checks include checksum verification, configurable notifications, and an opt-in channel for prerelease builds. The subminer launcher and Linux rofi theme are also updated automatically.

• First-Run Setup: A new optional setup flow installs Bun and the subminer command-line launcher on Linux, macOS, and Windows. Windows users get a subminer.cmd PATH shim so subminer works in any terminal without manually adding SubMiner.exe to PATH.

Fixed

• macOS Overlay: Significantly improved overlay focus and stability: the overlay now hides when mpv loses focus or is minimized, stays stable through transient window-tracking misses, remains correctly layered during stats mouse passthrough, and opens over fullscreen mpv without switching Spaces. Passthrough is also fixed so mpv controls stay clickable before hovering a subtitle bar. Background tracking overhead is reduced while mpv is stably focused.

• Subtitle Sync Modal: Fixed a macOS issue where opening the subtitle sync modal would flash and disappear on the first attempt, or leave stale state after syncing.

• Controller: Controller config and debug shortcuts now stay closed while controller support is disabled, with a notice to enable controller.enabled. Learn mode can be entered from the edit pencil or binding badge, remaps are saved per controller profile, and individual bindings can be reset to their defaults.

• AniList Progress: Progress threshold checks now use fresh playback position data, so updates fire correctly when playback reaches or skips past the watched threshold. Season-specific results are preferred for multi-season files, and a clear message is shown when the matched season is not in Planning or Watching status.

• Character Dictionary: Cached media matches are reused when loading a title with an existing snapshot, avoiding redundant AniList search requests on repeat visits.

• Updater - Linux: The tray app now uses GitHub release metadata for update checks instead of the native Electron updater, preventing crashes. subminer -u performs updates independently of any running tray instance and correctly reports "up to date" without downloading assets when no newer release exists.

• Updater - macOS: Update dialogs now come to the front when launched from subminer --update. Builds that cannot install native updates show a manual-install message instead of an inapplicable restart prompt. Signed macOS builds remain on the native updater path without triggering premature Squirrel install checks.

• Setup - macOS: First-run setup now recognizes existing subminer launcher installs in Homebrew or user PATH directories, and manual setup avoids writing into Homebrew-owned paths. subminer app --setup opens the setup flow even when SubMiner is already running in the background. The standalone setup app quits after completing first-run setup, returning control to the terminal.

• Launcher - Linux: First-run launcher installs are now built with a valid Bun shebang, fixing installs that previously failed silently.

• Tray App: Fixed several lifecycle issues with tray-launched Yomitan settings: the tray stays running when settings are closed; settings loading no longer blocks other tray actions; the settings window uses a close-only menu to prevent accidentally quitting the tray app; an in-page close button is provided on Hyprland where native window controls are unavailable; the embedded popup preview is disabled to prevent renderer hangs during sidebar navigation; extension refreshes at startup are serialized to prevent race conditions; and the session help modal can now close correctly without mpv running.

• Build - Linux Install: Fixed one-shot make clean build install flows so the install step correctly picks up the AppImage produced earlier in the same make invocation.

Installation

See the README and docs/installation guide for full setup steps.

Assets

• Linux: SubMiner.AppImage
• macOS: SubMiner-*.dmg and SubMiner-*.zip
• Optional extras: subminer-assets.tar.gz and the subminer launcher

Note: the subminer wrapper script uses Bun (#!/usr/bin/env bun), so bun must be installed and on PATH.