Changelog.

New Full Sync Repair

Canto now includes a Full Sync Repair action in Sync settings.

This is designed for cases where a Mac needs help catching up or rebuilding its local sync view.

Full Sync Repair can:

• Flush local changes.
• Revisit available sync history.
• Pull the latest changes from iCloud Drive.
• Use compatible recovery data when available.
• Publish fresh recovery information for this Mac.
• Explain when repair is only partial or waiting on iCloud Drive.

If another Mac needs to publish fresher recovery data, Canto now gives a clearer message instead of silently claiming everything is complete.

Clearer Sync Health

The Sync settings page now gives a more useful health summary.

Instead of only showing low-level status details, Canto now describes sync in plain language, such as:

• Up to date
• Recovering
• Scope-limited
• Locked
• Paused
• Needs repair

The Sync Health section also shows whether Canto has remote records waiting because of selected folders or missing dependencies.

Notes Stay Visible When Folders Change

Canto is now more careful when synced folder updates arrive from another Mac.

This fixes cases where a folder could be removed or hidden during sync while a note inside it was still open. In older builds, that note could remain visible in the editor but disappear from the sidebar.

Improvements include:

• Notes and notebooks are moved to a safe visible location when their synced folder is removed.
• Notes pointing to missing folders are repaired instead of hidden.
• The sidebar refreshes after sync applies remote changes.
• Open notes are less likely to become “orphaned” after folder sync activity.

More Reliable iCloud Drive Catch-Up

Canto now watches more of its iCloud Drive sync area and wakes up more quickly when sync files change.

It still does not rely on instant file notifications alone. Regular startup, unlock, resume, and background checks continue to be the source of correctness.

This makes sync feel more responsive while staying safer when iCloud Drive delivers files late or out of order.

Safer Recovery Points

Canto is now more careful about the recovery data it uses.

A Mac that only synced selected folders should not be treated as if it has a complete copy of the full vault. Canto now distinguishes full-vault recovery data from folder-limited recovery data, which helps avoid incomplete recovery paths.

Better Multi-Mac Presence

Device status and sync presence are more accurate.

Canto now keeps device presence fresher through background heartbeats, making Sync diagnostics more useful when multiple Macs are involved.

New Notes Go to the Right Folder

Creating a new note from a folder now more reliably places that note inside the folder you selected.

This fixes a frustrating case where “New Note in Folder” could create the note somewhere unexpected.

Other Reliability Improvements

Canto 0.6.4 also includes several behind-the-scenes sync improvements:

• Better handling of sync history after app startup and unlock.
• Stronger protection against out-of-order or missing iCloud Drive files.
• Safer cleanup of old sync data.
• More careful handling of folder updates, folder removal, and related notes.
• Better recovery when one Mac receives sync changes before another related change has arrived.

Cleaner Sync Settings

• Replaced the old Sync dashboard grid with a normal Settings-style layout.
• Added a clearer iCloud Drive Sync toggle.
• Added a guided passphrase flow: turn Sync on, enter a passphrase, then click Start Syncing.
• Pressing Enter in the passphrase field now starts or unlocks Sync.
• Moved detailed sync information into cleaner rows for Folders, Actions, Stats, Storage, Snapshots, Diagnostics, and Advanced.

Better Folder Sync Clarity

• Folder selection now reads as a per-Mac choice, so it is clearer which folders sync on the current Mac.
• Excluded folders are treated more like local-only content for future sync work.
• Sync now handles folder, note, notebook, tag, and attachment scope more consistently.

Less Device Clutter

• Removed the old trusted, pending, and revoked device management experience from the main Sync UI.
• Old experimental producer entries are ignored and pruned when using the new Sync format.
• Diagnostics now show read-only producer information only when needed for troubleshooting.

Safer Sync Foundation

• Added a new Sync format marker so Canto can tell old experimental sync data apart from the new privacy-first format.
• Added clearer reset handling when old experimental iCloud Sync data is detected.
• Improved sync head and snapshot validation so Canto can better distinguish current sync data from stale or old-format files.
• Improved snapshot metadata so future setup and recovery flows have a stronger foundation.

Quality and Reliability Improvements

• Sync setup now avoids confusing duplicate error banners.
• Legacy sync blockers now guide you toward the reset action instead of failing silently.
• Disabling Sync on one Mac is treated as a local action rather than a device-revocation workflow.
• Sync diagnostics are calmer and easier to understand.

Attachments and Storage

• Added attachment syncing as part of the encrypted vault.
• Improved large attachment handling so media-heavy vaults sync more gently.
• Added lightweight attachment behavior so files can stay local only when needed.
• Added storage visibility and cleanup controls for synced attachments and snapshots.

Agent Chat and AI Workflow

• Replaced the older Ask AI note/notebook popups with Agent Chat.
• Made note AI actions, notebook AI actions, slash commands, and skills feel more unified.
• Improved long local AI runs, edit recovery, and slash composer stability.
• Reduced AI UI clutter by keeping more workflows in one place.

Faster Local AI

• Added Agent performance settings.
• Added Parallel Inference Slots for running multiple AI tasks when memory allows.
• Added Snapshot Cache on Focus to prepare note context sooner.
• Added Draft Decoding with an optional helper model for faster long plain-writing tasks.
• Improved local AI responsiveness, context preparation, and common note-edit routing.
• Kept Low Memory Mode respected by scaling performance features back when needed.

Reliability and Polish

• Improved model loading and fallback behavior on memory-limited Macs.
• Improved stuck-generation detection so valid lists, formatting, and repeated structure are less likely to be stopped early.
• Improved MCP Server settings copy and external-tool behavior.
• Improved sidebar/status-bar sync indicators.

🧰 Two Tiers of Tools — Safe by Default

Connected AI tools get a small, stable set of verbs by default, and a more powerful set only if you opt in.

• Vault tools (always on) — 17 named tools for the everyday work: search, read, create, update, organize, tag, follow links, attach files
• Automation tier (opt-in) — a single dispatcher tool (canto_invoke) that lets a connected agent open notes, send prompts, capture screenshots, and drive Canto's UI for testing or automation. Off by default
• Per-tool permissions still apply — clients like Claude Desktop will still ask you to approve individual tools the first time they're used

📁 Nested Folders in the Sidebar

Folders inside folders are now a real, drag-and-drop part of the sidebar.

• Drag a folder into another folder to reparent it
• Right-click → New subfolder under any folder
• Bulk move multiple notes and folders together via a redesigned "Move to folder" modal with a full expandable tree and search
• Invalid drops show a clear cue instead of silently failing
• Friendly guard rails prevent cycles or runaway nesting depth, with a readable toast instead of an error
• Backups now restore the full nested tree instead of flattening it

🧮 Diagrams, Math, and Wikilinks Survive the Round Trip

When an outside AI tool sends Markdown into your vault, Canto now turns it into the same rich blocks you'd get from typing it yourself.

• Mermaid diagrams become real, editable Mermaid blocks with a live preview
• Inline math ($…$ and $$…$$) renders properly with KaTeX, both in notes and in the agent chat panel
• Wikilinks ([[Note Title]]) resolve to real internal links so your knowledge graph stays connected
• Inline images and attachments render as actual images or tidy attachment pills, not raw text
• Round-trips are lossless — exporting and re-importing a note no longer degrades these blocks

✏️ Inline Math Without the Modal

Inserting and editing inline math now happens right in the line of text. The old popup window is gone.

📎 Attachments by Path, Not by Payload

External AI tools used to attach files by sending the entire blob, which hit request-size limits fast. Now they just hand Canto the local path on disk.

• Up to 100 MB per file, with friendly errors when something is too large
• Symlinks resolved safely so files always come from where you expect
• Images render inline; everything else gets a clickable pill

🔋 The "AI Ready" Pill Stops Lying

After flipping Low Memory Mode off, Canto now brings the chat model and vision worker back on its own — and the sidebar pill goes through real states instead of pretending nothing changed.

• New "AI Sleeping" pill (gray) when the chat model has been unloaded to save memory
• New "Warming up…" pill (yellow) while the model is coming back
• New "Restoring AI…" pill (blue) during the post-Low-Memory-Mode restore
• No more doomed first prompt — sending a message no longer fails just because the model was secretly unloaded
• External models (Ollama, cloud) are reflected honestly instead of incorrectly going gray

🛡️ Smarter "Stuck Run" Detection

The safety net that watches for hung AI runs no longer trips on legitimate short repetitions like a row of --- dividers or heading rules. It now waits for sustained repetition before stepping in, so genuinely stuck runs are still caught and healthy ones are left alone.

🧹 One Less Big Model on Disk

Canto used to keep a separate ~1 GB classifier model around just to decide which tool to call and to name new chats. That model is gone — your active chat model handles both jobs now. Less to download, less to keep loaded.

• Chat list shimmer — when Canto is naming a new conversation in the background, that row briefly shimmers so you can tell why it says "New chat" for a moment

✨ More Small Improvements

• Folder paths in MCP tools — connected AI tools can create or update a note by giving a folder path like Projects/Canto/Notes; Canto creates any missing folders for you
• Tree or flat folder listings — connected tools can ask for a real nested folder tree (great for outline views) or the legacy flat list, depending on what fits them best
• Quick prompts updated for nested folders — the vault chat panel's built-in suggestions now know about subfolders and offer "organize this into a subfolder" presets