🟢 [ V E C T O R ] Open Beta v0.4.0
After an incredibly busy 3 months of development, with over 300 commits, we are happy to finally release v0.4.0 Vector (Open Beta) to the public! The biggest and most noticeable improvements for this release are largely focused on privacy, security, and user experience. Upon updating to the latest version, you will immediately notice differences in just about every corner of the app. There are many optimizations across the app and it should feel much more responsive, quick, and smooth.
> 300+ Commits
> 3 Months of Work
> 1 New Protocol
> 14+ New Features
Download on GitHub:
https://github.com/VectorPrivacy/Vector/releases/tag/v0.4.0
New Features:
🧅 Tor Integration: optionally route all of Vector's traffic through Tor in one click; Includes bridges for censorship circumvention.
👥 Multiple Accounts: run many accounts on a single install, with a quick in-app switcher.
🔐 Remote Signers: log in without ever exposing your key, using NIP-46. Pair a bunker by QR or pasted URI.
🗑️ Delete Messages: delete a message for everyone, in both DMs and group chats. Vector keeps the ephemeral signing key, a diversion from the traditional NIP-17/Marmot specs for enhanced user privacy controls.
😀 Custom Emoji Packs: create, crop, share your own emoji packs across Vector, compatible with other Nostr clients.
🖼️ Chat Wallpapers: set a custom wallpaper per DM, with live blur and brightness sliders while you tune it.
👆 Mobile Gestures: swipe a message to reply, or long-press (right-click on desktop) for the full action menu.
👤 Mini Profiles: tap any avatar or name in a chat to peek at that person's profile without leaving the conversation.
🆕 Unread Divider: a "New" marker now shows exactly where you left off, both when messages land while you're scrolled up & when you reopen a chat.
📥 Android Public Downloads: downloaded files now land in your gallery and Files app like Telegram, with Open & Share buttons on every attachment.
📨 Share to Vector (Android): share images, files, or text from any other app straight into a Vector chat.
🤖 Android Back Button: the hardware back button now navigates Vector the way you'd expect, instead of dumping you out of the app.
🎨 New Themes: two more to choose from, XMR and Neon.
🛠️ AI Agent Support (MCP): a new Model Context Protocol server (vector-agent) hands AI agents 21 tools to drive Vector, from sending DMs and managing groups to uploading files and editing profiles.
Improvements:
⚙️ Vector Core Rewrite: every piece of Vector's logic now lives in a single decoupled engine, vector-core, shared by every client. DMs, groups, profiles, crypto, the database, file handling, all of it. The app shell shed thousands of lines and the core ships with 440+ tests. This is the groundwork for a CLI, bots, and SDKs.
🔄 Group Sync (Total Negentropy): MLS group chats now sync entirely over negentropy.
💬 Redesigned Chat: the message view was rebuilt as flat, Discord-style rows (avatar, name, content, hover toolbar) instead of bubbles.
🌸 Decentralised File Storage: Blossom uploads now fail over across multiple servers, learn each server's capabilities, and sync your server list across your devices.
⚡ Memory & Performance: SQLite memory use dropped from roughly 308MB to 5MB, the emoji panel now opens instantly from disk cache, and chat rendering picked up a round of micro-optimizations.
🔎 Smarter Emoji Search: added Discord-style shortcodes (type :smile:) and Unicode frequency rankings, so the emoji you actually want surfaces first.
😀 Reaction Details: hover any reaction on desktop for a quick summary of who reacted.
✏️ Profile Edit Mode: a proper edit mode for your profile covering avatar, banner, name, bio, and status, with inline image cropping and an unsaved-changes banner.
Fixes:
📡 Sending on Flaky Networks: fixed relay pool depletion that could break message sending when your connection was unstable.
🔐 Orphaned Messages: fixed a rekey race condition that could strand messages mid-conversation.
📜 Message Ordering: messages sent within the same second now order correctly, and a phantom unread badge no longer lingers.
⬆️ Upload Progress: the upload progress ring no longer freezes into a static donut mid-send.
⬇️ Stubborn Downloads: attachments now download from servers that ignore HTTP Range requests, instead of failing outright.
📏 Link Previews: portrait preview images no longer balloon to fill the whole screen.
🧭 Scroll Position: the chat no longer jumps to the bottom while you're reading older messages.
🗂️ System Events: joins, leaves, and other system messages no longer pile up at the top of a chat.
🔗 Reply Previews: reply previews no longer leak raw npubs or stray markdown characters.
🔒 SSRF & Relay Stability: hardened SSRF protection and steadied the relay connection monitor.
💚 Special Thanks
We wanted to give a special thanks not only to the community at large, which has grown tremendously over the past 6 months, but we also wanted to express our deepest gratitude to the last round of Quality Control Testers for this v0.4.0 release. You all have helped us realize the necessity for an imperative pivot to a more stable, suitable, and scalable protocol, as well as identify a lot of small bugs and inconsistencies. With that being said, we have been planning to release additional Vector Badges and have been designing new badges that will be released with future updates, which can be claimed by completing certain tasks like in the past. One of those badges is the Bug Hunter badge, which will come with high-level perks and benefits for future releases. Without disclosing too much, we will say that the team has documented who has officially discovered and reported bugs, and we look forward to rewarding you all with your well-deserved badges in the near future.
After an incredibly busy 3 months of development, with over 300 commits, we are happy to finally release v0.4.0 Vector (Open Beta) to the public! The biggest and most noticeable improvements for this release are largely focused on privacy, security, and user experience. Upon updating to the latest version, you will immediately notice differences in just about every corner of the app. There are many optimizations across the app and it should feel much more responsive, quick, and smooth.
> 300+ Commits
> 3 Months of Work
> 1 New Protocol
> 14+ New Features
Download on GitHub:
https://github.com/VectorPrivacy/Vector/releases/tag/v0.4.0
New Features:
🧅 Tor Integration: optionally route all of Vector's traffic through Tor in one click; Includes bridges for censorship circumvention.
👥 Multiple Accounts: run many accounts on a single install, with a quick in-app switcher.
🔐 Remote Signers: log in without ever exposing your key, using NIP-46. Pair a bunker by QR or pasted URI.
🗑️ Delete Messages: delete a message for everyone, in both DMs and group chats. Vector keeps the ephemeral signing key, a diversion from the traditional NIP-17/Marmot specs for enhanced user privacy controls.
😀 Custom Emoji Packs: create, crop, share your own emoji packs across Vector, compatible with other Nostr clients.
🖼️ Chat Wallpapers: set a custom wallpaper per DM, with live blur and brightness sliders while you tune it.
👆 Mobile Gestures: swipe a message to reply, or long-press (right-click on desktop) for the full action menu.
👤 Mini Profiles: tap any avatar or name in a chat to peek at that person's profile without leaving the conversation.
🆕 Unread Divider: a "New" marker now shows exactly where you left off, both when messages land while you're scrolled up & when you reopen a chat.
📥 Android Public Downloads: downloaded files now land in your gallery and Files app like Telegram, with Open & Share buttons on every attachment.
📨 Share to Vector (Android): share images, files, or text from any other app straight into a Vector chat.
🤖 Android Back Button: the hardware back button now navigates Vector the way you'd expect, instead of dumping you out of the app.
🎨 New Themes: two more to choose from, XMR and Neon.
🛠️ AI Agent Support (MCP): a new Model Context Protocol server (vector-agent) hands AI agents 21 tools to drive Vector, from sending DMs and managing groups to uploading files and editing profiles.
Improvements:
⚙️ Vector Core Rewrite: every piece of Vector's logic now lives in a single decoupled engine, vector-core, shared by every client. DMs, groups, profiles, crypto, the database, file handling, all of it. The app shell shed thousands of lines and the core ships with 440+ tests. This is the groundwork for a CLI, bots, and SDKs.
🔄 Group Sync (Total Negentropy): MLS group chats now sync entirely over negentropy.
💬 Redesigned Chat: the message view was rebuilt as flat, Discord-style rows (avatar, name, content, hover toolbar) instead of bubbles.
🌸 Decentralised File Storage: Blossom uploads now fail over across multiple servers, learn each server's capabilities, and sync your server list across your devices.
⚡ Memory & Performance: SQLite memory use dropped from roughly 308MB to 5MB, the emoji panel now opens instantly from disk cache, and chat rendering picked up a round of micro-optimizations.
🔎 Smarter Emoji Search: added Discord-style shortcodes (type :smile:) and Unicode frequency rankings, so the emoji you actually want surfaces first.
😀 Reaction Details: hover any reaction on desktop for a quick summary of who reacted.
✏️ Profile Edit Mode: a proper edit mode for your profile covering avatar, banner, name, bio, and status, with inline image cropping and an unsaved-changes banner.
Fixes:
📡 Sending on Flaky Networks: fixed relay pool depletion that could break message sending when your connection was unstable.
🔐 Orphaned Messages: fixed a rekey race condition that could strand messages mid-conversation.
📜 Message Ordering: messages sent within the same second now order correctly, and a phantom unread badge no longer lingers.
⬆️ Upload Progress: the upload progress ring no longer freezes into a static donut mid-send.
⬇️ Stubborn Downloads: attachments now download from servers that ignore HTTP Range requests, instead of failing outright.
📏 Link Previews: portrait preview images no longer balloon to fill the whole screen.
🧭 Scroll Position: the chat no longer jumps to the bottom while you're reading older messages.
🗂️ System Events: joins, leaves, and other system messages no longer pile up at the top of a chat.
🔗 Reply Previews: reply previews no longer leak raw npubs or stray markdown characters.
🔒 SSRF & Relay Stability: hardened SSRF protection and steadied the relay connection monitor.
💚 Special Thanks
We wanted to give a special thanks not only to the community at large, which has grown tremendously over the past 6 months, but we also wanted to express our deepest gratitude to the last round of Quality Control Testers for this v0.4.0 release. You all have helped us realize the necessity for an imperative pivot to a more stable, suitable, and scalable protocol, as well as identify a lot of small bugs and inconsistencies. With that being said, we have been planning to release additional Vector Badges and have been designing new badges that will be released with future updates, which can be claimed by completing certain tasks like in the past. One of those badges is the Bug Hunter badge, which will come with high-level perks and benefits for future releases. Without disclosing too much, we will say that the team has documented who has officially discovered and reported bugs, and we look forward to rewarding you all with your well-deserved badges in the near future.
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