Updates

Two stable releases shipped this week: v1.0.13 and v1.0.14. The biggest changes are custom storage locations, multiple Google Calendar accounts, resizable images in notes, and a stronger recording flow.

Storage and navigation

You can now choose a custom location for your Char content in Settings, and detected Obsidian vaults are offered as a quick destination. Search also moved into the left sidebar, which makes it much easier to jump between recent activity and search results without leaving your place.

Folder moves and renames are also more reliable now because filesystem changes are applied before app state updates. The Today timeline's current-time marker is more accurate as well, especially during ongoing events and in your selected timezone.

Hyprnote is now Char

This release also carries the Hyprnote-to-Char rename through the stable app. Existing users can update without changing how they work, and the app now consistently presents itself as Char.

Calendar and notes

You can now connect multiple Google Calendar accounts at the same time, and account settings show which email address each connection belongs to. In notes, images are now resizable, underline exports correctly to Markdown, and note previews are cleaner.

Recording and UI

Creating a new note now automatically starts recording, audio can stay in memory with a disk fallback when needed, and on-device transcription now returns word-level timestamps. App Settings is also now the primary settings view, and several chat and header UI issues were cleaned up.

Other improvements

• Permission detection on macOS now uses an external binary, fixing edge cases where the in-process check could hang
• Meeting countdown timer and autostart for upcoming calendar events
• Listen button styling blends with the background for a cleaner header look
• AI button now has a visible label
• Undo-delete toast positioning adjusted to avoid overlapping content
• Timeline sidebar items use clearer, more intuitive wording
• Fixed duplicate calendar attendee when the organizer was also synced as a participant
• Changelog rendering migrated to Streamdown and shared between desktop and web

Full version details on the changelog.

Two stable releases shipped this week: v1.0.11 and v1.0.12. Google Calendar sync is now in beta, chat can edit notes directly, and batch transcription is much more reliable.

Google Calendar sync

Google Calendar events now sync into Char alongside Apple Calendar. If your team uses Google Workspace, your upcoming meetings show up in the timeline automatically. Calendar sync is also more reliable when calendars are added, removed, or toggled in settings — edge cases around stale calendar state were cleaned up.

Chat edits your notes directly

Chat can now edit your summaries in place. Ask it to revise a section, reformat bullets, or expand on a topic, and it applies the changes directly to your notes. A new context indicator shows which session chat is working with, and starter prompts make common actions one click away.

Notes and export

This week also added Org mode export, proper code block support in the editor, richer session preview cards, plain-text mention export for Markdown, and short tips while AI is generating summaries.

Batch transcription reliability

Batch transcription is more reliable, especially when providers fail or you retry an existing run. Re-running a transcript no longer clears the old transcript before the new one actually starts, and Parakeet is now available as a local transcription model option in Cactus.

Other improvements

• Calendar event descriptions now render clickable links
• Search and replace behaves more reliably across notes and transcripts
• Folders get a cleaner placeholder state while we prepare a larger update
• Failed batch transcription no longer resets the in-progress work

Full version details on the changelog.

Two stable releases shipped this week: v1.0.9 and v1.0.10. The biggest changes are better AI context, Azure provider support, smarter chat and export flows, and more reliable recording and calendar behavior.

Pre-meeting notes in AI summaries

If you write notes before a meeting starts, those notes are now passed to the AI as a separate section when generating summaries. That gives the model better context about what was planned versus what actually happened in the meeting.

Azure LLM support

Azure OpenAI and Azure AI Foundry are now supported as LLM providers (beta). If your organization standardizes on Azure for AI services, you can now point Char directly at your Azure endpoints. This joins the existing lineup of OpenRouter, local models via Ollama and LM Studio, and direct API keys.

Chat refinements

Chat now stays visible as a persistent panel instead of a floating overlay, so it remains in context while you work. We also tightened up summary generation and edge-case handling around tab switching.

Notes and export

Links in the editor behave much better now. Link text edits update the underlying URL, hover-to-open replaces the old Cmd+Click flow, and inline formatting clears more predictably on empty lines. Session preview cards also got richer, showing note metadata and better snippets.

Export is now consolidated behind a single Export button where you pick the format and what to include. Playback speed is also configurable directly from the transcript view.

Calendar and recording improvements

When mic usage is detected, the notification now lists nearby calendar events so you can jump straight into the right session. This makes the common flow — start a call, get prompted to record — much faster.

Session creation from calendar events now picks up participants more reliably, calendar onboarding shows a proper Request Access to Calendar button when permissions are missing, and recordings are now saved as MP3.

Other fixes

• Auth flow fixed when the user was already logged into char.com in their browser
• Detect notifications setting is now properly respected
• Integration connections can now be triggered directly from the desktop app
• Typing @ with no query now shows default mention suggestions
• List and task items are handled more reliably in structured notes

Full version details on the changelog.

v1.0.8 stable is out this week. The headline items are local speech-to-text in beta, much stronger transcript search, better AI defaults, and a round of polish across calendar, onboarding, and contacts.

Cactus: local speech-to-text in beta

The headline feature this week is Cactus, our local speech-to-text engine. It runs Whisper small directly on your Mac, so English transcription can happen without sending audio to the cloud. We also added language-aware provider selection, so Char can choose the right transcription backend automatically based on the language you're working in.

AI and transcript search

Your default template in settings is now applied automatically to new AI-generated summaries, and summary section headings are produced in the correct language for non-English users. We also cleaned up the AI model lists so deprecated and hidden models are less confusing, and added a new Memory tab for custom vocabulary.

Transcript search also got a major upgrade. You can now replace text, match case, filter by whole word, and keep search results synchronized between the transcript and editor views.

Calendar, notes, and onboarding

Calendar got a visual cleanup, onboarding now shows a proper loading state while fetching calendars, and participant email resolution for Apple Calendar events is more reliable. In notes, Cmd+Click now opens links in your default browser, and the session menu adds a quick Reveal in Finder action.

Smaller improvements

Contact avatars now fall back to colored initials, telemetry opt-out now properly disables analytics, and the remaining Hyprnote references in the UI were updated to Char.

What's next

Cactus is still early and English-only for now, but it's a big step toward stronger on-device transcription. If you're on stable, v1.0.8 is available now.

As always, grab the latest from our changelog or let the app auto-update.

Two stable releases went out this week: v1.0.6 and v1.0.7. Search is faster, chat is back in experimental form, Mistral transcription support landed, and live transcription is much more resilient when providers fail.

Search and chat

Search now uses Tantivy, which makes indexing faster and results more accurate. The search bar also collapses to an icon by default and expands when you need it, and advanced filters now let you narrow by note type and date range.

Chat also returned as an experimental feature. It now gets richer session context, and search results inside chat include the surrounding session context too, which makes the responses more useful.

AI and transcription

Mistral is now available as a transcription provider, and summary generation can auto-run after transcript upload or batch transcription completes. We also made live transcription failures non-fatal, so the recorder keeps running and the session drops into a degraded mode instead of crashing outright.

Notes, calendar, and onboarding

You can now right-click in the main area to create notes and tabs, bulk-delete sessions from the timeline with undo, and see event descriptions in session metadata chips. The onboarding flow also moved into the main app window, which makes first-run setup feel much more integrated.

Settings and fixes

Settings got another pass with cleaner labels, better week-start and timezone controls, and a dynamic channel selector on the update download button. We also fixed a long list of stability issues around auth sessions, calendar timeline behavior, exports, and audio device handling.

What's next

We're continuing to improve search, transcription reliability, and the chat experience. If you're on stable, v1.0.7 is available now.

As always, you can download the latest version from our changelog or let the app auto-update.

Three stable releases shipped this week: v1.0.3, v1.0.4, and v1.0.5. The headline items are note recovery, a redesigned calendar, better navigation, and a stronger round of performance fixes.

Notes and navigation

This week added a lot of everyday note-management polish. You can now open notes from a dedicated Cmd+O command, keep pinned tabs across restarts, undo deletes with a five-second restore window, and jump back into recently opened notes from the same command palette. Backlink mentions for notes, people, and companies also landed in stable.

Calendar redesign

The calendar got its biggest update of the week. There's now a full calendar view with a week layout, event popovers, improved navigation, and a context menu for unignoring events directly from the sidebar timeline. We also fixed recurring event duplication and added a manual timezone override for the timeline.

Quit behavior and notifications

We changed Cmd+Q to a hold-to-quit interaction so accidental quits are much less likely. On the notification side, the experimental in-meeting reminder is now available in lab settings and can alert you when another app has been using your microphone for a while but Char is not recording.

Performance and stability

We fixed memory leaks from actor subscriptions and timer cleanup, resolved high CPU usage caused by an overly broad DOM observer, and shipped a Tauri 2.10.1 upgrade. We also fixed duplicate tabs when reopening a note and cleaned up a few markdown and UI regressions.

Other improvements

• Cmd+Shift+N now creates a new note and starts listening in one action
• Dropdown keyboard navigation is better across settings and selectors
• LM Studio errors now point to setup docs instead of failing silently
• Shortcut and tooltip labeling are more consistent across the app

What's next

We're continuing to tighten the core note-taking workflow and calendar experience. If you're on stable, v1.0.5 is available now.

You can download the latest version from our changelog or let the app auto-update.

This week was centered on one stable release: v1.0.2. It brings a much better recording stack, table support in notes, PDF export, and a round of account and settings improvements.

v1.0.2 stable release

v1.0.2 pulls a lot of recent nightly work into stable. The biggest change is Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC), which removes the old mic-only tradeoff when recording both microphone and speaker audio. Recordings are also cleaner overall, with separate stereo channels, WAV output, sleep detection, and smoother audio visualization.

Notes and attachments

The editor now supports tables, plus search and replace with case sensitivity. Attachments are also handled more cleanly: pasted images are saved as files inside the session folder instead of being embedded inline, and duplicate filenames are renamed automatically.

Export and transcript tools

PDF export now adds a metadata cover page with the session title, date, and participants. PDFs save directly to your Downloads folder and open automatically. We also added the ability to regenerate a transcript from an existing audio file, which makes recovery and cleanup easier when you already have a recording.

Settings and account improvements

The settings screen was redesigned, auth now persists across app updates, and Char stays signed in more reliably when the app is backgrounded. There are also a number of quality-of-life fixes across the timeline, metadata panel, PDF export, calendar sync, and feedback flow.

What's next

We're continuing to ship smaller stable releases more frequently. If you're on stable, v1.0.2 is available now.

You can download the latest version from our changelog or let the app auto-update.