NEWS

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shidashi 0.3.0 (2026-10-11)

• The MCP endpoint keeps a call log for each running app in the cache folder, MCP-logs/date-<start time>_app-<app id>/mcp-calls.log: one line (at most 300 characters) per request, reply, or failure, with the tool, the JSON-RPC id, the time taken, and the arguments, result, or reason. The stdio proxy adds the calls that never reach an app, marked (proxy). Turn the log off with options(shidashi.mcp_log = FALSE) or the environment variable SHIDASHI_MCP_LOG=false; the newest getOption("shidashi.mcp_log_keep", 50) folders are kept
• A running app writes logs/server-info.log in its folder (app id, process id, port, addresses, and call log folder). It and the app record are removed when the app stops, so an app stopped inside an R session that keeps running no longer leaves a record behind
• Until an app has answered it, the stdio proxy skips app records whose port refuses connections and tries the next newest, instead of failing every call on a stopped app
• register_input() gains hint (one of input_hint_classes): whether agents ask the user for an input before loading data or running the analysis, keep its default, or leave it alone. shiny_input_info returns each input's hint, takes a hints filter, and reports session state registered with the new register_input_state() under @state
• With no browser page open, switch_module and module tool calls give the agent the app's address as a one-click link
• The Claude plugin adds a rave skill: how agents find a running RAVE app, open it in the browser, and what to ask before loading data
• Added mcp_click(): clicks an element for an agent and reports whether it matched, was clicked, or was refused; the browser refuses elements inside [mcp-agent-disabled="true"] (controls for people only). shiny_input_update clicks buttons through it, so a refused or missing button now fails the tool call
• colormapSelectInput() can no longer be emptied: Backspace/Delete keep the selected color map, an update with an empty selected restores the previous value (or the first color map), and a selected outside the choices selects the first one
• Added a color picker widget using vanilla shiny select input;
• Added base theme for plots and viewers that are registered output, such as plotOutput2;
• Redesigned the MCP endpoint so agents such as Claude Code can drive the dashboard without session binding:
  • the tool list is built from the template on disk (each module's tools load once without a browser), so it is available before any browser opens and never changes while an agent is connected; tools from modules that fail to load fall back to agents/tool-schema.yaml
  • each tool call runs in a module chosen on the spot: the module named by the optional _module argument, else the module tab the user pinned with the new pin button, else the one the user used most recently; results end with a note naming the module
  • removed the list_shinysessions, register_shinysession, get_session_info, and ask_user MCP tools; added shidashi_sessions (open modules and the default one) and shidashi_call (tools that exist only in live sessions)
  • the server no longer issues Mcp-Session-Id; /mcp/{module} limits a connection to one module (a module id or a handle)
  • agent modes and the confirmation policy apply only to the in-dashboard chat; over MCP, tools carry readOnlyHint and destructiveHint annotations and a note, and the agent asks the user in its own chat, never in the browser; tools turned off in agents.yaml stay off
  • the stdio proxy picks up apps from per-app records, follows an app across restarts, accepts --app and --module, and always replies to a request
  • the stdio proxy works without a running app: it connects, lists the tools it can, and tells the agent to ask the user whether to start an app or launch a saved one
  • the stdio proxy can attach to a shidashi app at any address for the current session (shidashi_connect, shidashi_disconnect); its tool list follows the attached app, and shidashi_tools lists the app's tools for clients that do not refresh their tool list
  • module handles always carry the session token prefix (<module>@<token>), so a handle stays the same when the user opens the module again in another tab
  • added the switch_module meta tool: it shows a module in the user's dashboard as clicking it in the sidebar does (its open tab comes to the front, or it opens in a new tab; auto_new = FALSE only switches to an open tab), and returns once the module's page has loaded (options shidashi.switch_module_timeout and shidashi.switch_module_wait); it is refused while the user has a module pinned
  • the dashboard now finds a module's open tab by its module id, and a module page asks its dashboard directly when switching modules, so switch_module() also works when the dashboard sits in a frame
  • switch_module() gains auto_new: with auto_new = FALSE it only switches to a module whose tab is open
  • exported mcp_call_active(): it is TRUE while a tool runs for an MCP call, and while it is, the environment variable SHIDASHI_USING_MCP is "TRUE" (removed when the call returns), so tools and skill scripts can behave differently for agents, for example print less
• Each skill is now two tools: skill_load__<name> reads the instructions and reference files and never changes anything, and skill_run__<name> runs the scripts; skill_wrapper() returns both (load, run); in the dashboard chat, a script marked destructive in agents.yaml now asks for confirmation
• Skill scripts document their arguments in a # Usage: header comment; skill_run__<name> lists each script's usage and refuses a call that leaves out a required argument; files in scripts/ whose names start with _ are helpers, not scripts
• Environment variables passed to a skill script (envs) are now added to the app's environment instead of replacing it, so the script keeps PATH, HOME, and SHIDASHI_USING_MCP
• Added save_launcher() and run_launcher(): saved apps are kept in one launchers.json file in the shidashi cache folder, optionally with a copy of the app (copy_app = TRUE) and free-form metadata; the MCP proxy lists saved apps (shidashi_launchers) and, when the user picks one, starts it and opens the chosen module in the browser (shidashi_launch)
• shiny_query_ui now returns the element's HTML or image in one call; shiny_query_ui_result is removed; transform_image = FALSE asks for HTML only, and long HTML is trimmed (image data and scripts shortened, max_chars sets the limit)
• Added the shiny_output_result MCP tool: it returns a registered output's rendered content even when the output is in a hidden tab or a collapsed card, rendering it first (waiting up to 10 seconds; option shidashi.output_result_timeout); a plot that was never shown is drawn at a fallback size; shiny_query_ui notes when an element is not shown or shows an error; outputs registered with download_type = "htmlwidget" also return the widget data (x), since a widget such as a DT table shows only one page of it, and outputs registered with download_type = "data" also return what download_function writes; both are trimmed by max_chars
• Added render_hidden_output(), which renders one output at the next flush even when it is hidden, then restores suspendWhenHidden
• shiny_query_ui and shiny_output_result ask the browser after a short pause (option shidashi.query_ui_delay, default 0.1 seconds): agents often send a change and a query in one turn as concurrent requests, which R may take in either order, and the pause lets the change reach the page first
• In the bslib-bare template, shiny_query_ui and shiny_output_result ask a threeBrain viewer for pictures of its WebGL or WebGPU canvases: they dispatch one viewerApp.captureOnce event on the viewer's wrapper (.threejs-brain-canvas) with an empty object as detail, and the viewer draws a frame and adds { canvas, dataURI } to detail.views for each view it drew. When the viewer has not answered after three animation frames, and for any other canvas, the canvas is read directly as before. Such canvases used to come back blank in Chromium, or out of date in browsers that keep the last frame. A page that draws no frames (for example in a background tab) is read after half a second, with a note
• Errors inside shidashi's own observers are reported as warnings instead of ending the user's session
• register_input() gains tooltip, shown when the mouse hovers over the input (its title); it defaults to the first sentence of description (new as_tooltip()), and tooltip = NULL turns it off; only inputs get it, so other registered elements, such as cards, are unchanged

shidashi 0.2.0 (2026-04-10)

New Features

• Added stream_viz htmlwidgets widget for real-time multi-channel signal viewing; binary stream files are produced by stream_to_js() and fetched by the browser via fetchStreamData(); rendering engine switched from D3 to Three.js (WebGL) for improved performance on high-density multi-channel data
• Added streaming helpers: stream_init() sets up per-session stream directories with automatic cleanup; stream_path() returns the token-qualified file path; stream_file_id() builds the {token}_{ns(id)} identifier used by both R and JS
• Added stream_to_js() for writing binary envelope files (supports raw, json, int32, float32, float64 body types) and read_stream_vis() for reading them back in R
• Added streamVizOutput() / renderStreamViz() / updateStreamViz() Shiny bindings for the stream_viz widget
• register_output() is now a server-side function: it assigns the render function, registers the MCP output spec, and injects download/pop-out widget icons via JS overlay (no UI-side wrapper needed)
• Added output widget overlay system: registered outputs gain hover-visible download and pop-out icons injected entirely by JS; download modal supports image, htmlwidget, threeBrain, data, and stream_viz types
• Added server_standalone_viewer() — a hidden module that re-renders a parent session's output in a standalone browser tab (pop-out window), forwarding inputs back to the original module session
• Added fire_event() and get_event() for a reactive session event bus; events can be scoped locally (per-session) or globally (cross-tab broadcast via shared_id); get_theme() is a convenience wrapper that returns the current dashboard theme
• Added register_session() / unregister_session() for comprehensive session life-cycle management with automatic cleanup, reactive event bus setup, and cross-tab synchronization support; replaces the deprecated register_session_id()
• Added get_handler() / set_handler() for managing named session-scoped Observer objects with a shared registry; handlers are automatically destroyed on session end
• Added enable_input_broadcast() / disable_input_broadcast() and enable_input_sync() / disable_input_sync() for opt-in cross-tab input state synchronization; broadcast publishes the current session's inputs for peer tabs, sync restores inputs from a peer session
• Added switch_module() to programmatically navigate to another module from server-side code; supports cross-iframe forwarding via JS postMessage
• Added card_badge() UI component for dynamic badge widgets in card headers; set_card_badge() updates badge text and styling from the server without re-rendering; card_recalculate_badge() creates a clickable "recalculate needed" badge with enable_recalculate_badge() / disable_recalculate_badge() toggles
• Added html_asis() for escaping HTML special characters to display strings literally; combine_html_class() merges and remove duplicated class strings; remove_html_class() removes specified classes from a class string
• shared_id is now unified and shared across UI and server via init_app(); resolved from URL query string, R option, environment variable, or auto-generated
• Internal session registries (tools, output_renderers, handlers) now use fastmap for O(1) lookup and efficient memory management
• Added _captureSVG() helper in JS to convert SVG (raster) elements (e.g. D3 output) to PNG data URLs for the query-UI tool
• Added shidashi.set_shiny_input JS message handler for programmatic cross-session input forwarding
• Added shidashi.switch_module JS message handler for programmatic module navigation from JS
• Added shidashi.register_output_widgets JS message handler that injects the download/pop-out overlay icons on registered outputs
• Added demo template modules: output_widgets, stream_viz, and session_events; added hidden standalone_viewer module
• Added htmlwidgets to Imports

Bug Fixes

• Fixed download file extension not used correctly in register_output()
• Fixed position issue for output widget overlay container
• Fixed multi-result MCP tool request not handled correctly in chat-bot
• Sanitized MCP tool-call results for dashboard display

shidashi 0.1.8 (2026-03-23)

New Features

• Added built-in AI chat-bot panel powered by ellmer and shinychat; supports multiple providers, in-memory conversation history, mode-based tool permissions, token/cost display, and early-stop controls
• Added init_chat() to create an ellmer Chat object from R options (shidashi.chat_provider, shidashi.chat_model, shidashi.chat_system_prompt, shidashi.chat_base_url)
• Added MCP (Model Context Protocol) proxy server (inst/mcp-proxy/) so external LLM clients can interact with a running Shiny application via MCP
• Added mcp_wrapper() to register an MCP endpoint for a Shiny module
• Added register_input() / register_output() helpers to expose Shiny inputs and outputs as MCP tool parameters with descriptions
• Added skills system: skill_wrapper() parses and runs reusable agent skill scripts; skill working directory is resolved relative to the skill folder
• Tools and skills are now category- and permission-aware; module IDs are excluded from tool names for consistency
• Added module_drawer(), drawer_open(), drawer_close(), and drawer_toggle() for controlling a slide-in drawer panel
• module_info() now returns richer per-module metadata; added current_module() and active_module() helpers for querying the active Shiny module
• Modules support an optional agents.yaml for declaring agent configurations (tools, skills, auto-approve rules)
• MCP host can be a remote server; fuzzy module reference is supported when resolving module IDs
• Added demo template modules: aiagent, filestructure, and mcpsetup
• Added ellmer content helpers: S7 generic ellmer_as_json() for ContentText, ContentImageInline, ContentImageRemote, and ContentToolResult; and content_to_mcp() for converting chat content to MCP responses
• Chat-bot UI displays token usage and API cost next to each turn

Bug Fixes

• Fixed images not being passed correctly to the agent
• Fixed sidebar start-collapsed behavior
• Fixed bare-bone template initial setup
• Fixed MCP server query-UI tool response
• Fixed permission issue when executing skill scripts
• Applied npm audit fix to bundled JavaScript dependencies

shidashi 0.1.6 (2024-02-17)

• Load scripts starting with shared- when loading modules

shidashi 0.1.5 (2023-04-04)

• Fixed accordion and card_tabset not working properly when inputId starts with digits
• Updated templates and used npm to compile
• Session information now stores at userData instead of risky cache
• Ensured at least template root directory is available

shidashi 0.1.4 (2022-10-15)

• Fixed a bug that makes application fail to launch on Windows
• Added support to evaluated expressions before launching the application, allowing actions such as setting global options and loading data

shidashi 0.1.3 (2022-08-06)

• Allow modules to be hidden from the sidebar

shidashi 0.1.2 (2022-06-21)

• Fixed group name not handled correctly as factors
• Module URL respects domain now and is generated with relative path
• Works on rstudio-server now
• More stable behavior to flex_container
• Allow output (mainly plot and text outputs) to be reset
• Fixed iframe height not set correctly
• Enhanced 500 page to print out traceback, helping debug the errors
• Added flex_break to allow wrapping elements in flex container
• Added remove_class to remove HTML class from a string
• Allow to set data-title to cards

shidashi 0.1.0 (2021-11-17)

• Added a NEWS.md file to track changes to the package.