Week 22 - Persistent UI state, enhanced input, and auto-update
Jul 27th, 2025
This week focuses on refining the new version (v0.3.5) for 120 AI Chat app with persistent user preferences, streamlined interface options, and improvements to text input and rendering. Our updates address key user feedback while laying the foundation for more seamless future updates.
120 AI Chat v0.3.5 release
120 AI Chat now remembers window size, position, and sidebar state between sessions, creating a consistent workspace experience that adapts to individual user preferences. This enhancement eliminates the daily setup friction and allows users to maintain their optimal layout configuration.
The preference system works seamlessly with macOS window management features, including Spaces and Mission Control, ensuring that 120 AI Chat respects system-level window behaviors while maintaining its specific interface requirements.
Users who prefer compact or expanded sidebar layouts now have their preferences automatically restored, creating a more personalized workspace that matches their conversation management style.
Simplified theme system
We've streamlined the appearance options by removing the System mode, now offering just Dark and Light modes. This change reduces interface complexity while maintaining the clean, professional aesthetic that users expect from native macOS applications.
Decision rationale: User feedback indicated that the System mode created confusion about current theme state, particularly when switching between different lighting conditions. The simplified approach provides clearer control over interface appearance.
Default model selection
120 AI Chat now selects a default LLM for new conversations, with GPT-4.1 as the system default. This feature streamlines the conversation startup process while maintaining access to all integrated models through our multi-threaded system.
Multi-line input capabilities
We've implemented multi-line support for the input box, enabling users to compose longer, more structured prompts without workflow interruption.
The multi-line input maintains proper text formatting and supports standard macOS text editing shortcuts, creating a familiar writing environment for longer prompts and detailed questions.
The input area expands based on content length while maintaining optimal screen space allocation for conversation history and AI responses.
Improved text rendering system
We've enhanced our core text rendering engine with improved Arabic language support. The improvements prevent application crashes when processing Arabic text, ensuring reliable performance regardless of input language or character complexity.
This update represents our commitment to supporting diverse user bases and creating truly accessible AI chat experiences across different languages and writing systems.
Streamlined update process
Our development team is actively working on implementing auto-update functionality that will eliminate the need for users to manually download new versions and reconfigure permissions. This enhancement will significantly improve the update experience for regular users.
120 HN’s sneak peek
We're developing auto-refresh capabilities for 120 HN that will keep users current with new Hacker News stories without requiring manual refresh or leaving the application window.
Real-time updates: This feature will provide seamless content updates while preserving user reading position and interface state, creating a more dynamic and current news consumption experience.
Looking forward
Next week, we're finalizing the auto-update implementation for 120 AI Chat and completing the auto-refresh system for 120 HN. We're also working on the prompt library system that will help users organize and reuse effective prompts across different AI models and conversation contexts.