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Version 3.0

The 3.0 line covers all 3.0.x releases. Newest at the top.

3.0.11 (16 May 2026)​

A patch release with major Clone wizard improvements, plus the branch dialog reorganisation and connect / fetch tightening originally lined up for 3.0.10.

What's new​

  • Resume an in-progress clone. The Clone wizard now remembers your edits per source component. Re-opening Clone on the same component offers to pick up where you left off — across wizard tabs, app restarts, and even after a deploy. Configure how long drafts are kept in Preferences ▸ Workflow.
  • Tabbed branch flows. Switch Branch and Manage Branches are reorganised around action tabs: Switch, Merge, Delete, New Branch. Branch creation happens inline rather than in a sub-dialog, with continuous progress through create, task link, and checkout.
  • In-tab Clone confirmations. Overwrite and Resume prompts now appear inside the wizard tab instead of as separate popup windows.

Improvements​

  • More reliable Clone deploys. Parent components that reference cloned children now resolve correctly when the cloned components are deployed alongside.
  • Better dependency detection in the Clone wizard for components with complex naming patterns.
  • Preferences reorganised. New Workflow tab consolidates Clone wizard draft retention and Database auto-connect (previously a standalone tab).
  • Multi-word component filter. The filter is wider and accepts space-separated terms; all words must match the component name or filename.
  • Cancellable database connect / test. In-window progress with a Cancel button; errors and validation messages appear inline rather than as pop-up windows.
  • Cancellable fetch. A Cancel button on the branch dialog's fetch overlay.
  • Filterable base-branch picker for repos with many branches.
  • Structured custom fields for Jira and Azure Boards create_task / update_task over MCP.

Fixed​

  • Second Clone of the same component now opens the wizard. Previously, opening Clone on a component with a saved draft could silently do nothing.
  • Extract from Find Dependencies / Find Dependants could fail to generate a script for items whose composite names contained the template's separator characters. These items now extract correctly against the live database.

3.0.9 (14 May 2026)​

A patch release tightening up the Basket and Find Dependencies / Dependants tabs, and adding a basket filter to the Git Outgoing and TFVC Pending Changes views.

What's new​

  • Filter Outgoing / Pending Changes by basket. A Basket only checkbox on each list in the Git Outgoing and TFVC Pending Changes views hides files that aren't currently in the basket. Updates live as items come in and out.

Improvements​

  • Revert dialog matches the rest of the app — same styled confirmation as Delete Stash, Delete Branch, and other destructive actions, with a file list when multiple files are selected.
  • Reverting new / untracked files now works. Previously it errored; now the files are removed, matching the discard behaviour of other Git tools.

Fixed​

  • Extract from Find Dependencies, Find Dependants, or Basket could produce a script missing its data. Extracts from those tabs now resolve fully against the connected database.
  • Revert and Commit menu items are now enabled correctly in the Basket and Find Dependencies tabs without needing to click Refresh.
  • Basket shows correct version-control status on open rather than waiting for a manual Refresh.
  • Switching database connections is safer — extracts always use values from the now-connected database.

3.0.8 (12 May 2026)​

A patch release tightening up the Deployment File view: large deployments open much faster, files that have been deleted upstream are now obvious at a glance, and View History is cleaner.

Improvements​

  • Deployment Files open noticeably faster, especially the bigger ones — hundreds of items resolve in a fraction of the time they used to.
  • Files that have been deleted in a later commit are now flagged on the row — the row is highlighted, the status shows a delete icon, and the validation banner tells you how many items are affected. The Latest Version column tracks the latest version where the file still exists, so Update to Latest won't try to update to a version that doesn't have the file, and Is Latest doesn't show a tick when the file is gone upstream.
  • Open Script in the Deployment File now opens the actual pinned version instead of the working copy. The tab title shows the version (e.g. myscript.sql @1abb94c) and the file isn't locked while you're reading it. Works the same for Git and TFVC.
  • View History on a deployment item only lists commits that genuinely changed the file — merge commits that just brought a branch forward no longer clutter the history with misleading "Modified" entries. The same rule applies wherever items get added to a deployment, including via Add From Basket and the Release Workflow wizard.
  • Open button removed from inside the Deployment File view. The file is already open in this view; loading a different deployment uses the main File ▸ Open menu.

Fixed​

  • Add to Basket with multiple rows selected in the Deployment File view. The basket checkboxes on each selected row now update correctly when adding more than one item at a time.
  • Cut / Copy / Paste in the SQL and Template editors could fail or fire twice; the standard shortcuts now behave as expected.
  • Extract and Pull no longer leave behind empty or corrupted files when an earlier write failed or a file was tampered with outside DataStar — the file is always written cleanly.

3.0.7 (10 May 2026)​

A patch release adding the Clone Wizard, persistent MCP sessions, smoother check-in and compare flows, and SQL Server connection compatibility for CI/CD deployments.

What's new​

  • Clone Wizard. A new three-step wizard (Identity, Dependencies, Deploy) for cloning a data component to a new name. Composite names are split into per-column inputs so you only edit the parts you mean to change, and you can pick which referenced components are cloned alongside. Object components are not supported, and templates can opt out with Cloneable="false". See Cloning components.
  • Persistent MCP sessions. MCP clients now reconnect with their existing session ID after the host restarts, no init handshake required. Idle sessions survive for up to 7 days.
  • Auto-commit before release. Advancing from Check-In to Deployment File with uncommitted changes now offers Auto-Commit (with a generated message), Continue without committing, or Cancel.
  • Live database lookups in MCP list_components. Pass an optional connection parameter to query the live database and tag each entry as New, Unchanged, or Deleted against the workspace cache.

Improvements​

  • Smoother side-by-side compare. Horizontal scrolling and Shift+wheel panning are noticeably smoother, and the active change is highlighted with a blue accent stripe so it stands out among same-coloured neighbours.
  • Theme-aware syntax highlighting. SQL, diff, and XML editors share a refreshed highlighting pipeline that switches automatically with the active theme.
  • Inline validation on Check-In and Workspace Settings. The work-item field on the check-in views shows errors below the field rather than inside it; Workspace Settings shows validation as a banner across all tabs.
  • TFVC pending-changes auto-refresh. The pending-changes tab now refreshes when files are pended via Visual Studio or tf pend outside DataStar.
  • Three-state Select All on TFVC pending changes. The check-all box reflects partial selections and toggles all changes from a single click.
  • Branch-only options hidden on TFVC workspaces. Workspace Settings no longer shows Git-only branch options when the workspace is on TFVC.
  • TFVC release commits never empty. Releases whose deployment file hasn't actually changed still produce a proper release-marker changeset rather than failing with "No pending changes to check in".
  • Connection picker reflects the live session. The connected indicator now only shows green for the connection that's actually in use.
  • Tighter MCP read-only validation. The MCP execute_sql validator is now vendor-aware and additionally blocks Oracle's HTTPURITYPE outbound-network function.

Fixed​

  • SQL Server connections failing in DataStar.Tools when they worked under v2.x. The bundled SqlClient now defaults to Encrypt=Mandatory;TrustServerCertificate=False, which broke connection strings against servers with self-signed certificates. DataStar.Tools applies v2-compatible defaults (Encrypt=False;TrustServerCertificate=True) when the connection string specifies neither, leaving any explicit value alone. See SQL Server connection encryption.
  • Generic "Failed to connect to the Microsoft database" message hiding the real cause. The underlying SqlClient exception (certificate trust, authentication, name resolution, etc.) is now logged directly in the deployment output instead of being swallowed.
  • Basket items not removed when added with different casing. Removal now matches case-insensitively.
  • Deployment file not created in workspace mode. The file is now materialised on disk during the Commit step rather than waiting for a dirty save, so Push always has a real document to work with.

3.0.6 (1 May 2026)​

A patch release adding finer-grained control over the MCP server, a Git tuning panel, a saved-connections manager, and a handful of stability fixes.

What's new​

  • MCP tool categories. MCP tools are now grouped into six categories (Components, Component Authoring, Database Access, Deployment, Templates, Task Tracking) under Preferences → MCP Server → Tool Categories. Each has its own enable switch and, where applicable, its own Allow writes switch alongside the workspace-wide Write Access toggle. Disabled categories are hidden from the agent.
  • Manage saved database connections. A new Connect → Manage saved... menu opens a single window for browsing, adding, removing, and refreshing saved Oracle and SQL Server connections, with last-used timestamps.
  • Git execution tuning. A new Execution section under Preferences → Git lets you tune concurrency and per-call timeouts (read, write, network, lock) when the defaults need adjusting on slower machines or larger repositories. Leave a box blank to keep the default.

Improvements​

  • MCP status bar label. The MCP indicator now carries a "MCP" text label next to its icon.
  • Compare view display-mode filter. The side-by-side compare window has a new All / Differences / Same toggle in the toolbar. Differences hides unchanged lines so you can focus on what changed; Same hides changes so you can review the surrounding context. Editing and save controls are disabled while a filter is active to prevent accidental data loss.
  • Cancellation in version-control operations. Cancelling a pull, push, clone, check-in, or stash now stops promptly and leaves the view in a consistent state.
  • Resilient TFVC views. History, Incoming, and Pending Changes in TFVC mode are now hardened against per-row errors the same way the Git outgoing view was in 3.0.5.

Fixed​

  • Silent shutdown when a workspace fails to load on startup. A bad workspace file or failed v2 migration would close DataStar with no log entry. The picker now surfaces the specific error and writes a crash report on splash failures.
  • Legacy migration creating the old directory layout inside the v3 app-data directory.
  • Deleted database connections lingering in the picker after a restart. Deletion now removes every reference and persists immediately.

3.0.5 (28 April 2026)​

A patch release focused on the Release Workflow's push step and Git pull/merge handling.

Fixed​

  • Outgoing view showing no commits. An error while looking up a commit's associated task could abort the Outgoing view's refresh, leaving the committed-changes list empty even when there were unpushed commits to show. The lookup is now resilient, and the pending and committed sections refresh independently so a problem with one no longer blanks the other.
  • Push rejected by remote (Outgoing view). When pushing from the Outgoing view, a rejection caused by the remote being ahead now prompts you to pull the latest changes and retry the push in one confirmed flow, rather than failing with a generic error. Rejections caused by branch protection rules or server-side hooks get their own explanation.
  • Push rejected by remote (Release Workflow wizard). The wizard's push step now distinguishes "remote is ahead" from other rejections and tells you exactly what to do next (open the Incoming view, pull and resolve, then retry) instead of showing an opaque failure.
  • Pull merge conflicts surfaced cleanly. When a pull from any view hits merge conflicts, you now get a clear "Merge Conflicts" message directing you to the Incoming view to resolve them, instead of a raw error.
  • Conflict files on disk. When the three sides of a conflict are extracted to disk for external diffing, files are now named with .base, .ours, and .theirs suffixes (e.g. MyTable.ours.sql) so it's obvious which is which.
  • MCP compare returns a unified diff. The component comparison tool exposed over MCP now returns a unified diff (with +, -, and context lines) instead of the two raw file bodies, so AI clients can reason about what changed without computing the diff themselves.
  • Push step error display. The release-workflow push step no longer shows a separate error banner that could disagree with the per-step status. Each step's Success / Failed / Skipped status with its own detail text is now the single source of truth.

3.0.4 (27 April 2026)​

What's new​

Release Workflow wizard​

A four-step guided flow takes a change from "I've finished editing" through to "the pipeline has been kicked," handling the version-control commit, deployment-file production, and push / check-in / tag / pipeline trigger in one place. Step labels adapt to the workspace's VCS (Git or TFVC) and task tracker (Jira, Azure Boards, or none), so the same wizard reads correctly across every combination. Every step can still be done manually from the regular tabs; the wizard is an ergonomic path through the common case, not the only path. See The Release Workflow.

MCP server​

DataStar embeds a localhost-only Model Context Protocol server that exposes schema inspection, component search, draft management, deployment generation, and task-tracker integration to any MCP-capable AI client (Claude Desktop, Cline, Kiro, and others). The server is off by default, scoped to the currently-open workspace, and gated behind an auto-generated API key with a separate Allow write access toggle. SQL execution is read-only by default; mutating tools refuse until write access is enabled; connection strings, passwords, and tokens are never exposed through the API. See MCP Overview.

Rebuilt desktop client​

The Windows client has been rebuilt from the ground up. Start-up is significantly faster, the visual design is refreshed throughout, and keyboard navigation has been tightened across every view. The status bar carries new live indicators for the current database connection, version-control state, and basket count.

Deployment Basket as a first-class concept​

What was an implicit staging step in v2 is now an explicit object. The basket has its own mode on the component grid, its own toolbar additions, can be saved to and loaded from a basket file, and feeds directly into a deployment via Create Deployment from Basket. Add and remove components from any grid without leaving the keyboard with Ctrl+B and Ctrl+Shift+B. See The Deployment Basket.

Drafts: review before applying​

A new draft pull mode (Ctrl+D) extracts schema or data into a side-by-side draft file rather than overwriting the workspace. Review, compare, then Apply (Ctrl+Shift+A) or Discard (Ctrl+Z) one row, the current selection, or every draft at once, with progress indicators on the larger sets. See Drafts.

Improvements​

  • Component grid state columns. Workspace, Database, and Versioned states are shown side-by-side on every row, colour-coded for at-a-glance scanning, with hover tooltips for the precise state text.
  • Deployment History tab. The History / Reversal / Summary breakdown is now a full tab rather than a modal dialog, with persistent filters across DataStar restarts.
  • Filter bar on the component grid. Narrow any grid by component name without re-opening the tab.
  • Per-workspace MCP port. Multiple DataStar instances can run side-by-side without colliding on a shared port.
  • Task-tracker parity. Jira and Azure Boards both expose the same set of query, create, update, transition, and comment operations, in the desktop client and through MCP.
  • Component grid context menu. New Compare With submenu for diffing the workspace copy against drafts, the current connection, a different database, HEAD, latest server, remote, or any branch.

Removed in v3​

  • Rally task-tracking integration. Rally customers should move to Jira or Azure Boards, or operate without a task tracker; task IDs can still be entered manually wherever a task is referenced.

Compatibility​

  • Workspaces created in v2 open unchanged in v3; no migration step is required.
  • Deployment files produced in v2 remain consumable by both the v3 desktop client and the DataStar.Tools CLI.
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