> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://ade-app.dev/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# v1.2.36

> Release notes for ADE v1.2.36 - July 24, 2026

v1.2.36 makes ADE's foundations self-healing: the brain keeps itself on the latest code and recovers from freezes in seconds, updates apply transactionally with truthful version reporting everywhere, account connections work again on every route, and a new `ade doctor` diagnoses the whole machine in one command.

***

## Account connections work again

* **The "Unknown cipher" account-connect failure is fixed.** v1.2.35's sealed adoption used a cipher the packaged desktop app cannot provide; clients and hosts now negotiate the AEAD (ChaCha20-Poly1305 or AES-256-GCM) inside the signed identity challenge. Older apps and iOS keep the exact legacy handshake, byte for byte.
* **Clear errors instead of dead ends.** Connecting to a Mac running an older ADE now says so plainly instead of failing with a cryptic cipher error on every route.

## The brain heals itself

* **A frozen brain restarts in seconds, not minutes.** A watchdog thread detects a blocked event loop (>15s), records what it was doing, and restarts cleanly — with a recovery notice in the app telling you what happened. Sleep/wake is never mistaken for a freeze.
* **Stale brains are impossible now.** The brain checks its own on-disk code every five minutes (one file stat — effectively free) and restarts itself onto new code when idle. Previously a brain could silently run week-old code while every version label claimed it was current.
* **Verified handover.** Repairing or replacing the brain now confirms the old process actually died and released its network ports before declaring success; leftover zombie processes squatting on sync ports are identified and reaped with PID-reuse safety checks.
* **Newer brains connect instead of being quarantined.** A protocol compatibility window lets an older desktop talk to a newer brain normally.
* **Slow operations can't freeze everything.** Known-slow work (transcript pulls, GitHub calls, provider probes) is now cancellable, GitHub response reads are time-bounded, and any sync command taking over five seconds is logged with its name.

## Updates that actually apply

* **Transactional installs.** If a consented update is interrupted — a hung quit, a cancelled dialog — everything rolls back and an amber banner tells you the update didn't finish, instead of silently stranding you on old code with the brain service stopped.
* **A hung quit can't block an update.** Once you consent, the app gives itself ten seconds to quit gracefully, then forces the handoff.
* **Idle auto-apply.** A downloaded update applies itself after two quiet minutes, with a ten-second cancelable countdown — so an ignored update can no longer leave you stale overnight.
* **Truthful versions everywhere.** Settings now shows the *running* version of both the app and the brain (with pid and sync port), distinguishes a downloaded update from an installed one, and warns when a restart is pending. Machine cards show route-publish health — including a clear warning when other devices may not be able to reach the Mac.

## Diagnostics

* **`ade doctor`.** One read-only command reports app and brain versions (running vs installed), recent freeze recoveries, sync-port ownership, account-directory publish health, Relay status, and sign-in state as a green/red table.
* **Honest publish failures.** Route publishing to the account directory now measures every leg (token, snapshot, HTTP) separately, classifies timeouts truthfully, keeps token refreshes cancellable and caller-isolated, and bounds response reads so a stalled server can't silently stop the heartbeat.
* **The brain finally has real logs.** Structured, timestamped, rotating JSONL at `~/.ade/runtime/brain.jsonl`, with timestamped warnings mirrored to the launchd log.