Release Notes 0.5.42

Release 0.5.42 is a Windows installer hotfix for 0.5.41 with composer routing, message-box shortcut, integration mention, and bundled-skill documentation refreshes.

Added

• Linux server release package: GitHub releases can now include cowork-os-server-linux-x64-v<version>.tar.gz plus a .sha256 checksum for VPS/systemd deployments. The package runs coworkd-node, includes built daemon assets, full resources, connector runtimes, runtime dependencies, and is smoke-tested through the Control Plane /health endpoint. See Linux VPS.
• Task-sourced scheduled automations: task view now includes ... > Add automation..., opening a task-prefilled modal that saves a real cron scheduled task through the existing scheduler API. Saved jobs include the source task title, task ID, and cowork://tasks/<taskId> deeplink. See Task Automations.
• React/Next.js implementation guidance: added the bundled react-best-practices skill for React workspace changes, Next.js feature work, reviews, refactors, data-fetching improvements, bundle-size checks, and rendering-performance fixes. See React Best Practices Skill.
• Composer mentions: typing @ in the message box now opens a grouped menu for Agents, configured Integrations, and Files. Integration selections insert rich icon+name chips, render the same way in sent user messages and restored sessions, and pass integrationMentions metadata as soft runtime guidance. See Composer Mentions.
• @Inbox shortcut: typing @Inbox or @inbox ... in the main composer now opens Inbox Agent and routes the query through Ask Inbox.
• Message box shortcuts: typing / in the message box now searches deterministic app commands and skill-backed workflow shortcuts in one picker. Built-in app commands include /schedule, /clear, /plan, /cost, /compact, /doctor, and /undo; plugin-pack aliases resolve through the skills runtime. See Message Box Shortcuts.
• CoWork Shortcuts pack: added a bundled workflow-shortcuts pack with aliases such as /strategy, /review, /memory, /batch-rename, /smart-deduplication, /folder-structure, /gmail-summary-drive, /calendar-prep-brief, /multi-source-report, /weekly-newsletter, /daily-inbox-zero, /monday-planning-brief, and /end-of-day-log.
• Smart PDF attachments: uploaded PDFs now enter the prompt as compact attachment metadata plus an excerpt instead of a full inline dump. When the user asks for deeper PDF content, CoWork reads the workspace-local file with parse_document; chat-mode PDF turns are narrowly promoted to read-only analysis so full-document Q&A and summaries work without enabling mutating tools.

Fixed

• Windows installer architecture: the Windows release artifact is now built as an x64 app package, so standard Windows PCs install CoWork OS.exe correctly and desktop shortcuts point to a runnable executable.
• Release packaging guardrail: added an explicit package:win:x64 packaging command so Windows release artifacts are not accidentally built with the host Mac architecture.
• Composer deletion stability: fixed duplicate @ rendering and the React removeChild crash when deleting mention text or chips.
• Shortcut command safety: /clear now clears the current task view without deleting history or switching workspace context; /schedule keeps deterministic schedule-handler precedence even when another task is selected.
• Google Workspace reconnect recovery: stale Google Workspace OAuth tokens are cleared after refresh bad-request failures, and changed Google OAuth client credentials/scopes clear old tokens before reconnect.
• Azure OpenAI tool-result replay: long Responses fallback tool-call ids are normalized before replay so Azure OpenAI no longer rejects those turns with a call_id length error.
• PDF attachment safety: prompt-time PDF excerpts now carry an explicit untrusted-content boundary, scanned/image-heavy PDFs report scan/OCR status accurately, and visual PDF analysis remains separate from ordinary document text extraction.

Changed

• Automation concept docs: README, Features, Core Automation, docs home, and Development now clarify that task automations are a shortcut into Scheduled Tasks, not a separate Workflow Intelligence loop or routine authoring path.
• Bundled-skill docs: README, Features, Skill Store, development guidance, docs home, and status docs now reflect react-best-practices and the 147 built-in skill count.
• Shortcut docs: README, Features, Plugin Packs, Skills Runtime Model, Skill Store, Development, Use Cases, docs home, changelog, and this release note now describe the current message-box shortcut model, alias precedence, parameter behavior, and CoWork Shortcuts pack.
• Integration display in the composer: Google Workspace is shown as Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Calendar in the @ menu; gateway channels and MCP connectors appear only when locally usable.

Notes

The 0.5.41 npm package remains published, but the GitHub v0.5.41 release is immutable and its Windows asset cannot be replaced in place. Use 0.5.42 for Windows installs.