# open-design open-design-v0.21.0 — Open Design 0.21.0 — Reliable, Start to Finish

- Product: open-design (https://whatsnew.fyi/product/open-design)
- Vendor: open-design
- Date: 2026-08-25
- Version: open-design-v0.21.0
- Original notes: https://github.com/nexu-io/open-design/releases/tag/open-design-v0.21.0
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/open-design/releases/open-design-v0.21.0

What's New is an index, not a publisher: every entry below links to the vendor's own release notes, which are the authoritative source. Entries are labelled where they are hand-curated sample data, pre-releases, or drawn from a secondary source such as a developer blog.

Reuse: the summaries, labels and curation here are © What's New. Quote freely with attribution and a link back; wholesale republication of the corpus is not permitted — terms: https://whatsnew.fyi/terms. The vendors' own release notes remain their publishers'.

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- **fixed** — Multi-file Electron previews resolve relative scripts, styles, images, modules, imports and requests; active previews stay warm across project, file and Code/Preview switches instead of navigating into a white frame
- **fixed** — The viewport menu closes when the preview itself is clicked and presentation mode has a working exit control
- **fixed** — Agent connections no longer fail when an earlier executable on PATH is stale; OpenDesign continues searching and provides diagnostic and repair actions when nothing can launch
- **added** — Support for DeepSeek Harness release line in agent connections
- **fixed** — Kimi now works on version 0.37 and newer by sending only the transports each Kimi build accepts instead of stdio MCP transport
- **fixed** — Relaunching the app recovers from a stale local engine left behind by a crash that could hold the app's socket
- **fixed** — The daemon and web processes shut down with the desktop app instead of persisting and haunting the next launch
- **changed** — Coding Plan model availability and unlimited badges now follow the live, authenticated entitlement list instead of a hard-coded tier snapshot
- **added** — DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp is unlimited on Go, Plus, Pro and Max plans
- **fixed** — AI Optimize runs once instead of twice when the action is clicked multiple times; the client stops duplicates before they start and the daemon enforces the single-run boundary across tabs and external clients
- **changed** — The public Pricing page follows the signed-in subscription's interval and state, disables moves checkout would reject, and makes plan and model details easier to expand and compare
- **changed** — Go is marked sold out for new purchases and the client no longer shows its old campaign badge or welcome modal
- **changed** — Every community entry now leads to Discord, including Chinese desktop, site and documentation surfaces that previously split the community across Feishu and Discord
- **changed** — The account avatar menu pins open on first click and closes explicitly on second click, Escape, outside press or navigation
- **changed** — Empty Skills sources disappear from the filter and return automatically when they contain something to browse
- **fixed** — Website Clone no longer leaves its localized prompt behind when navigating to other creation modes
- **added** — OD_MCP_STDIO_IDLE_EXIT_MS environment variable configures the stdio MCP idle lifetime; 0 keeps the process alive until the client disconnects and values up to 24 hours are supported

###### 🌟 Codename: *Reliable, Start to Finish*

🛡️ **42 PRs · 13 contributors · 4 days** — **From Agent connections to live
HTML previews and app relaunches, Open Design 0.21.0 makes the entire creation
experience more reliable—and easier to recover when something goes wrong.** 🚀

##### 🔥 Highlights

- 🖼️ **HTML previews stay visible, live and correctly wired.** Multi-file
  artifacts keep their scripts, styles, images, modules and relative requests;
  switching projects, files or Code/Preview no longer sends Electron through the
  navigation races that could leave a complete document painted as a white
  frame. Presentation mode also gains a dependable way out, and clicking the
  preview dismisses its viewport menu like clicking anywhere else. (#7336,
  #7358) Thanks @lefarcen.

- 🧰 **A working agent no longer disappears behind a broken shim.** OpenDesign
  keeps searching when an earlier executable on PATH is stale, leaves a real
  diagnostic and repair action when nothing can launch, and supports the
  DeepSeek Harness release line users actually receive. The one-line installer
  finishes instead of getting trapped in dependency resolution. (#7153, #7339)
  Thanks @lefarcen.

- 🌙 **Kimi works again on 0.37 and newer.** Those releases stopped accepting the
  stdio MCP transport that OpenDesign attached to every session, turning nearly
  every run into an opaque handshake error. OpenDesign now sends only the
  transports each Kimi build accepts, so a message produces a streamed reply
  again instead of failing before the work begins. (#7313) Thanks @lefarcen.

- 🚪 **Relaunching the app recovers from a stale local engine.** A web sidecar
  left behind by a crash could hold the app's socket and make every later launch
  quit at startup. OpenDesign now reclaims that stale owner safely, and its
  daemon and web processes shut down with the desktop app instead of haunting
  the next launch. (#7279) Thanks @mrcfps.

- 🤖 **Coding Plan model access follows the account you are actually signed
  into.** The model picker and unlimited-use badges now read the authenticated
  entitlement list instead of relying on a hard-coded tier snapshot. DeepSeek V4
  Flash Vision Exp also joins the unlimited lineup across paid Personal plans,
  with clearer activation guidance when an older client has not picked up the
  entitlement yet. (#7289, #7250) Thanks @Siri-Ray.

- 🧠 **AI Optimize runs once, even when the click happens twice.** Two entry
  points could start the same hidden design-system refinement within
  milliseconds, charging twice and racing to rewrite the same files. The client
  now stops the duplicate before it leaves, and the daemon enforces the same
  single-run boundary across tabs and external clients. (#7271) Thanks
  @lefarcen.

- 💳 **Pricing actions now tell the truth before checkout does.** Current
  interval, pending changes, cancellation state, unavailable moves and Team
  billing all appear where the decision is made. Go is clearly sold out, its old
  in-app campaign is gone, and the remaining DeepSeek campaign gives paid and
  unpaid users one consistent path instead of competing promotions. (#7228,
  #7239, #7240, #7352, #7361) Thanks @Siri-Ray.

- 🌐 **Website Clone leaves its prompt behind when you leave the tab.** The
  localized “clone this site” scaffold no longer follows you into Slide Deck,
  Image, Document, HyperFrames, Video or Audio. Add your own URL and the draft is
  still yours; leave the guide untouched and the next creation mode starts
  clean. (#7344) Thanks @lefarcen.

- 🔌 **Long-running MCP sessions can stay alive as long as the work requires.**
  The familiar 30-minute idle behavior remains the default, while
  `OD_MCP_STDIO_IDLE_EXIT_MS` can choose a longer boundary — up to 24 hours — or
  disable idle exit for clients that deliberately keep a session quiet between
  calls. (#7288) Thanks @huytdps13400.

##### ✨ Added

###### 🧠 Agents, runtimes and automation

- `OD_MCP_STDIO_IDLE_EXIT_MS

_[Truncated at 4000 characters — full notes: https://github.com/nexu-io/open-design/releases/tag/open-design-v0.21.0]_