Release Updates

Apostra keeps one account-aware release feed across supported product and agent interfaces. Ask Apostra “What changed since I was last here?” for a short summary tailored to your account, use the Release notes tool from a compatible MCP host, or open Release notes from the web Help menu to browse the feed. The web application is one way to read it, not a requirement that every user log in there.

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The account-aware feed

Release notes has four views:

• For you — changes for your buyer or seller role, plus feature-specific changes when Apostra can verify that your account configured or was affected by that feature.
• Explore — recent changes to ungated features that fit your role but are not known to be part of your current setup. Explore is a discovery aid, not a guarantee that every feature fits your account.
• Recent updates — recent customer-facing entries in the feed for your role.
• Features — the features available to your account, laid out by stage, with each feature’s recent updates. It is a map of what you can use rather than a list of changes; see The Features board.

Apostra remembers how far each user has read within each account. When relevant updates arrive later, Apostra can offer a “What changed since I was last here?” starter prompt with the unread count. The first visit establishes the starting point instead of presenting old releases as unread. Updates that arrived since that position are marked New. Opening For you is what moves your position forward: it advances your read marker to the newest update that view returned, for every view. Browsing Explore, Recent updates or Features does not move it, so nothing is marked read because you scrolled past it somewhere else.

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How each update is labelled

Every update in the feed carries the same three kinds of label, so a list can be scanned without reading each entry in full:

• Significance — how much the change is likely to matter: Fix, Improvement, Feature, or Headline. This is a classification, not a severity: a Fix is not an alarm and a Headline is the one worth stopping for.
• Maturity — shown only when it changes how to read the update: Alpha and Beta mark a capability that is still changing, and Retired marks one that is being wound down. A generally available feature carries no maturity label.
• Why it is in your list — Changed for you when Apostra verified your account was affected, In your setup when it verified you have the feature configured, and For all accounts when the change applies to everyone in your role. An update never claims to be about your account unless Apostra could verify that.

Each feature update leads with the practical outcome and links to its documentation when available. The Apostra action adapts to the update: See how it fits for an Explore item, What should I do? for a change in your setup, or Explain this update in release history. The selected card shows Apostra’s explanation or retry state inline through the shared typed tool; the action does not add a chat turn or change your composer.

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The Features board

Features shows the product features available to your account in three columns, one for each stage:

• Alpha — early access. The feature is still changing.
• Beta — ready to try. Details may change.
• Generally available — live and stable.

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Which features you see

The board lists only features available to your account. It follows your role, so a buyer account sees buyer features and a seller account sees seller features. A feature with limited access appears only once Apostra can confirm it is enabled for your account, and it is labelled Enabled for your account. A feature that is not available to you does not appear, at any stage. The board only shows what exists; it does not change what you can use.

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What a card shows

Each card shows the feature name, its newest update (or the feature’s description when it has no recent updates), how many recent updates it has with the date of the latest, and the Enabled for your account label where it applies. The whole card is one target: select it to open the feature. At the top of the board, three tiles count Updates shipped, Features updated and the Latest update across the features currently shown, so they change as you search or filter.

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Finding a feature

• Search matches feature names, feature descriptions and the text of their updates.
• Area narrows the board to one product area, such as Buying or Selling. Only areas that have a feature available to you are listed.
• Each column shows its first eight features. Select Show all to see the rest and Show fewer to collapse it again.

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Opening a feature

Selecting a card replaces the board with that feature. You see its name, stage and area, a description, a Read guide link when the feature has a guide, and up to five of its newest updates with the significance label and date, newest first. When a feature has more updates than that, the page says how many it is showing. Back to board returns you to the board with your search, area and expanded columns as you left them.

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For API and agent callers

The board is also available as GET /api/v2/release-board, or as the list_release_board operation through api_call. It returns the three stages in order (alpha, beta, ga), each with the features available to the calling account. Each feature carries up to five recent updates, newest first, and a count of its updates. The same role and access rule as the Features tab applies: a feature with limited access appears only once it is confirmed enabled for the account, and is flagged gated: true. Unlike list_release_updates, reading the board never moves the read marker.

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Shared Slack notes

If you have a shared Slack channel with Apostra, Apostra may also post a short direct follow-up when a reviewed change specifically affects your account. Slack is not the default release feed. These messages are written for the affected setup rather than copied from a technical changelog:

🚀 Apostra v4.9.0 is live - here’s what’s new for you: • If your ad-server adapter sync was failing with credential errors, that’s fixed — your next sync should go through. Nothing to change on your side. Any questions? Just ask me here 💬

Updates in the release feed can also include a small learning package:

• Read guide opens the canonical Apostra documentation at the most relevant section when one is available.
• Open feature appears when the feature has a stable in-product destination and takes you directly there.
• Open in Apostra appears for shared chat surfaces and opens the registered surface immediately, without drafting a chat message.
• Show me appears when Product Commercialization has published a guided lesson. It opens the feature and teaches it step by step in place.
• A screenshot may appear when the feature owns a current, customer-safe image in the documentation. The guide remains the source of truth; the image is never the only instruction.

Not every note needs every action. Fixes generally need only a concise explanation, while new capabilities are expected to carry a guide and a way to start learning them.

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How Slack changes are selected

Slack follow-ups are intentionally rare and can differ by customer:

• Specific impact — the follow-up identifies the affected account cohort and why the change applies; a broad buyer/seller label is not enough.
• Reviewed targeting — the reason, customer message, and intended cohort require an attributable approval before delivery.
• Fail closed — if Apostra cannot resolve the intended cohort safely, the message is withheld rather than widened to more customers.
• No news, no note — routine fixes, improvements, and feature releases remain available in the account-aware feed without generating another Slack interruption.

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Asking about any change

Ask Apostra in the product or reply in your shared channel. Apostra can explain a change, open the release feed, walk you through using something new, or connect you with the team. When you choose Open in Apostra, the link carries a registered feature identifier rather than arbitrary prompt text. Apostra validates that identifier and opens its registered product surface immediately. The link cannot select an arbitrary tool, and opening the surface does not change your account; actions inside it still follow their normal safeguards. Open in Apostra is a product launch, not an interactive tutorial. Show me is the teaching experience: it opens an authored guided lesson, highlights the relevant controls, and links back to the full guide. The feature’s ? button restarts the same lesson later. Features without a reviewed lesson do not show that action.

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Adjusting or stopping the notes

Periodic Product Updates in Slack include an Unsubscribe button. A member of the connected Apostra account can use it to stop future Product Updates in that channel without removing the account’s release history or muting another connected channel. You can also ask Apostra to show or change the Product Updates setting for your account’s primary Slack channel. Product Updates currently have a fixed schedule, so the setting is on/off rather than a frequency selector. Product Updates and direct follow-up are separate. Unsubscribing from the periodic digest does not suppress a separately reviewed message about a change that specifically affects your account or requires action. Tell us in your shared channel if you want that follow-up policy adjusted too. Your account-aware history remains available through supported product and agent interfaces, and the complete public record is always in the changelog.