Stack-572 Release Notes

Summary

Synapse Stack-572 focuses on hardening security, improving reliability of AI-assisted curation, and smoothing key user workflows in Synapse and the web client. This release closes gaps in table access enforcement, makes Grid agent updates to structured values trustworthy, and fixes several UI issues that could confuse users or interrupt common tasks.

The original TECH roadmap themes here are:

(1) securing data access by ensuring permissions are applied consistently in all query paths

(2) increasing trust and stability in agent and AI-powered tooling

(3) reducing friction in submission and project management workflows

This work was prioritized to mitigate security risk around stale access to table data, to keep CI and agent services reliable, and to address user-facing issues that directly impact partners and contributors using Synapse daily.

Expected impact: data owners gain higher confidence that when access is revoked, it is enforced everywhere; curators and data managers can rely on the Grid agent to correctly apply updates to list/JSON-array fields; and Synapse users experience fewer confusing errors and smoother interactions in the UI (including form validation, search, navigation after Docker commits).

Affected Users & Systems

• Users / Teams

  • Data contributors and project administrators managing controlled data in Synapse tables (PLFM-9391, PLFM-8534).

  • Curators and data managers using Grid/agent tools to update structured metadata (PLFM-9364, PLFM-9318).

  • Synapse users interacting with forms, full-text search, Docker repositories, and the homepage (SWC-7616, SWC-7612, SWC-7584, SWC-7487).

  • Engineering and DevOps teams maintaining stable CI builds for agent-related services (PLFM-9394, PLFM-9393).

• Systems / Components

  • Synapse table query engine, caching, and access-control enforcement (PLFM-9391, PLFM-8534).

  • Grid agent update handling and persistence of list / JSON-array values (PLFM-9364, PLFM-9318).

  • AgentChat worker and its automated integration tests (PLFM-9394, PLFM-9393).

  • Synapse web client:

    • Full-text search UI and state management (SWC-7616).

    • Homepage promotional content for BioArena (SWC-7612).

    • Form validation and conditional required fields (SWC-7584).

    • Docker repository view refresh behavior after commits (SWC-7487).

• Workflows

  • Running queries against Synapse tables before and after changes to access permissions.

  • Agent-assisted curation sessions that modify list or array-style columns.

  • Searching within Synapse using FTS without hitting UI depth errors.

  • Completing forms with conditionally required fields and seeing clear validation cues.

  • Pushing commits to Docker repos and seeing an up-to-date UI.

  • Discovering BioArena via the Synapse home page.

Deprecated or Breaking Changes

No intentional deprecated or breaking changes are introduced in stack-572.

New Features

• Highlighting BioArena on the Synapse home page The Synapse home page now advertises BioArena, increasing visibility of this initiative to the broader community and making it easier for users to discover and engage with it (SWC-7612).

Fixes & Improvements

• Stronger enforcement of table access revocation Fixed issues where users could still run previously successful table queries after being removed from a table’s ACL. Queries now consistently respect current permissions, closing a security gap around stale or cached results (PLFM-9391, PLFM-8534).

• Reliable Grid agent updates for list / JSON-array values Resolved problems where Grid agent updates to list-style or JSON-array fields either failed or resulted in empty/incorrect values. Agent-driven edits to these structured columns now persist correctly and reflect accurately in the grid, improving trust in AI-assisted curation (PLFM-9364, PLFM-9318).

• Stabilized agent integration tests and builds Addressed build errors and flaky behavior in AgentChatWorkerIntegrationTest, particularly around the Synapse Help knowledge base. This reduces CI noise, prevents job retry exhaustion, and improves confidence when deploying agent-related changes (PLFM-9394, PLFM-9393).

• More robust full-text search experience Fixed a UI issue where FTS search could trigger a “Maximum update depth exceeded” error, which could disrupt the search experience. Users should now see a more stable and responsive search interface (SWC-7616).

• Clearer validation for conditionally required fields Corrected a bug where conditionally required form fields were not highlighted when missing. Users now receive clearer visual feedback when a required field has not been completed, reducing submission errors and support overhead (SWC-7584).

• Smoother Docker repository refresh after commits Improved the behavior of the Docker repo view so that it refreshes appropriately after adding a commit, helping users more quickly confirm that their changes have been registered (SWC-7487).