stack-580 Release Notes

📅 Release Date: March 8, 2026

Summary

The primary goals of this release are to graduate the Curator feature out of experimental mode and continue expanding the Search experience with richer result cards and direct file download capability. Teams actively using Curator or Search (in experimental mode) will see the most direct impact. No breaking or backward-incompatible changes are introduced in this release.

Tickets completed: 20 (Platform (PLFM): 10, Synapse Web Client (SWC): 10)

Affected Users & Systems

Data curators and researchers using Curator for metadata editing - significant reliability and performance improvements apply directly to their workflows.
Synapse users using Search in experimental mode - Richer result cards and smarter "Did You Mean?" suggestions improve discoverability.
Backend / API consumers - User-lookup APIs are now realm-scoped, which tightens data isolation across Synapse environments. No action is required for standard production usage.

Deprecated or Breaking Changes

None in this release.

New Features

Curator

Curator is a spreadsheet-style grid interface that makes it easier to validate and submit metadata alongside research data. See Managing Metadata with Curator for complete documentation.

Updates:

Tasks & Actions Tab (SWC-7732)

The Tasks & Actions tab has been released from experimental mode and is now available to all users.

Grid fails to load data / apply patches (PLFM-9520, SWC-7719)
Two related issues caused the Grid to fail silently - data would not load and sync errors appeared without any explanatory message. Both are now fixed, and users will see clear error messaging when a sync operation encounters a problem.

Deleted files incorrectly blocked grid synchronization (PLFM-9521)
When a file referenced in a Grid's file-view source was deleted, syncing the grid returned an error ("Cannot add the row") instead of gracefully removing the deleted row. The grid now correctly handles deleted source files during synchronization.

Batched patch delivery for faster grid sync (PLFM-9494, SWC-7715)
The server previously sent grid patches one at a time, requiring a round-trip for each. Patches are now batched into larger messages (up to 128 KB per message), significantly reducing the time needed for a session to catch up, especially noticeable when joining an active grid session.

Improved concurrency for high-user-count grid sessions (PLFM-9501, PLFM-9502)
A demo with 36 simultaneous users revealed that the message queue backing grid sessions could saturate under load, causing non-responsive sessions. The platform now supports multiple parallel processing threads per queue, dramatically increasing the throughput available for busy grid sessions.

Column resize broken when header descriptions are enabled (SWC-7720)
Adding column header description tooltips had inadvertently broken the ability to drag-resize column widths. Column resizing is restored.

“Open Working Copy” button silently fails when not logged in (SWC-7619)
Unauthenticated users clicking "Open Working Copy" in the Metadata tab saw no feedback. The button now prompts users to log in when they are not authenticated.

Working Copy for RecordSet objects did not reliably load the Grid (SWC-7490)
Clicking "Working Copy" on a RecordSet view sometimes spun indefinitely without loading the Grid or returning a useful error. This has been resolved and the Grid now loads correctly.

CSV upload failed when grid started empty (PLFM-9477)
Uploading a CSV file to populate a blank grid had no effect - the grid remained empty. The upload feature now correctly populates the grid from a CSV regardless of starting state.

Gridbot schema permissions error (PLFM-9499)
Gridbot was unable to read the grid schema due to a permissions misconfiguration, preventing it from offering meaningful AI-assisted curation suggestions. The permissions issue is resolved and Gridbot can now access schema information as expected.

Gridbot AI agent context-window bloat (PLFM-9422)
The AI agent powering Gridbot was always including validation results in its context, unnecessarily consuming token budget and triggering API throttling in longer sessions. Validation results are now only included when explicitly requested.

Search

Note: SearchV2 is in experimental mode. Toggle switch at bottom of page.

Direct File Download from Search Results (SWC-7711)

Users can now download files directly from their SearchV2 search results without navigating to the file's detail page. This streamlines data access for researchers working across large collections.

Richer Result Cards - "Located In" and File Size (SWC-7708)

Search result cards now display two additional pieces of metadata: the folder or project the file lives in ("Located In") and its file size. This helps users quickly assess relevance and identify the right file before clicking through.

Suggestions Shown Even When No Results Are Found (SWC-7705)

Previously, the "Did You Mean?" suggestion UI was hidden when a search term returned zero results. Suggestions are now always displayed when available, helping users recover from misspellings or imprecise queries even on empty result pages.

Additional Improvements:

Realm-Scoped User Lookup APIs (PLFM-9425)

User and user-group lookup services now filter results to the realm of the authenticated user. This ensures that users in one Synapse environment (e.g., a partner portal) do not see accounts from other environments when searching for collaborators or team members.

Read-Only maintenance page not displayed correctly (SWC-7717)
During a stack upgrade where the system enters read-only mode, users saw a blank page instead of the intended read-only maintenance notice. The maintenance page now renders correctly.

ORCiD linking shows misleading error in Dev realm (PLFM-9474)
In the Dev environment (which intentionally blocks ORCiD linking), attempting to link an ORCiD showed a confusing error rather than hiding the option entirely. The error is suppressed and the UI now behaves as expected.

Anonymous request validation hardened (PLFM-9472)
An internal authentication utility now strictly validates that the anonymous parameter is present in requests, preventing edge-case authentication ambiguities.

Google Analytics data quality fix (SWC-7707)
Analytics tracking was inadvertently capturing traffic from development, staging, and automated test environments, inflating production usage metrics. Analytics now records only genuine production traffic.

Traceability: SWC-7732, SWC-7720, SWC-7719, SWC-7717, SWC-7715, SWC-7711, SWC-7708, SWC-7707, SWC-7705, SWC-7619, SWC-7490, PLFM-9521, PLFM-9520, PLFM-9503, PLFM-9502, PLFM-9501, PLFM-9499, PLFM-9494, PLFM-9477, PLFM-9474, PLFM-9472, PLFM-9425, PLFM-9422