stack-585 Release Notes

Release Date: April 19, 2026

Summary

Stack-585 delivers two major capability investments alongside a series of quality-of-life improvements across the Synapse platform and web client. On the platform side, foundational work enables full-text search over Synapse table data (via a new SearchIndex entity type) and introduces discussion forums scoped to Access Requirements — both strategic steps toward richer collaboration and data discoverability. On the web client side, this release stabilizes the data curation workflow by reverting an experimental task-linking change in the annotation grid, fixing several navigation bugs, and polishing the UI across tables, search, and project creation.

Impacted users and teams: Data curators, data managers, portal users, and Sage Bionetworks internal teams. No action is required from end users for most changes. The SearchIndex entity is currently gated to Sage Bionetworks employees only (pilot access).

10 tickets completed across PLFM (2) and SWC (8).

Affected Users & Systems

Deprecated or Breaking Changes

Revert of task-linked grid sessions (SWC-7803 / SWC-7676)

An experimental feature that linked annotation grid sessions to specific tasks has been reverted to legacy behavior. Going forward:

• Opening the Open Curator tool always starts a personal (unlinked) session — the same behavior as before the experiment.

• Grid sessions will never be linked to a task, and previously linked grid sessions will not be opened via the task UI.

• The Assignees filter in the Tasks & Actions tab is intended for filtering results and has no relationship to user permissions or access control.

Mitigation: No user action required. Users who relied on the short-lived task-linked grid session behavior should be aware that collaborative annotation via the grid is returning to personal sessions. Collaborative curation workflows should use the Assignees field to track ownership.

New Features

SearchIndex Entity — Platform Foundation (PLFM-9514)

A new entity type, SearchIndex, has been introduced to the Synapse platform. It enables full-text search over Synapse table data powered by OpenSearch. A SearchIndex is defined by a SQL query referencing a single table-like entity and can optionally reference a SearchConfiguration for analyzer and synonym settings.

• Current access: Pilot — restricted to Sage Bionetworks employees only.

• Behavior: SearchIndex follows build-once/delete-recreate semantics (non-versionable).

• Index states tracked: CREATING → ACTIVE / FAILED / DELETING.

• Broader availability to the research community will be announced in a future release.

Discussion Forums for Access Requirements (PLFM-9538)

Access Requirements (ARs) now automatically get their own discussion forum when created. This enables structured communication between data submitters and data access committees directly within the AR workflow. Key details:

• A forum is created for each new AR going forward.

• Existing ARs will be backfilled so that discussion threads can be created upon next submission.

• A new API endpoint (GET /forum?objectId=&objectType=) supports retrieving the forum associated with an AR.

• Applies to managed ARs only.

Assignees Field in Tasks & Actions Tab (SWC-7785)

The Tasks & Actions tab now displays an Assignees field, showing the team or individual assigned to each task. If no assignee is set, the UI shows "Unassigned." Assignees can be edited directly from the UI, improving visibility into task ownership for data managers and curators.

Fixes & Improvements

Table Column Width Fix (SWC-7786)
Synapse tables no longer display columns that are too narrow to read by default. Minimum widths have been set for key columns (such as id and name), reducing the need for users to manually resize columns to view their data.

Search Redirect Fixed from "Your Projects" Page (SWC-7798)
Searching for a Synapse ID via the search bar from the Your Projects page now correctly redirects to the target entity. Previously, this redirect failed specifically in that context.

Navigation Error Fixed When Returning from Grid to View (SWC-7736)
Using the browser Back button to navigate from a grid back to a table view no longer produces a "Missing Session Id" error. This was a disruptive bug affecting curators working across multiple views.

Improved Project Creation Guidance (SWC-7778)
The Create a New Project modal now displays a required-field indicator (asterisk) next to the Project Name field and helper text prompting users to pick a unique title. This reduces confusion when a duplicate name triggers a backend error.

CSV Preview Widget Modernized (SWC-7504)
The legacy GWT-based CSV upload preview widget has been replaced with a modern React implementation, consistent with the broader platform migration away from GWT. Users will see the same functionality with improved reliability and maintainability.

Synapse Homepage NIH Logo Sizes Standardized (SWC-7514)
NIH logos displayed on the Synapse homepage are now rendered at a consistent height, improving the visual polish of the homepage for all visitors.