Alter Modes: Control Your Context

Eternel sunshine of the spotless mind

Hey everyone,

Three weeks ago, we shipped Code Runner, the execution engine that makes anything possible.

Last week, we showed you Plan Mode, how to think before you act.

Today, we're introducing Alter Mode, the missing piece that ties it all together.

🎶 FPU - Crockett’s theme 🎶

Why Alter Mode Matters

Here's the problem most of us face: your work isn't one thing. You're not a single mode of operation. You're a founder doing finance reviews. You're a student jumping between classes. You're a professional context-switching between projects and personal tasks.

Each of these demands different tools, different instructions, different contexts.

Alter Mode solves this by letting you create custom modes linked to workspaces. Enable finance mode? Alter switches your entire workspace, your tools, your system prompt, everything, to that context.

It's not a cosmetic change. It's about controlling your environment so you can focus on the work.

How It Works

Create a new action in the Action Editor
Attach a workspace (optional)
Enable the mode → Alter automatically switches workspaces, tools, and instructions
Work in a controlled environment with only what you need

In Alter Hub, use Maj+Tab to switch between modes

Think of it as having separate desks for separate parts of your life. When you sit at the finance desk, you get the finance files, finance tools, finance context. No clutter. No distraction.

Real examples:

Finance mode for expense reviews and cash flow
Personal vs. Professional modes (clear separation of tools and access)
Student modes (one per topic or class)
Project-specific modes with dedicated workflows

Performance & Stability You'll Feel

We also rebuilt our conversation architecture from the ground up:

90% memory reduction in chat handling
Faster context switching and window management
Better transcript editing (transcript-first flow, double-click rename, multi-select delete with cmd+backspace)
Improved sidebar performance and hub refresh reliability
New documentation site: https://docs.alterhq.com with automatic sync for always-current docs within Alter.

The Bigger Picture

We're building a platform where:

Plan Mode helps you think strategically
Code Runner gives you unlimited execution power
Alter Mode keeps you organized across contexts

This is the operating system for your workday. Not a tool. A platform.

See you next week.

Olivier & Samuel

Full Changelog

New Features & Enhancements

Alter Mode + Workspaces: Introduced custom modes with automatic workspace-follow behavior for context-controlled environments
Hub Productivity: Added transcript-first editing flow, multi-select delete (cmd+backspace), double-click rename in transcript view, and significantly improved sidebar render performance
Conversation & Chat UX: Rebuilt chat architecture with 90% memory reduction and added command-based dragging for the floating chat window
Database: Chats now stored unencrypted for faster performance while remaining local to your device
Flow Engine: Enhanced summarization step to surface links and IDs likely to be used in future turns
Voice & Meetings Controls: Added recording input-device selection and transcript export to user-defined folders
Action Editor & Scheduling: New layout in action editor plus schedule trigger to run actions on new transcripts
Documentation: Launched https://docs.alterhq.com with automatic alter-docs skill updates from the public GitHub repository
Help Experience: Added one-click Help chat entry in the menu

Bug Fixes & Stability

Sandbox Runtime Stability: New container with relaxed permissions for apt-get library installation and improved library persistence
Voice & Recording: Fixed noop notifications on recording cancellation
Tool Calls: New test suites and recovery system for malformed tool calls
Hub Refresh: Fixed transcripts not appearing immediately after creation and aligned refresh behavior across controls