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VIPP 0.12.0a3

Release date: 20 July 2026

Maturity: Alpha pre-release

VIPP 0.12.0a3 makes local collection processing more direct, resilient, and portable as an interactive setup. It removes an unnecessary preview gate, improves existing-output and transient-lock handling, and lets a workflow carry its validated Batch workspace configuration when the user chooses.

Workflow schema remains 3

This release does not increment the workflow schema. Valid schema-3 workflows from 0.12.0a1 and 0.12.0a2 load structurally in 0.12.0a3. Workflow JSON still contains no cached scientific pixels or tables, so recalculate and validate after upgrading. Schema versions 1 and 2 remain rejected.

A workflow may now contain an optional top-level batch_config. The attachment stores versioned collection bindings and run settings, including local paths; it does not store source pixels, calculated outputs, manifests, or sidecars. It is excluded from the scientific workflow hash and is validated against the containing graph before use.

Generated Python is a separate artifact: it records the exact VIPP version that created it and refuses another runtime. Regenerate and revalidate every export under 0.12.0a3.

Highlights

  • Start a new or deliberately edited batch with one Run batch click. Run performs its own plan-only preflight; representative Preview remains optional.
  • Accept or change a clearly marked suggested output subdirectory after binding the first source folder.
  • Finalize items whose Skip outputs all exist without loading their source pixels or calculating the graph.
  • Retry transient Windows, cloud-sync, and indexing locks during atomic replacement, while keeping run-level provenance mandatory.
  • Save a workflow with or without its active Batch workspace through an explicit Yes/No/Cancel choice, then restore a valid attachment without previewing or calculating it.
  • Use one separated Batch workspace... toolbar action, with Load-before-Save ordering shared by the main toolbar and Batch workspace.

Before upgrading from 0.12.0a2

  1. Preserve the original workflow, environment, inputs, outputs, standalone batch config, manifests, sidecars, and validation evidence.
  2. Open a duplicate schema-3 workflow in 0.12.0a3 and inspect its graph, parameters, sources, connections, output declarations, and dynamic ports.
  3. Recalculate the graph. Cached results are not serialized in workflow JSON.
  4. Compare decisive intermediates and final measurements with the validated 0.12.0a2 results or other reference data.
  5. Regenerate exported Python and rerun its validation under 0.12.0a3.
  6. Perform a fresh batch preflight and inspect the output destination, existing-file policy, final manifest, and item sidecars.

See versions and compatibility, the workflow contract, and validation status.

Direct batch execution and suggested output

Run batch no longer calculates a representative as an implicit prerequisite. When no reviewed plan is current—for example, just after loading a config or editing a setting—the same click builds a fresh plan-only preflight and starts the full run. Preview batch remains available when the user wants to load and calculate a representative for visual review.

An unexpectedly changed plan that had already been reviewed still stops for confirmation. This preserves the distinction between intentionally starting an unpreviewed plan and silently running a plan whose files, destinations, collisions, output declarations, or workflow hash changed after review.

After the first batch source folder is bound, VIPP suggests its output subdirectory. Amber text identifies an unconfirmed suggestion rather than an invalid path. Focusing, clicking, editing, or explicitly choosing the field confirms it; saved config destinations remain explicit and are not replaced by the suggestion.

Faster skips and more resilient provenance

When every resolved destination for an item already exists under Skip, VIPP records the no-op without opening the source or calculating the graph. An item with both existing and missing outputs still calculates normally so the missing outputs can be generated correctly.

Atomic artifact replacement now retries transient access failures for several seconds. This targets short-lived locks from Windows, cloud synchronization, indexing, or similar services without hiding a persistent permission or path problem. Redundant item-sidecar rewrites were also removed.

If a final per-item sidecar still cannot be written, the run records that item as partial and applies Continue after item failures to the remaining items. Failure to finalize the authoritative run manifest remains a run-level error; VIPP does not report a successful batch without durable final provenance.

Workflow-attached Batch workspace

When a Batch workspace is active, Save workflow... now asks:

  • Yes attaches its validated versioned batch configuration to the workflow JSON;
  • No writes the ordinary graph-only workflow; and
  • Cancel writes nothing.

Loading a workflow with a valid attachment restores and opens Batch workspace with its fields populated. It does not scan the collection, load a representative, build a preview, or calculate the graph. Run batch always performs a fresh preflight. An invalid or mismatched attachment is not silently applied; the scientific graph can still load while VIPP reports that the Batch workspace was not restored.

The standalone vipp_batch_config.json remains the appropriate artifact for the supplied headless runner or when workflow and automation configuration are managed separately. Neither form replaces finalized manifests, archives, and item sidecars from an actual run.

The main toolbar now presents the sole Batch workspace... action between workflow loading and the separated export group. The duplicate action in the representative strip was removed. Both the main workflow controls and Batch workspace place Load before Save.

Compatibility and validation boundary

0.12.0a3 is a focused Batch workspace reliability and persistence release. Workflow schema remains 3, the scientific workflow hash remains based on the scientific graph rather than its optional batch attachment, and scientific cache publication remains atomic.

A manual Windows acceptance pass covered direct unpreviewed execution, complete Skip items, continued processing after an item failure, attached-config save/reload, and a representative 3D deconvolution batch. This is useful release-level evidence, but it is not a cross-platform stress study, a broad microscope-file interoperability matrix, or validation of restoration quality for arbitrary samples.

VIPP remains alpha software. The public validation-status page separates current automated and bounded manual evidence from real-image, performance, interoperability, and usability evidence still required.