What's New
Every release of Cactus, written by Cactus from its commits, the same way it writes yours.
Q4 2026
October 2026
You can have conversations in your team's language, keep Messenger on the page when it retries, and scan product help pages.
Hand-drawn Cactus mark
The Cactus mark rests on a hand-drawn ink line with grass wherever it appears, from the site header and footer to Messenger launchers and share cards. Its foot is squared beneath the line, while raster favicons and reply-card tiles keep the round foot.
See when a build should finish
Building on Live setup progress, each build card shows an expected finish time based on repository size, set at kickoff and refined twice as the build runs.
Open a ready page without reloading
A ready page opens from the catalog without a reload. If its link isn't in the current list, Cactus checks the catalog again before saying the page doesn't exist.
Light and dark brand colors
Building on product setup finishes after pages publish, Cactus shows your site's brand-color choices as light-and-dark pairs in Product branding and saves both colors when you confirm. A dark color appears only when it has enough contrast against Cactus's dark background.
Lifted cards in dark mode
Dark mode gives the main card its own fill and glow above the near-black sidebar, with a shadow on wider screens.
See how long a build has left
Building on live setup progress, a single line at the bottom of the sidebar shows how long your build has left on every page, then offers a way home when it finishes.
Manage Help Center language packs
Building on Help Center pages in more languages, you can add or remove available language packs under Settings › Languages. Saving the list asks Cactus to check translations, and conversation translation is on by default.
A planted Cactus in the home page hero
On larger screens, the home page pairs its hero message with a still Cactus button that opens Messenger. On non-touch screens, the Messenger launcher waits until the hero scrolls out of view before appearing.
A first-build guide on your home page
Building on A visual guide to How Cactus Works, the home page puts the primer and links to useful settings in front of you while your product's first build runs. The primer explains why Cactus's view of your product is grounded only once the build is running.
Choose support sources in one step
During setup, choose your Help Center and Intercom conversations together in one step. Your Intercom choice stays selected as you continue to connect it.
The planted Cactus mark
The planted Cactus mark follows Kevin’s drawing down to the ink line, with a shorter ground and no pebble. Building on A light-only Cactus website, the artwork appears in the logo, launcher, hero, footer, app icon, and share card.
Clone a public Help Center
You can clone a public Help Center as an Agent Memory Repo, extending Markdown pages for AI agents with its pages, topics, and changelog in one repository.
Use earlier conversations
Building on Product-grounded Messenger answers, Cactus remembers a person's earlier conversations and uses relevant ones to answer their next question. You can turn memory off in Messenger settings. The team owner can review or forget what Cactus remembers in the Inbox.
Improvements
- Conversation resolution the setup step explains what Handoffs are and why you’d choose one, with reply rules on the Handoffs page
- Sidebar the folded Search row shows its magnifier on every computer, with the shortcut in its tooltip
- Setup the final card shows a one-line build message, and the widget uses ink and paper when you skip branding
- Question counts counts customer questions from every channel outside the app, excluding setup and your team's own cursor
Fixes
- Overview the count includes Messenger and Help Center questions, but still excludes setup and your team's own cursor
Open a message's original text
Turn translation on under Settings › Languages. Inbox conversations appear in your team's language, with the original text folded into a quote above the translation until you open it. Cactus answers in the customer's language and translates messages both ways.
Help Center pages in more languages
Help Center pages, topic names, and Messenger text are translated into each language your team adds, alongside English. Corrections keep their answer beside the first, while screen labels and terms stay as written.
Use your thread from another device
After a customer proves who they are, they can share, rate, or hand off their own thread from a second device.
Answers checked against Help Center pages
Building on Cactus checks code when facts fall short, Cactus checks proposed answers against Help Center pages and saved knowledge before writing them.
Improvements
- Cactus website the Agents section has a framed client window and more space around its content
- Messenger the launchers stay visible on light and dark backgrounds, and the install page no longer flashes empty while loading
- Product setup setup skips unused questions and shows who can create the first product
- Answers Cactus can take more steps to answer a question
- Help pages help pages show up to four closely related pages, with figures placed in their relevant sections
- Product knowledge Cactus can cite package files from products organized in a monorepo
- What's New What's New entries identify their lead chapter and whether customers would notice the release
Fixes
- Cactus website a product reset switches Cactus Messenger to the new product automatically
- Product setup renaming a product updates its name in Messenger
- Help Center Help Center addresses can't use reserved office names
- Teamspace accepting a team invitation from the welcome page takes you into the app
- Inbox a visitor's handoff opens its Inbox thread from the Help Center or Messenger
- Connections expired connection callbacks return to setup with an expired notice
- AI clients MCP errors show a plain message, and cancelling an ask stops the wait
- Slack pasted Help Center links show previews in Slack again, and Slack access is requested when needed
Oct 4–5
Retry with the original screen and pictures
When a visitor asks from a help screen, Messenger captures that screen before switching to chat. A failed question's Retry resends the screen context and the pictures attached to the original question.
One scroll for Help Center pages
In the Help Center, pages, What's New, and releases scroll within one full-height card while the site's bar and Cactus's column stay in place. A page opens at its first line, while lists return to where you left them.
Keep Inbox conversations team-only
Each team's Inbox shows turns only for its own products, keeping other teams' customer conversations private.
Send handoffs to the team Inbox
A handoff from the Help Center, Messenger, or an AI client sends the team a link to the conversation in the Inbox and thanks the visitor. Products with a connected Discord destination also offer Talk to a human.
Improvements
- Cactus website the homepage hero uses a larger Cactus launcher that follows the page into its corner as you scroll
- App renaming a teamspace updates its name in the app tray
- Repositories code indexing skips excluded files and folders, while code search uses a word index
- Settings Settings shows accent errors beside the accent, accepts longer names, and stops repeating failed connection attempts
- AI clients team owners get the tools allowed by their role when asking through MCP or A2A
- Discord Discord shows status only for linked teammates and posts investigation findings in the thread
- Messenger Messenger answers sites that identify a visitor by email alone and doesn't verify users without an ID
- Help pages help-page access follows the same reader rules in the app, Help Center, and AI clients
- Builds builds reuse cached model-call content
Fixes
- Help Center source chips finish checking, and help pages use readable labels for product-filled values
- Product setup products inherit their team's website and receive their access key and unique address at creation
- Answers a plain message replaces provider wording whenever an answer is refused
- AI clients AI clients are asked to sign in when a search result points to a restricted page
- Visibility Visibility counts a Cactus namesake only when it links to heycactus.ai
- Builds cancelling a build stops its run cleanly
- Release updates release titles are limited to 60 characters
Subheadings, steps, tables, and notes
Subheadings separate ideas, numbered steps lay out procedures, and tables and notes organize details. A rewrite can leave out sections that don't help the reader.
Help Center content for AI agents
Help Center pages give AI agents clear links, readable state labels, and correctly nested headings in their machine-readable text. An Agents page at /agents explains how to connect an AI agent to your Help Center, and you can turn it off in Connect under Appearance > Help site.
Help Center requests in the Inbox
When a visitor chooses “Talk to a human” on your Help Center, their conversation appears alongside Messenger and AI client threads in the Inbox, where your team can reply.
Improvements
- Help pages Page summaries name their subject, and shared state details live on one page that other pages point to
- Release updates each release gets one change-type chip, and its summary focuses on the headline
- Cactus website the homepage uses serif titles, the launcher has a mark at its base, and its three-release statement moves more slowly
- Messenger the “/ to type” hint uses a flat key, faint text, and no background
Q3 2026
September 2026
You can import existing help and support history, give customers product-grounded answers in Messenger, and publish Help Center pages on a custom domain.
On a first build, each page's name and first 12 questions guide a search for matching files, which join the evidence the writer already has. Files too large to include whole can contribute excerpts instead of being left out.
A fuller map of your product
On a full build, Cactus maps each screen, integration, settings group and public policy by product area, tracking what still needs evidence. A code push refreshes the index, and another push during that refresh gets one follow-up pass.
Code pushes feed What's New
Each new commit becomes a part of the open daily release, and Cactus plans and writes the release when the day closes. The feed, release pages, Help Center cards, Messenger and Slack show releases as text rather than cover images.
Ask Cactus with an image
Attach an image to a question in the app or Messenger, and Cactus can consider it when answering. You can also add an image to a Rules entry or a help page section.
See your AI search rankings
The Visibility card puts search results in plain language: how many phrases were checked, whether your sites appeared in the top 10, and which watched products ranked instead. A table lists each phrase and the best positions for your sites and watched competitors.
Improvements
- Answers Cactus retries stalled answer streams and uses the final answer when a model adds commentary
- Messenger the Messenger launcher can show Cactus's flower, a colored chat bubble, or your own picture
- Cactus site site illustrations show product screens, page changes, and a clearer animated walkthrough
- Product knowledge a brief failure during a knowledge update is retried before the batch restarts
- What's New timeline markers align on the center of the rail
- Search Cmd+K opens Search at the tray, and Escape, sending, or moving the pointer returns the visitor's dot
- Cactus site site pages say the same things in fewer words
- App the app's daytime theme uses warm surfaces, a gradient background, and periwinkle conversations
- Help pages feature up to eight pages on the Help Center home, with deeper topic lists tucked behind “N more”
- Help Center the Developers page lists browser-agent tools, shows which are available in your browser, and lets you run each one there
- Docs Docs uses one layout across the app, the Help Center, and Cactus's website
- Docs agents can read Markdown versions of Cactus Docs pages and the Help Center's Developers and Contact pages
- Cactus site the footer's animated landscape completes its sunrise unless the theme or screen width changes
- About the About page opens without a picture and introduces the founders with cards about their work
- Help Center on phones, a conversation thread stays inside the page rather than below the window
- Help pages help pages, answer sources, page cards, and Messenger Docs omit verified and out-of-date badges
- Cactus site the first screen's title is included in its initial HTML, and scrolling no longer remeasures the page every frame
Sep 28–30
The Visibility dashboard charts mentions, citations, model trends, competitors, and traffic to your sites. You can resolve or dismiss recommendations and read summaries of what changed and what to do. Checks query one AI model every other morning.
Follow releases by theme and chapter
What's New groups releases by theme, with headline chapters and a rollup of smaller changes. The same structure appears in timeline answers from Cactus and Slack release cards.
Manage AI client and agent access
The AI clients page lists clients and agents signed in as you, with Disconnect controls. Browserless agents can be claimed using a code in Cactus, and removing a teammate blocks their AI-client access on the next request. Cactus also exposes agent tools and A2A on its site and Help Centers.
Resolve product knowledge conflicts
An unsettled question reaches Slack with evidence, and you can answer from the card or Truth. Cactus uses that answer on the next pass, and corrections can propose writing rules for approval. Teammates see who set cited rules, while owners control changes to other members' rules and pages.
Check pages against promised answers
Cactus checks each promised question against its answer section, keeps fulfilled promises, and raises gaps for thin answers. Single-page rewrites and push passes preserve those gaps. Visitors get a page only when it answers their question fully. Otherwise, Cactus can combine up to three pages.
Improvements
- AI answers refused model calls retry through the same model, and Cactus rechecks answers after a correction on every surface
- What's new What's New adds release pages, cover cards, a cactus timeline, clearer navigation, and a steady reading marker
- Builds owners can schedule push syncs or turn them off, run Sync now, and see build status in the tray
- Cactus website the homepage and footer gain clearer illustrations, calmer motion, updated navigation, and a cohesive day-and-night design
- Help Center Help Centers gain product branding, legal and developer pages, accessible page data, smoother reading, and simpler search
- Help pages product pages draw from the product's own website
- Ask Cactus homepage and pricing questions invite visitors to ask their own, answers appear in place, and AI-agent guidance is clearer
- App the app's sidebar, fields, selection states, icons, and surfaces get a calmer, more consistent look
- Messenger Messenger's launcher gets clearer greetings, smoother appearances, more faces, and a full-screen phone layout
- Sounds the sounds page explains clips plainly and adds recordings, with distinct cues for opening, sending, and finishing work
- Code blocks code fences in Help Center pages, answers, and Messenger share one consistent appearance
- Privacy source-indexing and model requests ask providers not to train on submitted content
- API public API docs describe real sign-in scopes, while errors return JSON and ask responses show hourly limits
- Agent access browser agents can discover Messenger tools when the script loads, and refused tool registrations fail quietly
- Trust Center the Trust Center lists security headers, controls and evidence, subprocessors, and SOC 2 status
- Legal pages legal pages cover terms, acceptable use, DPA, cookies, security, and the companies listed in Privacy
- Repositories the GitHub App requests only code-reading, repository-listing, and push-event permissions
- Sign-in Google and GitHub sign-in tokens are stored encrypted
- Pricing the pricing page offers a 14-day Pro trial, then Pro for USD 100 or Lite for USD 30 monthly
- App the app's light theme, sidebar, icons, and transitions were refined for a calmer, faster feel
- Messenger Messenger greetings avoid marked page areas, and conversations keep answers, rich content, and closing controls in place
- What Cactus does the homepage illustration follows code through updated product knowledge to refreshed pages and release updates across customer surfaces
- Cactus website site headings type in with the Cactus cursor, while other text reveals as visitors scroll
- About the About page adds founder portraits and introductions, self-serve links, and a subtle illustration
- Ask Cactus the site explains how three readers use one page, with a clearer introduction to agents
- What's New What's New and Docs are easier to find, with coloured categories, notification marks, client icons, and consistent day-and-night styling
- App app controls respond without lag or layout shifts, with deliberate motion
- Cactus website the site cursor appears quickly, types naturally, and stays anchored as visitors scroll
- Help Center help pages switch smoothly, and links open in the frame they target
- AI clients AI-client guidance uses clear numbering and client logos, while investigations read live flag state
- Build history Builds separates Code updates and Writing rules, labels incremental passes Updates, and groups question rewrites under Investigations
- Help pages help pages show where features live and which flags their code checks
- Answers answers use signed-in visitors' flag settings, owners can republish pages, and answers about Cactus's founders cite a source
- What's New each What's New release links to the build pass that wrote it, when applicable
- Cactus website the mobile footer keeps its credit clear of the launcher, with the wordmark on the sand and a smaller sun
- Slack and Discord Discord and Slack handoffs update in place, while releases can post What's New cards to Slack channels
Fixes
- Help Center access source checks respect page access, and handoffs on closed Help Centers open no thread
- Help page access teammates can't change, take over, or read another member's Only you page
- Builds full builds carry forward pages the organizer omitted
- Messenger the closed launcher fades into its background without showing through
- GitHub clone GitHub clones keep installation credentials out of saved repository settings
- Discord Discord handoffs post only to channels in the product's own server
Sep 25–27
Browse Help in Messenger
The Help tab shows the site's catalogue with a filter. Select a result to open its full page, including sections, figures, related links, and previous and next pages.
A ready-to-run AI client command
Choose a client and select Open in Claude Code to give your coding agent a command containing your personal token. Run the command, then restart the client if it asks. The page masks your token and lets you revoke it.
Markdown for AI agents
Agents can request Markdown versions of Help Center pages and find resources such as llms.txt, the API catalog, and authentication guidance.
Set your help pages’ audience
At the brand step or in Settings, tell Cactus who reads your help pages. In Settings, you can also choose a figure style. Cactus uses the audience you set when writing each page.
Diagrams and figures on help pages
Help pages can include evidence-based diagrams, screen sketches, rails, comparisons, and highlighted terms. Cactus chooses where a figure helps, and answers can show a page’s figures in the app, Help Center, and Messenger.
Improvements
- App switch between light and dark themes with Cmd J or Ctrl J
- Answering off-topic questions get a brief response, and questions covered by a page get an immediate reply
- Help pages choose which imported images pages can use, and repeated questions are combined
- Inbox thread rows show the conversation’s age at the end of the title
- Help Center the catalogue loads once, and numbered Help Center addresses show how long they were public
- Appearance edit shadows and gradients directly, and preview what each design token paints
- Product knowledge a rebuild you request starts immediately
- Messenger Messenger uses a smaller script without changing what it shows
- Appearance the app gets consistent colours, type, cards, and controls across both themes
- Help Center help sites keep their navigation and page layouts readable on phones
- Writing rules writing rules apply across pages and answers, and only affected pages are rewritten
- Help pages page history explains each edition, and review checks its product terms and glossary
- Cactus website the Cactus website gains a redesigned home page, About and Contact pages, and a share image
- Release updates release notes explain why a change was made when its description gives a reason
- Builds the Builds page explains what each GitHub push changed, including incremental updates
- Product knowledge rebuilds from scratch are clearer to start and cancel, and the build history says so
- Slack Slack shows Cactus working while it answers, and unanswered questions finish without waiting indefinitely
- Messenger set up Messenger with your agent in one action, and it goes live automatically
- Answers answers draw on the right help pages and the full release record for what-changed questions
- Inbox long conversation emails include the opening and latest messages, with the middle counted
- AI clients pressing the connection button creates your token; copying the command doesn't create another
- Setup setup steps stay in the cursor dock, and finished conversations leave it when off screen
- Product sources a product's local development site is recorded as one of its connected sites
- Cactus website the home page adds an animated product map, a product walkthrough, and an illustrated footer
- Handoffs Discord Handoffs let you reply, resolve, and reopen conversations in their bound channel
- Help pages help-page figures use page evidence and are preserved when they haven't changed
- Messenger Messenger can sit inside a marked page without a bubble, with page-aware greetings and shared sound packs
- Workspace switching pages avoids a loading flash, and the main areas stay within reach on phones
- Answers answers include linked cards for the help pages and release updates they draw on
- Integrations the connections directory omits Intercom and mail entries and shows where Handoffs go
- Cactus website the Cactus website switches to a new serif typeface
- Writing rules Cactus uses one clear, friendly voice across its writers
- Help Center help sites follow your device’s light or dark setting and remember your choice
Fixes
- Answering suggested questions sit beneath their prompt, and a question covered by a page gets an immediate reply
- Inbox opening a thread keeps your place, and its page grows to fit its content
- What's New What's New returns you to your place after opening a release
- Teamspace the teamspace name field keeps the text you type
- Appearance text on a customer's chosen colour is picked for readable contrast
- Conversations a handoff’s status matches the result returned by its handler
- Messenger the unread badge matches the app, and pressing a bubble dismisses it
- Help pages pages with two states sharing a label can still pass review
- Messenger conversation details stay intact when a context value is unexpected, and typing indicators last through the final bubble
- Answers answer replies appear as written, without duplicate rows
- Messenger dragging the Messenger dot keeps it in place and avoids selecting page text
- Workspace the night-theme key cap and sideways scrolling on the parts page are fixed
- Answers answers wait for refreshed status before relying on it
- Integrations Slack and Intercom appear only where a connection is available
- Cactus website reduced-motion settings no longer interrupt page loading
- Help pages a stopped build can no longer publish a late page write
Sep 22–24
Set a custom address for your Help Center
Point a custom hostname to Cactus with a CNAME record, then follow its verification and certificate status in Connect. Cactus serves the Help Center from that address.
AI clients see tools their access allows
The AI clients page gives you a user-level install command and hands sign-in back to you. Cactus offers each caller only the MCP tools their access permits, and outside clients receive readable answers with links to cited help pages.
Add notes and draft replies in the Inbox
In an Inbox conversation, add an internal note, ask Cactus, or draft a customer reply in the composer. A draft stays unsent until you choose to send it, and replies render as formatted prose in Messenger.
First AI client searches run their queries
Your first code search runs its queries even if an AI client sends an unknown page cursor. Cactus asks you to search again only when a cursor it issued is no longer available.
Inspect a Help Center page's source
Use the Published and Source switch above a Help Center page to inspect its live sections, supporting code, unanswered questions and applied Rules. Source view is available to your team in the app, not to public Help Center visitors.
Improvements
- App controls copy feedback holds its button width, and loading labels and menu words move instead of blinking
- Builds jobs share one status mark, pages and the timeline start together, and each run names its Rule
- What's New releases appear once per day, with each one highlighted and clearer titles and monthly summaries
- Messenger message counts and change types are clearer, animations are smoother, and signed-in-user setup is explained
- Slack a burst of Slack messages gets one answer, with progress steps shown in order and marked complete
- Help content selection highlights stop at the selected words, with lime markers that leave the text intact
- Connections Connect's side menu separates Messenger, Handoffs, Slack, Discord, Help site and AI clients into their own pages
- Settings the top bar keeps four destinations, while pages are grouped and the open one is highlighted
- Writing rules Rules guide agents and page planning, including product-map drawings
- Help pages imported help pages keep the section and position they had in their original source
- Help Center suggested questions cover gaps no single page answers and don't repeat the current page's title
- Inbox hovered conversation rows have their 12px of spacing back
- Help Center reading uses consistent type spacing, accessible folds, and a Cactus dot that returns after page changes
- App destructive actions offer two confirmation choices from one control
- Messenger host pages receive the unread message count when they request it
- App input the You tag and typing hint stay beside the pointer
- App input suggestions end with their words, and the slash stays centered in its key
- App Messenger studio, build and settings cards use one shared design
- Product knowledge a closed knowledge month stays complete until its writing prompt changes
Fixes
- Product settings the delete-product dialog closes on Escape, keeps Tab inside, and returns focus to its opener
- Builds receipts count appended entries, stage timing stays within the progress bar, and Rule details no longer clip
- Messenger the Cactus dot returns home on Escape, keeps its earlier motion, and stays clear of page content when you scroll
- Connections Handoffs lists only available destinations, and Slack and Discord messages point to the right Connect page
- Search the slash sits centered in its keycap
- Teamspace your nameplate text stays readable against its background
- Help content published help content no longer includes em dashes or arrow characters
- Inbox the reply cursor stays clear of page text, and open conversations remain in view
- App navigation the settings navigation and address card fit on narrow screens, with clearer tab and action styling
- Help pages Cactus won't create a help page from cursor chat or when an existing page already answers
- Answers a question asked fourteen times gets the same single response
- Messenger minimized chats no longer retain the last answer's text in the browser
- Product deleting a product removes its remaining records and stops background work for it
Sep 19–21
Private Slack handoff threads
Connect Slack from onboarding or Settings under Handoffs. In a handoff thread, teammate messages become private notes unless you ask Cactus to reply to the customer. Cactus follows threads after answering and can investigate product code or refresh a help page there.
Link your Discord account
Connect a Discord server from onboarding or Settings under Handoffs, then use /cactus ask, /cactus status, and /cactus link. Linked teammates get answers with their team's access, while visitors get visitor answers and linking instructions. Long answers include the sign-in line within Discord's message limit.
Manage AI client access
Settings gives you a team MCP address, one-click links and configuration snippets for supported AI clients, plus guides for Claude and ChatGPT. A separate address lets people ask about a product's published Help Center without signing in. Teammates can approve, deny, or revoke access for connected clients.
Save a thread answer as a help page
From a conversation thread, you can ask Cactus to save its answer as a help page for you, your team, or everyone. Cactus sends the request through its regular page-writing process, using the audience you chose. Pages meant for you or your team are written for that audience instead of being withheld as unpublished.
Improvements
- Settings Settings explains actions more clearly, fits phone screens, and reports when a watched-channel send is refused
- Messenger on phones, presence sits at the bottom, the cursor marks interactive elements, and the install prompt reflects the connection
- Docs reader-facing copy avoids em dashes and arrows
- Product knowledge product evidence keeps its intended audience, with newer receipts taking precedence
- Answers answers reflect the person asking and use customer-facing terms for product knowledge
- Help Center Help Center pages navigate smoothly, with two-column browsing, clearer controls, and the product mark and name in the header
- Setup setup cards keep titles clear, completed steps quiet, and customer wording prominent
- App primary buttons use frosty white with charcoal text
- Help pages Cactus uses tone guidance and checks product sources selectively when writing help pages
Fixes
- Messenger answers remain visible above the loading veil
- Help Center Help Center pages load without mismatched content or flashing menus
- Setup the final setup card uses “1 repo”
- Inbox customers receive their conversation emails from the tested templates
Sep 15–18
Check the source of each learned rule
In Settings, “Learn from my writing” creates rules from your product site and imported help and conversations. Each rule includes the sentence it came from, so you can review the guidance alongside rules your team wrote.
Choose who can read each help page
Set a page's audience to only you, your team, or everyone. Keep the Help site team-only while you review it, and copy a public link from any page visitors can see. Pages set to only you stay out of teammates' views.
Review a help page's version history
When a projection changes a page's title, summary, sections, or sources, Cactus saves a dated edition with its reason. Open an earlier edition read-only or use Show changes to compare its wording with the live page.
Import recent Intercom conversations
Intercom imports up to 1,000 of your newest closed conversations from the past year, leaving out bot and workflow replies. If an import fails, its status explains what happened and offers a retry. Setup also identifies app review as the reason a connection can't proceed.
Install Messenger with a coding agent
From Installations, open Claude Code, Cursor, or VS Code with the install prompt ready, or copy the prompt for another coding agent. The prompt gives the agent framework-specific install steps and a checklist for verifying the launcher.
Browse What's New in the Help Center
Your public Help Center has a What's New page with monthly stories and releases, linked from the site header. Visitors can open each release from the timeline.
Improvements
- Help Center the Help Center uses a wider frame, a clearer site bar, and simpler page navigation
- Answers Cactus answers greetings and shows visitors what it's doing, with a source list that matches the answer
- Messenger the Messenger uses saved brand styling from its first frame, with clearer controls and steadier conversation scrolling
- Onboarding setup cards read more clearly, completed steps fold into a row, and onboarding finishes in one transition
- Appearance brand colors keep their saturation in dark mode, and the brand card reflects the product site
- Settings Settings puts six pages behind one rail and keeps navigation in place as you scroll
- Teamspace your teamspace is open to teammates on its email domain by default, and team email has a cleaner layout
- Builds each build shows a phase ledger and two charts
- Help pages selected text paints as you mark it, and the page editor's writing controls appear and hide together
- Forms text fields identify the type of information they accept
Fixes
- Writing rules writing-rule dates use the same month format across machines, and the notice offers a clear action
Sep 12–14
Turn imports into product evidence
Cactus turns help-site topics into open questions, and brings past conversations and replies in as dated evidence. When an import surfaces unanswered questions, Cactus can draft pages for those gaps and check them against the pages you already have.
Review build runs in Settings
Build history and Rebuild are in Settings, where you can review each run's stages and published-page count. Repository pushes start one build per day, with later pushes folded into a scheduled run.
Preview writing-rule changes
Before a batch rewrites pages, you can preview it, cancel it, or start generation. Rule changes also update pages for the chosen audience, and Settings reflects the result of applying or retiring a rule.
Set teamspace join rules
Choose whether people join by domain policy, invitation, or owner approval. Owners can invite any email address, manage domains, and rename the teamspace. Failed invite emails appear on the member row.
Hide a concept from customers
When you hide a concept, Cactus withholds it from external surfaces. A shared answer page that cites it is also hidden from visitors, while your team can still see the thread.
Improvements
- Help pages each page is published as soon as its own writing job finishes
- Appearance unbranded products keep sage accents, and the signed-in app uses a consistent charcoal background
- Customer answers share links show the visitor's question and answer again, with a separate spoken reply and sentence-case page and author headings
- Product knowledge selected text gets a brush-stroke marker, and Add a note is the single available action
- Product sources large repositories are handled in pages, and provider errors are shown once as reported
- AI clients AI clients can search owner notes, page through code results, distinguish failures, and handle longer tool sessions
- Product updates release notes list only the concepts they name, and knowledge changes link to their release
- Onboarding finishing onboarding opens a fresh conversation
- Sign in the sign-in page says Cactus publishes and uses a coral cursor on its cream field
- Help pages help pages reflect your team's tone, learned from its replies, existing pages, and site
- Help pages presence bubbles stack beside the idle cursor
Fixes
- Help pages the presence chip stays within the screen on unknown and unpublished pages
- Product knowledge the note action appears beside the highlighted line, and text-selection controls stay within the screen
- Product sources repository views stay isolated during indexing
- Customer answers answer citations match the revision used for the reply, and failed provider turns are saved
- Docs llms.txt won't return an HTML shell, and the sitemap stays valid if the Markdown file can't be read
- Onboarding your first regular question is separate from the pinned setup conversation
- Home the welcome text sits at the bottom of the reading column
- Help pages page slugs stay unique when concepts are omitted or renamed
Sep 8–11
Cactus investigates your product code
Questions the Help Center can't answer can trigger a code investigation. The answer lists the files it drew on for your team, while visitors get a single customer-safe source line.
Cactus answers in Slack threads
Cactus answers for the product linked to the channel, with the complete answer and links to cited Help Center pages. Follow-up mentions in the thread continue the same conversation.
Add a web page as a source
Attach a web page as a product source, and Cactus can use it alongside code when answering questions. It checks the page when it answers from it, and marks related help sections for refresh when the page's text changes.
Live answer progress
Messenger shows the steps in a reply as Cactus works, then streams the answer in readable text. If the turn fails, customers see the failure and can retry; when it finishes, the answer appears with its source cards.
Improvements
- Answer questions capped lists show how many items they leave out
- Help pages page progress shows each page's state and what each build step is doing
- Messenger citations open the Help Center they came from, and feedback stays with the answer you rated
- What's New each release has one date, and the live timeline fills in as releases are written
- Navigation the product picker, user menu, and page title move between views faster
- Cursor you can drag the cursor from its attachments, press its dot again after a pause, and it avoids menus
Fixes
- Help pages stale pages regenerate when opened, removed code marks affected pages, unanswered questions stay open, and page addresses persist
- Inbox the Setup filter is removed, and old links open the default Inbox view
Sep 4–7
A visitor's turns stay in one conversation, which appears in the Inbox with their email if they leave one. When they ask for a person, it moves to Waiting on you and the team gets an email they can reply to. Teammate replies and customer feedback stay with the thread.
Combine questions into one help page
Choose Combine into one page at the end of a thread with two or more answer pages. Cactus folds the questions and answers into one page, labels how many questions it covers, and shows that page when you share the thread.
Customize Messenger for each product
Each product has its own Messenger key, saved design, and list of allowed website addresses. Cactus keeps the settings with the product and checks the key and site when Messenger loads or handles a request, so a release won't wipe the setup.
Improvements
- Help pages see every planned page in a build and open pages as they publish
- Help Center browse a quieter Help Center with a clearer home, navigation, and audience controls
- Product sources index large repositories with fewer false file errors
- What's New browse What's New by shipped release and date range
- Product setup continue product setup where a teammate left off
- Product settings see a product's logo and open Product settings from its row
- Inbox assistant-side implementation comments use plainer wording
Fixes
- Help pages opening a page no longer shows the catalog through it, and titles and step numbers appear once
- Repositories GitHub connection checks report the correct reason when a connection fails
Sep 2–3
Keep the answer beside your question
On pages with an inline conversation, Cactus opens in the page without an overlay, and the answer streams there while chat stays conversational. If you leave, the conversation moves to the reading column and returns when you come back. On other pages, Cactus opens beside your cursor.
Improvements
- Help pages The build card shows progress from mapping through page creation, and Go to product starts fresh
- Help pages Large help-page builds process concepts in parallel, with up to eight writers at once
- Website navigation, brand swatches, text selection, and dark-mode icons use Cactus styling
- Answers Cactus answers from product knowledge when available evidence already covers a question
Fixes
- Repository sync GitHub installations link automatically when Cactus can verify them, without claiming admin approval
- Build history missing Git dates trigger a retry instead of leaving build history empty
- Product knowledge documentation sites inside repositories no longer count as product evidence
August 2026
You can publish a public Help Center, finish product setup after your pages publish, and review customer conversations in a shared Inbox.
When the evidence doesn't support a step, Cactus leaves it out rather than adding a disclaimer. For deeper topics, it can connect related concepts in an operational walkthrough, with citations tied to lines in the files it read.
Refreshes can remove old page sections
When a new build refreshes a page, sections from the previous edition can be kept, rewritten, merged, or removed to fit the new writing brief.
Inline answers on Help Center pages
Questions from a Help Center page stay in an inline chat: your questions and Cactus's live thinking sit on the left while the answer takes shape on the right. Follow-ups stay in the thread, and answer pages are clickable cards.
Improvements
- Help Center your primary brand color produces a readable palette
- Product knowledge comments state constraints, and labels use plain language
- What's New the running period gets its own story, with chapters in time order
Fixes
- Answer customer questions bold text stays separate from surrounding words on answer pages
- Builds build cards keep their final status, and one story's failure doesn't fail the timeline
- Help pages step chips appear once, and page addresses and timestamps are corrected
- Product knowledge scout findings aren't silently dropped
- Help pages stalled streams end after silence, and answer generation stays on the stream
Cactus reads your teamspace's company domain for branding and keeps the accent color you choose. The completion card waits until help pages publish, and connecting GitHub takes you back to the product you left.
A teamspace for your work email
With a work email, Cactus creates a teamspace named after you or offers a one-click join when your email domain already has one. Naming it for you keeps the teamspace distinct from your product's brand.
Connect GitHub without account linking
When you connect GitHub, Cactus verifies installations you control through GitHub's authorization return, without asking you to link your GitHub identity to your Cactus account. If you haven't installed the GitHub App, the flow takes you to its install page.
Improvements
- Help pages suggestions use Product Map questions, and findings without a page can get one
- Product knowledge investigations cover repository history and product context, read the full README, and save findings as evidence
- Help pages page rewrites start cleanly, use product terms, and share an editorial plan
- Answers the answer bubble shows real reasoning, and live turns keep learned context
- Release updates changelog entries use commit dates and group by month or quarter
- Product pages product pages use product-specific URLs, with article pages in the path
- Help Center in-app docs add breadcrumbs, audience toggles, changelog pages, and concept hover cards
- Navigation the app has a top navigation bar
Fixes
- Builds builds finish without getting stuck on long-running model or sandbox calls
- Inbox conversation anchors leave space for the byline
- Release updates the changelog update survives a missing source checkout
- Navigation app navigation remains visible outside a product
- Product knowledge findings update the right page, dead links stay gone, and indexing failures don't stall the Product Map
- Appearance picker transitions work again, and brand fills keep their text readable
- Products invalid product links no longer cause an error page
- Help pages failed pages can be retried, dead markers stay hidden, and docs questions save in the catalog
- Product sources blocked source pages can still load through another fetch route
- Answers a new question starts with a clear reasoning bubble
Aug 28–30
Watch, escalate, and resolve
Each conversation shows its status and labels. From there, you can follow it, escalate it, or resolve it.
Help Center answers stay on the page
Question threads show pending and error states. If a live answer doesn’t come through, the thread can still display its saved reply, and you can retry when generation fails.
A What's New timeline
Each product gets a What's New timeline alongside Docs. It records product releases after each build so customers can look back at what changed.
Improvements
- Messenger the browsing hint uses a compact pill, and the cursor matches the dark theme without flashing on close
- Answers answers in console chat arrive in seconds
- Help Center text uses a matched Sans or Serif preset
- Help pages help pages use your brand accent and writing voice
- Product setup the home page lists product pages as simple rows, and setup uses one consistent voice
Fixes
- Product setup setup reports failures accurately
Choose a repository during onboarding
The setup chip opens onboarding with a repository picker. Your product home lists published help pages.
Improvements
- Help pages the Help rail uses a browser-safe route for its links
- Customer questions follow-up answers stream into the conversation as they arrive
A public Help Center for questions
Customers see a question box beside a list of concepts, and Cactus renders each answer as a page with its sources.
Cited answers from Help Center pages
When a published Help Center page covers a question, Cactus answers from its text and cites that page instead of searching product code.
Markdown pages for AI agents
Each Help Center page has a machine-readable Markdown version, so AI agents can read the same published guidance.
Concept-based Help Center pages
Cactus generates customer-safe Help Center pages from product knowledge after each knowledge update, organizing them by category and concept with citations. AI agents can use the guidance without reading product code. When citations become stale, you can regenerate one concept at a time.
Improvements
- Help Center page owners can see both views of each page
- Product knowledge the product-knowledge picker uses plain language and one clear selection path
- AI answers AI agents get the date, product name, and environment details as context
Fixes
- AI answers a double-click no longer bills twice, and the owner toggle retains its selected state
- Teamspace access workspace checks cover five entry points, including fork requests, so access stays within each workspace
Aug 21–23
Follow questions through the Product Map
The Product Map connects customer questions to code concepts, then leads Cactus to definitions and references in your product code. Code also gets more weight than prose when search ranks evidence.
Choose packages for code mapping
Choose which packages in a monorepo Cactus maps, then change that selection from the Product Map.
Add investigation findings to the Product Map
Cactus adds investigation findings as a new entry in the Product Map, leaving existing entries intact. If an update fails or is interrupted, the map keeps its existing state.
Improvements
- Product Map entities keep the same identity when Cactus redraws the map
Fixes
- Product Map a product without a map no longer shows another product's map, and resets clear stale map results
- Answers chat only attaches product-fact citations when it has extracted supporting facts
- Onboarding Linear and Jira setup reflects OAuth results, and onboarding no longer offers a docs-import step that can't ingest content
Aug 18–20
Browse map concepts and connections
Start in Concepts to see the entities most of the map depends on, with their connections described in plain language. Switch to Graph to explore relationships visually, or select an entity to inspect its summary, code evidence at the pinned commit, and connections grouped by verb.
Aug 6–11
The cursor draws before you move
The cursor draws as soon as its position is known, before you move the pointer. Presence chips match cursor colors, the navigation rail gets a slimmer sliding marker and anchored popovers, and Messenger Studio has segmented controls, a concise install page, and an Alderly sample scene.
Aug 2–5
Controls and panels use solid fills, with a fine inset line for depth. The text cursor takes a brighter coral color so it stays legible against dark surfaces.
A visual guide to How Cactus Works
A self-contained visual guide shows how Cactus works, alongside a plain-language account of its behaviors, numbers, rules, and sharp edges. Color distinguishes when Cactus acts alone, when a person is needed, infrastructure and facts, and production measurements.
What's New entries finish publishing
The changelog drops its cards and restores the glow on its status light. Its status can finish updating instead of staying stuck on “building,” and longer updates can complete without an answer-generation error.
Improvements
- Waitlist waitlist success messages use refined typography
- Website the custom cursor follows your pointer, shows a label, and stays clear of text
- Customer answers answers keep the evidence Cactus has already loaded
- Repositories repository indexing adds a pass over code symbols
Fixes
- Messenger the embedded Messenger returns to its modern design
- Waitlist you see a confirmation after joining the waitlist
July 2026
You can browse product knowledge pages, reuse resolved answers in Inbox and Messenger, and see verified links to the facts behind customer answers.
See conversation status at a glance
In Conversations, open and escalated badges use distinct fills. Disabled reply actions are clearer, text has stronger contrast across the main screens, and answer lists scroll without overlapping.
Reuse facts from answer research
Cactus saves facts from its research, so repeat questions can reuse what it learned instead of repeating a full code investigation. When your product's first build is underway, a knowledge gap can get an honest in-progress reply.
Use core product knowledge sooner
Cactus marks core knowledge ready after researching the product and its primary customer outcome, then continues deeper research in the same build. If a documentation crawl fails, the build can continue with sources it did capture while the docs source is deferred.
Help Center pages publish automatically
Eligible Help Center pages publish automatically when a build produces customer-safe prose. You can still unpublish a page, and Cactus keeps that choice across later builds until you explicitly publish it again.
Improvements
- Help Center Help Center previews reflect the selected brand, portal branding is visible to visitors, and answer labels have stronger contrast
- Ask about page Cactus uses the page you're viewing as context when you ask it to tell you more
- What's New Find the changelog in What's New and the review queue on Home
- Product knowledge Cactus re-researches only genuinely new product information and can backfill existing pages
- Slack Cactus keeps Slack assistant context scoped to the channel where you ask
Fixes
- Messenger Messenger setup shows its options, and customer turns have a limit so people aren't left waiting indefinitely
- Help pages Help-page editing markers appear only where someone has an active cursor
- Product knowledge Failed refreshes stop retrying indefinitely, and source text containing null characters no longer crashes knowledge updates
Jul 25–31
Review pages and their sources
In Knowledge, browse a page tree, switch between Customer, Team, and Dev views, and inspect the answers behind each section. Recent additions link to the page they changed, and Settings lets you turn automatic gap-filling on or off.
Cactus groups automatic source changes
Cactus groups automatic changes from Git, Jira, and Linear into one evidence-backed product update every 12 hours. Manual refreshes, onboarding, and facts you teach still update product knowledge immediately.
Track product setup as knowledge builds
During setup, Cactus separates core product understanding from full readiness, so you can see when the first grounded knowledge is ready while the rest of the build continues.
Route incomplete answers to a person
When a product answer is incomplete, Cactus can route the request to a person through your configured Handoffs. The chat keeps showing investigation progress as Cactus works toward an answer.
Fixes
- Inbox escalations follow their lifecycle, and panels keep their identity
Jul 18–22
Broad questions get fuller answers
Cactus can use sections of its product knowledge alongside individual facts as evidence. That lets it synthesize an answer even when no single fact covers the whole topic.
Cactus hands off when customers ask for a person
When someone asks for a person, Cactus routes the request to your team even if the message also includes a product question or contact details. After a teammate replies, Cactus stops answering until the conversation is handed back.
Read answers before they’re finished
Messenger shows the answer as Cactus writes it, so you can start reading before the full reply is ready.
Fixes
- Messenger articles keep their URL parameters when they load
- Sources removed policies no longer cause a crash
- What's New the public changelog leaves out pull requests, repository names, and pull-request counts
- Product knowledge a rebuild no longer leaves the product’s index nearly empty
Jul 16–17
Product facts stay tied to their sources
Each refresh ties product facts to the source snapshot they came from. Cactus keeps an unaccepted refresh out of customer-facing answers until its validation checks pass.
Improvements
- Messenger the Messenger launcher icon is centered
- Sign in the Cactus app icon was updated
- Messenger rate limits apply consistently across Messenger requests
- Inbox the feed shows only roles customers can see
- Product release updates changelog enrichment can finish without delaying release updates
Fixes
- Customer answers published answers take precedence over the maintenance message
- Release updates release acknowledgements stay attached to the claims they confirm
- Product knowledge published answers stay cacheable when product facts change
Jul 13–15
Product evidence guides answer links
Cactus matches links and action routes to evidence from the product’s published pages. When that evidence changes, it refreshes affected answers so those routes stay aligned.
Read Docs and What's New in Messenger
With a published Help Center, open Docs or What's New from Messenger’s action bar. Read pages and release entries in place, then ask Cactus about an article with it still in context.
Follow answer reasoning in Messenger
While Cactus works through a question, Messenger shows phase-by-phase activity and distinguishes a deeper code investigation with its own card. Collapse the steps into a compact summary when you’re done following along.
Improvements
- Answers Answers account for the request date when handling relative weekdays and time questions
- Answers Cactus answers workflow-catalog questions in customer-facing language
- Answers Answers draw from a bounded, relevance-ranked slice of product knowledge
- Help Center The Help Center home has a four-card layout and a light-only appearance
- Help Center Published Help Center pages stay current with catalog updates
- Messenger Reply previews use distinctive avatars and themed message capsules
- Messenger Messenger answers use a conversational style suited to chat
- Inbox Long email transcripts collapse their middle, and replies include conversation context
- Product knowledge product intent records preserved before refreshes
Fixes
- Help Center Help Center pages expose only approved metadata and customer-safe evidence
- Answers Knowledge answers in Messenger finish as final responses
- Messenger Help Center teasers display plain text, links use HTTPS, and reply previews read like messages
- Inbox Email replies respect read receipts, and conversations sort by their latest message
- AI clients AI clients read evidence from the product knowledge version serving answers
Jul 10–12
Cactus matches the customer's question against saved resolutions and serves a close match. If customer-ready product knowledge is missing or fails to load, Messenger hands the question to your team instead of guessing.
Conversation history that stays in sync
Messenger uses one message identity for streamed answers and the saved conversation feed, so an answer appears once instead of as a duplicate. Its live feed also restores messages when a customer closes and reopens Messenger.
Draft replies and resolve conversations
In the Inbox, you can reply to customers, add private notes, ask Cactus to research or draft a reply, and resolve or reopen a conversation. Teammates can see who else is viewing it, while status updates carry through to Messenger and Slack.
Collect customer email in Messenger
When a guest escalates without an email on file, Messenger can collect their address in the conversation. The Inbox keeps the contact with the thread so the team can follow up.
Reply to customers from Slack
A teammate can reply to a customer's conversation from its Slack escalation thread, and the answer returns to Messenger. Slack's request list links back to conversations, while email links can reopen the matching conversation in Messenger.
Three-pane Inbox workspace
The Inbox uses a three-pane workspace for the conversation list, transcript, and customer details. Message receipts show delivery and reading status for the latest exchange, and unread conversations stand out in the list.
Improvements
- Messenger the Messenger interface has softer surfaces, clearer controls, and smoother minimize and expand transitions
- Messenger actions connect an MCP server to make its tools available as agent actions
- Answers product answers use clearer product identity and more natural phrasing
- AI answers interactive answers can draw on additional language models
- Product knowledge cold product-knowledge rebuilds finish faster
- Product knowledge open questions can flag layered product truths for the team to review
- Answer docs pin answer docs so they stay available instead of being automatically removed
- Agent docs technical readers can see public API endpoints in Cactus's generated agent docs
- Docs technical detail stays at the level readers need
- What's New What's New groups related entries into shorter, chaptered stories
- Analytics Cactus records page views and AI sessions more consistently
- Customer answers Cactus answers can reuse stored docs and team guidance, with faster repeat answers and a way to teach corrections
- Messenger product answers in Messenger arrive faster, including on cache misses
- Messenger Messenger installation supports more frameworks and can receive context from the customer's app
- Inbox the Inbox shares page context with one Cactus command bar
- What's New release stories put the headline first and group related entries together
- Slack Slack's agent experience and notification setup show more clearly when channels are configured
Fixes
- Messenger setup Connect makes Messenger install problems visible and uses its configuration to authorize keys
- Messenger the answer stream stays open while Cactus works through a question
- Answers answers draw on better-ranked product evidence and show citations that support their claims
- Product knowledge first-time indexing and rebuilds run more reliably
- Product knowledge product knowledge stays aligned with open questions, archived answers, and recent refreshes
- Teamspace team data stays isolated across organizations, and permanent answer pins require an admin
- Docs generated docs use cleaner page names and repair in-app links consistently
- Help Center suggested questions open the live Help Center answer flow
- What's New What's New applies shared publishing checks and keeps chaptered summaries brief
- Help Center Help Center answers and title searches are clearer, and public pages load current content on phones
- Product knowledge answer docs keep relevant refresh facts and avoid stale or empty refresh results
- Customer answers customer answers use real product links and customer-safe facts, and recover from stalled research
- Messenger Messenger's links, handoffs, and conversation display handle more edge cases reliably
- Inbox conversation titles no longer get stuck as a customer's email address
- Customer email customer emails use Cactus's serif headline style
- Slack Slack replies no longer send empty messages, and teammate invites can use email addresses
- Onboarding onboarding no longer strands new customers at two dead ends
Jul 4–9
Link a visitor's email to a conversation
When a visitor shares an email, Messenger attaches it to the anonymous conversation they already started. Their email or name appears in the Inbox conversation list and transcript.
Find product answers
Open All Answers to search the catalog of answers, see whether a question was customer-asked or generated, and check when it was updated. Suggested questions come from your product's concepts and open in the cursor's ask flow. For a faster first build, onboarding can use a shorter changelog window.
Permanent answer links
Each answered question has a permanent link to its live public version. Copy the link from the answer reader to share it.
Follow product links in place
In the answer reader, links to your product's own pages open within Cactus. Links to external sites open a new tab.
Release updates in your product's language
Public release updates use names and concepts from your product's own vocabulary, keeping internal codenames out of what customers read.
Improvements
- Answers answers connect related product steps and draw on broader evidence
- Product knowledge manual lessons regenerate affected answers immediately, and missed product details can be investigated from code
- Repositories choose which products automatically reindex after code pushes
- Build history see pipeline runs in Settings and rebuild the catalog without reindexing sources
- Messenger Messenger replies support tables, blockquotes, nested lists, and safe citations
- Slack ask the in-Slack assistant questions without leaving Slack
- Answers answers can draw on code for external audiences and improve when the first draft is weak
- Writing rules writing lessons update affected answers directly, without running the full pipeline
- Messenger answer sources start collapsed to a count chip in Messenger
Fixes
- Answers answers stick to product facts and leave internal implementation details out
- Product knowledge product knowledge builds recover from indexing and sandbox failures
- Messenger suggested questions, citations, and requests for a person work in Messenger
- Release updates release update labels use active concepts from your product's vocabulary
- Product knowledge retired concepts leave answers and search, while assistant guidance stays out of product facts
Jul 1–3
Q2 2026
June 2026
You can get answers with code checks when product facts fall short, review product knowledge in a queue, and search product sources by meaning and keywords.
Cactus checks whether its evidence directly answers the question, then searches relevant code when facts are thin or only adjacent. Your product map, Rules, and lessons shape replies, which stream in chat with inline citations.
Customer answers leave code internals out
Customer-facing answers translate code-derived behavior into plain language and keep source paths, internal routes, architecture terms, and private names out of the prose. When code shows how a feature works, Cactus can still explain that behavior without exposing implementation details.
Follow investigations in chat
When Cactus starts a deeper investigation in chat, you can follow its current step and see the result when it finishes. The investigation's answer appears in the conversation instead of stopping at an in-progress status.
Customize Messenger's look and sound
In Connect, choose a Messenger launcher face and sound pack, then preview them alongside the conversation. Messenger loads your saved sound pack when it starts.
Improvements
- What's New browse release changes by quarter, month, or week, with summaries grouped into semantic chapters
- Product knowledge teach Cactus from gaps and conflicts, with frontend and backend behavior conflicts prioritized
- Product knowledge get product knowledge and generated answers sooner during indexing and refreshes
- Answers open cited sources from inline citations and per-source chips
- Answers follow streamed answers without the cursor jumping or getting in your way
- Getting started set up a product through a redesigned onboarding chat and selectable role list
- AI clients MCP clients start with the nontechnical internal view of answers
Fixes
- What's New release entries show their written descriptions instead of pull-request metadata
- Product knowledge source indexing, refreshes, and publishing recover more reliably from errors
- Answers open cited files in monorepos without broken GitHub links
- Answers see one consistent answer card across the catalog and chat, without duplicate entries
- Messenger read conversation history clearly in light mode
- Getting started onboarding continues into a product refresh without a frozen pipeline or stalled chat
- Product sources connect GitHub during product-source onboarding
- Cactus app the app can load product data through a fallback if its primary data client is absent
Jun 28–30
Inspect Messenger citations
Select a source chip to open its cited facts and scores. Screen readers announce streamed replies, and open and close sounds work in both Messenger modes. A Powered by Cactus signature appears when that branding is enabled.
Live setup progress
Setup progress appears as soon as a refresh is queued and shows indexing, mapping, building, and ready with live counts.
Connect feature flags
Connect feature-flag sources in Sources to include them in the product knowledge Cactus uses.
Approve answer changes before publishing
The publish review groups new, changed, and removed answers so you can approve the set before customers see it. Open an answer's history to read earlier versions, or annotate it to correct a fact or guide how it appears.
Preview your Messenger launcher
The preview keeps launcher presets available in cursor mode and gives the launcher a pressable keycap. It uses the embedded Messenger's own cursor, so the preview shows a single cursor.
Improvements
- What's New release entries reflect the intent behind changes and keep a stable starting point
- Product appearance active controls and cursors use Cactus's V1 colors and canonical mark
- What's New release notes use a vertical feed and a matching empty state
- Cactus website the website uses the canonical cactus logo mark
Fixes
- Product sources product-source indexing completes refreshes more reliably and handles cancellations cleanly
- AI clients MCP connections accept Cactus endpoint URLs
Jun 23–27
Answers grounded in product facts
Cactus uses relevant, product-facing facts to answer and cites the concepts behind its response. Investigation failures and unverifiable claims stay out of its product knowledge.
Improvements
- Product sources more source languages are indexed, and catalog build status is visible
- Messenger answers keep their fact citations, and you can configure the Messenger script URL
- Website customer-facing product copy was clarified
Fixes
- Product setup onboarding restarts cleanly after a reset, and your catalog destination survives sign-in
- Sign in sign-in returns you to the page you were opening
Jun 19–22
Product setup completes reliably
Setup gets past connector and source-index blockers, keeps audience selection consistent, and displays readable chat bubbles. Missing or unavailable organization logos appear as fallback avatars.
Reset setup and product knowledge
Use Reset in onboarding or from the catalog page to clear setup and generated product knowledge. Your connected sources stay in place, so you can rebuild from those same repositories and connections.
Improvements
- Repositories connected code sources are prepared in parallel for indexing
Fixes
- Repositories indexing limits optional analysis and safely refreshes stale checkouts
- Slack Slack workflows handle failures more reliably
- Sign in the role selector matches Cactus's style, and sign-in buttons stay readable in dark mode
- Product knowledge product knowledge and answers follow policy rules more consistently
- Messenger answers keep their citations in Messenger
Jun 15–18
Inspect Cactus's product knowledge
A three-pane reader pairs your product's concept tree with claims and their code locations, confidence, and history. Its review queue surfaces conflicts, low-confidence claims, and unanswered questions, which you can address by fixing the code or adding authoritative guidance.
Answers refresh when product facts change
When a fact used in an answer changes, Cactus refreshes that answer against current product knowledge. It can detect distinctive values such as prices, limits, URLs, and error messages even when an answer leaves them uncited. Fresh answers are reused for repeat questions, including common contractions.
Messenger handoffs reach your team
When a customer asks for a person in Messenger, Cactus records the handoff in the Inbox and sends it through your configured notification channels, such as Slack or email. If delivery fails, the request stays recorded in the Inbox for your team.
Ask product questions from MCP clients
Compatible MCP clients such as Cursor and Claude Desktop can search Cactus product knowledge, find similar answers, inspect concepts, and ask product questions. You can use these tools from internal MCP clients, too.
A ready-made Slack handoff channel
Cactus can create or reuse #cactus-escalations when you connect Slack, making it the product's handoff destination. You can also create it from the channel picker, and existing connections can reconnect to grant the required channel permission.
Improvements
- Product knowledge Cactus builds a fuller, evidence-backed catalog and refreshes answers when their underlying facts change
- Product sources Cactus finds product sources across monorepo packages and continues with available code when a checkout is incomplete
- App the app uses consistent Cactus and Catalog names, with refreshed layouts and interactions
Fixes
- Sign in the sign-in page background renders reliably
- Product knowledge Cactus prioritizes code over public documentation and keeps fact histories accurate
- Reliability Cactus keeps running when an idle connection drops
Jun 11–14
The index matches code and documentation by meaning and exact terms. It filters out files made up only of credentials and redacts inline private keys before indexing, while keeping code searchable without summarizing every file.
Source summaries cite real passages
Cactus stores each source summary with a citation to at least one real passage. When generated citations don't match indexed content, it falls back to the source's first passage.
Jun 2–10
May 2026
You can scope product-source indexing by repository, see source names in product answers, and get product facts checked against their sources.
Cactus plans repository scope before refreshing the source index, so indexing follows the repositories selected for the product.
May 22–31
Product knowledge without internal labels
Generated explanations use customer-facing names for connected sources and leave internal source labels, repository-indexing terms, and drafting artifacts out.
Answers that reflect your audience
Answers describing your product draw on audience and customer-workflow facts, while leaving distribution and route details out.
Product updates in customer language
Timeline updates draw on refreshed product facts and use customer-facing language. They avoid unsupported timing and universal claims, and leave code-like evidence details out.
Improvements
- Repositories GitHub refreshes with operational-only changes are skipped
- Sign in web chat models load only when a portal route needs them
- Help pages help pages use clearer source descriptions and leave implementation labels out
- Product knowledge public-facing copy can include product-understanding details
May 14–21
Product knowledge reflects connected sources
Cactus checks source evidence before treating a product detail as current. It then brings product knowledge into line as evidence from connected sources converges.
Help pages with clear source context
Generated help pages organize product information around reader tasks and show concise context about their sources. They keep setup details and unsupported claims out of public pages.
Fixes
- Messenger the cursor stays aligned with the command bar
May 3–9
April 2026
Knowledge-backed answer pages
Atlas builds each page from connected knowledge entries instead of exposing raw implementation and debugging terms. Dynamic answer pages also no longer repeat the title and answer in the body.
Fixes
- AI client citations respect access layers, and Atlas questions reach the right tool
- Team language team-language settings recover cleanly after translation errors
Apr 12–29
Q1 2026
March 2026
You can preview your docs and changelog, connect Linear during onboarding, and add a brand card for your product.
Preview Atlas for your customers
Choose Preview in Portal from the layer switcher to see public Atlas documentation and the Timeline changelog with your product's branding. Atlas carries your progress into the next session.
Repository evidence shapes product knowledge
Cactus connects product entities to repository evidence and plans ingestion around repository scope and tests as it builds product knowledge.
Improvements
- Messenger the Rover cursor's movement and history are refined, and its radial menu returns
- Sign in sign-in typography is refined, and Atlas text is easier to read
- Loading loading screens use the branded spinner
- Product sources product branding is collected through an updated website-scanning flow
- Build history build history shows workflow status for each run
- Help Center AI clients can discover the Help Center through its API and widget metadata
- Product knowledge Atlas supports a GPT model override for knowledge generation
- Product knowledge knowledge synthesis and translation handle failure cases more reliably
Fixes
- Product knowledge structured product knowledge responses include all required fields
- Product setup your onboarding chat keeps its conversation when setup resumes
Mar 16–30
The guided flow moves from repository selection to the Linear connection, then to your product’s brand details. If you leave to authorize access, it brings you back to finish onboarding.
Linear context for shipped changes
Cactus adds relevant Linear context to shipped-change narratives. When connected work details change, Cactus refreshes the affected narratives.
Install Messenger in your framework
The install guide gives you framework-specific instructions and code for HTML, Next.js, React, and SvelteKit. It shows where each snippet belongs, fills in your widget key when one is available, and includes checks to confirm installation.
Improvements
- Product switcher the product switcher keeps your selected product in sync
- Product setup reset product setup more smoothly, with fewer repeated onboarding requests
- Build history more build history loads as you scroll through the timeline
Mar 9–15
Review your product’s brand
On Atlas, the in-app guide walks you through connecting GitHub and choosing repositories, then presents a brand card for you to confirm.
Group shipped changes by time
Atlas groups shipped changes into chronological clusters, each shown as a card. You can switch timeline layers, and a loading indicator appears while the data loads.
Switch product layers
Choose Developer, Internal, or Customer in the layer switcher. The assistant follows that choice when it searches or answers, and a brief indicator shows when you switch.
Dock the in-app assistant
Dock the in-app assistant in the bottom-right corner, or drag it out when you want it back on the page. Double-click its cursor, choose the dock button, or type /dock to switch. Escape can re-dock it after a conversation.
Improvements
- Sign in sidebar panels transition smoothly, with refreshed colors and typography across the interface
- Slack see which product a Slack connection applies to
- Settings Deploy, Inbox, and Overview settings have a refreshed layout
- Help Center the playground page shows a Cactus-branded customer portal
- Search semantic search includes shipped changes and follows the selected Atlas layer
- Product view experience cards scroll edge to edge
Fixes
- AI answers AI chat avoids authentication errors, and the logo lookup integration is updated
- Navigation Atlas remembers your last active experience, and Escape navigation behaves consistently
- Assistant the assistant cursor stays above other page content
- Help pages long-running help page generation no longer times out
- Translations help page translations no longer fail on inconsistent timestamps
Mar 1–8
February 2026
You can connect Discord, get multi-step answers in Slack, and support customers through a refreshed Messenger.
Grouped build updates
Related changes are grouped by area and time along one continuous timeline. Each card includes a quick overview, a structured walkthrough, and individual changes to inspect.
Detect monorepo packages
When you choose a monorepo in Connect, Cactus reads its workspace configuration to find packages and select the ones to analyze. Package analysis and build history stay scoped to each package’s files.
Improvements
- Builds the tabs switch faster, channel icons are neutral, and the page uses one column
- AI answers answers stream as they’re generated, with richer build context available to ground them
Fixes
- Security protected routes require authentication, and secret checks resist timing-based attacks
Add Rover to your Discord server
Add Rover to your Discord server from Connect, then link the server to your Cactus organization. Direct mentions get a response, while Rover can skip follow-ups in subscribed Slack or Discord threads when they don't need its input.
Formatted Slack answers
Rover's Slack replies use richer formatting, with feedback buttons, an Atlas link, and product context. Slack's App Home shows your product overview, recent changes, and customer Inbox. @mentions still reach Rover when Slack delivers overlapping events.
Improvements
- Product editor cursor dragging stays smooth, drag positions persist, and editor animations feel snappier
Feb 25–27
Ask Rover to investigate in Slack
Slack replies can call tools for up to five steps and show progress as Rover works. Memory tools can retain user context across conversations.
Check what shipped from an AI client
The MCP server includes a full what-shipped lookup, product-change retrieval, and investigation tools. Compatible clients can filter shipped changes by date and receive progress notifications while tools run.
Switch Timeline layers
Switch Timeline between Dev, Internal, and Public to see change stories for each layer. Those stories draw on recorded product changes and can be translated between layers.
Improvements
- Product knowledge review product context in updated previews, with layout transitions, a cursor, and icons
- AI clients manage Rover API keys and open its dedicated experience pages
Feb 22–24
Branded Messenger interactions
Customers see refined cursor and brand interactions in the widget. Messenger conversations appear in the team's Inbox alongside conversations from other customer channels.
Feb 8–17
Longer-lived MCP sessions
A valid authorization header lets Cactus open a replacement session after an expiry or server restart. MCP clients can use search and ask, inline citations display without a blocked label, and conversation history loads through the threads endpoint.
January 2026
You can search connected repositories and product sources in more languages, connect an AI client, and organize product knowledge across development, internal, and public layers.
File-aware code search
A keyword match can bring in related code even when it doesn't match a function or class. Search uses real file content and keeps same-named files from separate repositories distinct.
Fixes
- AI clients MCP searches stay isolated to the client session that made them
Jan 28–31
A single MCP endpoint
MCP uses one Streamable HTTP endpoint. API keys control access: dev keys have full access, internal keys exclude code, and public keys can be shared and tracked.
Scope AI client queries to a repository
The MCP search and ask tools accept a repository ID, so you can limit a query to one repository. Results also follow the access layer on your API key.
Improvements
- Ask Cactus citations appear alongside answers
Jan 25–26
Choose a product knowledge layer
The catalog has a tab for each layer, with a status indicator. In the internal layer, search code by question, and ask the chat widget about the page you're viewing using its interactive elements as context.
Track draft and verified pages
The catalog marks pages as pending, draft, or verified in their cards and page view. An area shows draft if any page inside is a draft, and shows verified only when all its pages are verified.
Improvements
- Home skip onboarding and land on a redesigned home page
Jan 15–21
See setup progress for each repository
Repository selection and setup status appear as interactive blocks alongside the conversation. Your chat history and choices persist when you return.
Browse setup areas and pages
The catalog playground groups sample areas and pages into a browsable view, with code references beside each page.
Jan 1–13
Q4 2025
December 2025
You can get streaming answers to customer questions in chat, sign in to Cactus, and connect your product to GitHub.
Read answers as they arrive
The response arrives in a steady flow, making the back-and-forth in chat feel more fluid.
Dec 25–31
Sign in to Cactus
Use the new sign-in flow to access Cactus.
A clearer Cactus overview
The What Cactus does page has a two-line subheading and a refreshed design with a dot grid.
Join the Cactus waitlist
You can join the Cactus waitlist.
Improvements
- Cactus website the Cactus website gets marketing-focused improvements
- Docs the docs get an initial update
Dec 18–22
Connect GitHub during setup
Product setup includes an early GitHub integration.
Improvements
- Product setup a new button card appears in product setup
- App the app has a refreshed visual style
Fixes
- Sidebar the sidebar has corrected spacing
Dec 12–15
November 2025
You can manage your organization and teamspace, create products that start in a working state, and explore Cactus’s color palette.
Nov 9–23
Updated brand colors and fonts
The branding pairs indigo-purple with orange and uses updated fonts.
Nov 1–3
October 2025
You can create and set up a product, add italics to its Help page, and choose dark mode for its appearance.
Fixes
- Help pages italics display correctly
Oct 26–30
Product and Help Center visual polish
A wider design pass polishes the product and Help Center’s overall appearance.
Oct 6–14