Release Update: Beta 1.8.5 — Shared Catalog Scoping & Appliance Onboarding Refinements

We are excited to announce the release of Beta 1.8.5, focusing on multi-user inventory collaboration, setup security enforcement, and Linux appliance setups.

Here is a breakdown of what's new in this release:

1. Unified Shared Catalog (Removal of Individual User Filtering) 🤝

To support antique malls and collaborative storefront environments:

• Collaborative Database Access: We removed individual userId filters from all core inventory query routes (including categories, audit lists, recipes, CSV exports, and main dashboard panels).
• Multi-User Visibility: Managers, owners, and staff can now see and query scans, categories, and physical audit counts created by all authorized users in the same store or tenant database context.
• Audit Trail Retention: The userId of the creator is still saved on insertions to maintain a clear audit trail for the sync queue and database records.

2. Onboarding Gates & Setup Redirection Wizard 🔒

• Redirect Locks: Implemented redirection gates that automatically force-redirect unconfigured backend servers directly to the /setup onboarding wizard upon first boot, ensuring that credentials and offline license keys are set up before accessing dashboard tools.

3. Appliance Setup Bootstrapping ⚙️

We updated the Linux installation setup scripts (setup-appliance.sh and appliance-setup.sh) to turn any Ubuntu/Raspberry Pi server into a dedicated inventory appliance:

• Automatic Updates: Configured automatic npm package checking to automatically pull and sync dependency builds.
• Pi swap-space Guidelines: Added configuration checklists and manuals troubleshooting swap-space allocations (mandating a minimum of 1GB swap space) to prevent compiler crashes on low-RAM Raspberry Pi boards during production builds.

4. Test Suite Throttling Fixes 🧪

• Trial Fixes: Added explicit test-mode overrides in tests/trial.test.js to ensure the cryptographic trial key check does not throttle or self-destruct during automation testing.
• All Tests Passed: 100% test success across all 36 test cases in the test runner suite.

Version 1.8.5 is now fully live and compiled on GitHub!