SDK Manager (Merlin) Installer Release Notes

2.5.1 (March 31, 2026)

New Features

Service Tester — A brand new tool for testing SDK microservices directly from the SDK Manager. Browse available services, view operations, configure request bodies with user context, and inspect responses — all without leaving the app. Includes prerequisite checks, service health monitoring, and a detail panel for drilling into individual service endpoints.

Bug Fixes

Fixed a minor bug in the submission flow.

2.4.0 (March 30, 2026)

Improvements

UI Redesign — Major visual overhaul across the entire application. Refreshed the Login, Main Page, Settings, Jira Setup, Stage Match, and Navigation Bar with standardized fonts, consistent spacing, and a more polished look and feel. Added new animation system for smoother transitions. Introduced a centralized theme configuration for easier future customization.

2.3.17 (March 30, 2026)

Improvements

Updated ProGet API integration for improved package feed connectivity.

2.3.15 – 2.3.16 (March 24, 2026)

Bug Fixes

Fixed proxy support for environments using self-signed SSL certificates. Users behind corporate proxies with custom certificates should no longer encounter connection errors.

2.3.14 (March 23, 2026)

Improvements

Multi-Environment Deployment Grouping — When deploying to multiple environments simultaneously, requests are now grouped together for a smoother deployment experience and better tracking on the dashboard.

2.3.12 (March 16, 2026)

Bug Fixes

Fixed Active Directory authentication check that was preventing some users from logging in.
Fixed CI/CD pipeline configuration issues.
Added new SDK Manager icon (SVG format).

2.3.11 (March 11, 2026)

Bug Fixes

Fixed proxy connectivity issue affecting Jira integration. Users behind corporate proxies can now successfully connect to Jira for ticket tracking.

2.3.9 (March 9, 2026)

Bug Fixes

Improved error display in the Submissions tab — deployment errors now show descriptive messages instead of raw error objects.

2.3.8 (March 5, 2026)

Bug Fixes

Fixed Stage Match bug for Symantec cores environments where matching was failing incorrectly.

2.3.7 (March 3, 2026)

New Features

In-App Announcements — Added an announcement snackbar system that displays important updates, maintenance notices, and news directly within the SDK Manager. Announcements are fetched from the service health endpoint so the team can communicate with users in real time.

2.3.6 (March 2, 2026)

Bug Fixes

Fixed Stage Match functionality that was incorrectly matching environments.

2.3.5 (February 28, 2026)

Improvements

Deployment requests now correctly attribute the requester as the deployment user, improving audit trail and tracking visibility on the dashboard.

Bug Fixes

Fixed auto-update mechanism that was not correctly downloading and applying new versions.

2.3.4 (February 25, 2026)

Improvements

Updated the health check endpoint for improved service status monitoring.

2.3.3 (February 24, 2026)

New Features

Service Health Banner — A new banner at the top of the application notifies users when SDK Manager services are experiencing issues or undergoing maintenance, so you know immediately if submission or deployment functionality may be affected.

2.3.1 (February 18, 2026)

New Features

One-Click Submission — The headline feature of this release. Submit, validate, and deploy SDK packages directly from the SDK Manager without needing to upload to a feeds repository. Includes a guided submission wizard with local validation, server validation, environment selection, and a streamlined review pipeline. Adds a new Reforge client integration, user service, and SQL backup/restore capabilities for Stage Match.

2.3.0 (February 12, 2026)

Release: 2026.1

Quarterly SDK release for Q1 2026. Includes the updated SDK release manifest with new packages and dependency updates, along with improvements to the uninstall/reset scripts.

2.2.3 (January 30, 2026)

Improvements

Improved overall UI design across the Dashboard and Deployment views.
Fixed various Deployment UI issues for a more polished experience.

2.2.2 (January 30, 2026)

Improvements

Updated PostgreSQL integration for better database connectivity.
Locked down One-Click Stage Match functionality for improved reliability and security.

2.1.12 (January 23, 2026)

Bug Fixes

Updated Reforge client integration to resolve submission tracking issues.

2.1.11 (January 23, 2026)

Bug Fixes

Fixed the “Hold to Deploy” confirmation button not registering the press-and-hold gesture correctly, which could prevent users from finalizing deployments.

2.1.10 (January 23, 2026)

Bug Fixes

Fixed an issue where error messages were displaying as [Object object] instead of the actual error text, making it difficult to diagnose submission and deployment failures.

2.1.9 (January 22, 2026)

Improvements

Added support for non-standard email formats from Feeds credentials. Users with special characters or unusual formatting in their Feeds login email can now authenticate successfully.

2.1.8 (January 22, 2026)

New Features

Production Deployments — Production environment deployments are now enabled in the One-Click deployment flow. Production environments are gated behind a successful Staging deployment to ensure packages are validated before reaching end users.

2.1.7 (January 15, 2026)

Improvements

Enhanced deployment safeguards to prevent accidental deployments, including improved confirmation dialogs and validation checks before deployment execution.

2.1.6 (January 15, 2026)

Improvements

Removed the AssemblyVersion check from the submission validation pipeline. This check was causing false positives for certain package configurations.

2.1.5 (January 14, 2026)

Improvements

Added bank URL display on the environment selection screen, making it easier to identify and select the correct target environment when deploying packages.

2.1.4 (January 14, 2026)

Bug Fixes

Added enhanced debugging and error reporting for S3 upload failures during package submission, making it easier to diagnose connectivity and permission issues.

2.1.3 (January 8, 2026)

Improvements

Added application configuration folder support (AppConfig.zip). The SDK Manager now handles application configuration files during the installation process, ensuring all necessary config files are in place.

2.1.2 (January 8, 2026)

Improvements

Removed NetFxExtensibility from the IIS feature installation requirements, simplifying the prerequisite setup for environments that don’t require this component.

2.1.1 (January 2, 2026)

Bug Fixes

Fixed a bug in the hardware requirement validation that was incorrectly failing machines that met the minimum specifications.

2.1.0 (December 31, 2025)

Release: 2025.4.1

Quarterly SDK release for Q4 2025. Includes the SDK release 2025.4.0.19 manifest with updated packages and dependencies. Also adds application configuration setup, improved S3 upload handling for submissions, and hardware/installation progress UI improvements.

2.0.1 (December 22, 2025)

Bug Fixes

Fixed an issue where files were going missing during S3 upload for package submissions, causing incomplete uploads and submission failures.

2.0.0 (December 11, 2025)

Major Release — Complete Application Rehaul

This is the biggest release in SDK Manager history, with over 20,000 lines of new code across 190 files. The entire application has been rebuilt from the ground up.

One-Click Submission & Deployment

Full package submission pipeline — upload, validate, scan, review, and deploy from a single workflow.
Local validation engine checks manifest structure, nuspec format, package layout, source code analysis, and dependency compatibility.
Server-side validation against target environments for bank identifiers, version uniqueness, and dependency availability.
S3-based package upload with progress tracking.
Developer Dashboard with Submissions and Deployments tabs, filters, and real-time status tracking.
Deployment modal with environment selection (Staging/Production), multi-environment support, and hold-to-confirm safety mechanism.

Stage Match

New Stage Match feature for environment database configuration, Nexus package management, PostgreSQL setup, web server configuration, and manifest parsing.

Architecture

Introduced a new IPC routing system for cleaner communication between the main and renderer processes.
Added dedicated route modules for authentication, setup, submissions, and deployments.
Rewrote all PowerShell installation scripts with improved error handling and reliability.
Added comprehensive test suite for manifest validation, nuspec validation, package file validation, and source code validation.

Completely redesigned Navigation Bar with new layout and animations.
New Catalog page for browsing available SDK components.
Magical loading animations during long-running operations.
Confetti celebration animation on successful deployments.
Loading skeleton screens for improved perceived performance.

1.6.3 (December 10, 2025)

Bug Fixes

Fixed a missing package in the SDK release 2025.3 manifest that was causing installation failures for some users.

1.6.2 (November 10, 2025)

Improvements

Renewed SSL certificates to prevent upcoming expiration-related connectivity issues.

1.6.1 (November 6, 2025)

Improvements

Added proxy support for Nexus package repository, allowing users behind corporate proxies to download packages from Nexus during installation.

1.6.0 (July 25, 2025)

Release: 2025.3

Quarterly SDK release for Q3 2025. Includes the 2025.3 release manifest with over 1,000 lines of new package definitions and dependency updates.

1.5.4 (July 17, 2025)

Improvements

Removed .NET 6.0 from the release 2025.2 package list, as it is no longer required for SDK development.

1.5.3 (June 2, 2025)

Bug Fixes

Added a missing package to the installation manifest that was preventing complete SDK setup.

1.5.2 (May 29, 2025)

Release: 2025.2

Quarterly SDK release for Q2 2025.

1.4.5 (April 18, 2025)

Bug Fixes

General bug fixes for stability improvements.

1.4.4 (April 14, 2025)

Bug Fixes

Resolved an issue with package dependency resolution during installation (DEV-198229).

1.4.3 (April 1, 2025)

Bug Fixes

Fixed Nexus package repository connectivity issues that were preventing package downloads during SDK installation.

1.4.2 (March 24, 2025)

Improvements

Disabled admin widget installation by default to streamline the initial SDK setup experience (DEV-196982).

1.4.1 (March 5, 2025)

Bug Fixes

Adjusted for a missing package in the installation manifest that was causing incomplete installations.

1.4.0 (March 3, 2025)

Release: 2025.1

Quarterly SDK release for Q1 2025.

1.3.1 (February 13, 2025)

Improvements

Updated CI/CD pipeline configuration for more reliable builds and releases.
Disabled TLS for the login flow to resolve connectivity issues for users on networks with strict TLS inspection.

Bug Fixes

Fixed carousel navigation on the setup screen — clicking the dots at the bottom now correctly navigates to the corresponding slide (DEV-165431).
Fixed extra whitespace appearing at the bottom of Jira tracker comments (DEV-178150).

1.3.0 (December 13, 2024)

New Features

Auto-Upgrade — The SDK Manager can now check for and install updates to itself automatically. When a new version is available, you’ll be prompted to upgrade without needing to manually download and reinstall (DEV-177566).

1.2.0 (December 3, 2024)

Release: 2024.4

Quarterly SDK release for Q4 2024 (DEV-188050). Includes updated package definitions and dependency configurations for the latest SDK version.

1.1.7 (November 20, 2024)

Bug Fixes

Updated the SSL certificate package to resolve an expiration issue that was causing connectivity failures when downloading packages.

1.1.6 (October 22, 2024)

Bug Fixes

Fixed proxy configuration to use HTTP instead of HTTPS, resolving connectivity issues for users behind certain corporate proxies.
Fixed third-party software post-installation verification — the SDK Manager now correctly validates that Visual Studio, SQL Server, and Chocolatey were installed successfully after the installation step (DEV-182346).
Fixed the Jira API Key token field not clearing when the setup form is canceled (DEV-179267).
Fixed SQL Server prerequisite check that was incorrectly failing on valid installations (DEV-181991).
Fixed Jira comment sorting to display newest comments first instead of oldest first (DEV-177567).

1.1.3 (September 4, 2024)

Improvements

Migrated to Vite — Replaced the previous build system with Vite for significantly faster development builds and hot module replacement (DEV-179348).
Added fonts locally instead of loading them over the internet, improving load times and enabling offline usage (DEV-179600).
Added a check for administrator privileges on launch — the SDK Manager now prompts users if it’s not running with the required permissions (DEV-179373).
Added PowerShell -NoProfile option when executing installation scripts, preventing user profile scripts from interfering with the installation process (DEV-177619).

Bug Fixes

Fixed the admin privilege popup window not displaying correctly (DEV-179373).
Fixed console error messages appearing in the Jira Tracker view (DEV-179126).

1.0.7 (July 8, 2024)

Bug Fixes

Fixed Jira Tracker comment refresh — comments now update properly when navigating between tickets without requiring a manual page refresh (DEV-177567).
Fixed static link handling for documentation references within the app (DEV-177036).

1.0.6 (June 27, 2024)

Bug Fixes

Fixed a resource locking issue that could cause the application to hang during package operations.
Disabled hover effect on non-actionable ticket statuses — canceled and closed tickets no longer appear clickable (DEV-174377).

1.0.4 (June 12, 2024)

New Features

Release Metrics — Added telemetry tracking for SDK releases, providing the team with insights into installation patterns and success rates (DEV-176391).
Proxy Settings — Added proxy configuration in the Settings page, allowing users to configure HTTP proxy settings for environments that require them (DEV-173997).

Improvements

Connected proxy settings to the application configuration so they persist across sessions.
Added SDK Release 2024.02 support with updated package definitions.
Removed hackathon content that was no longer relevant.

1.0.1 (May 24, 2024)

After a successful initial launch at Co:Lab 2024, we’re excited to announce our first patch of the SDK Manager!

What’s New

VS Code Support — Added VS Code as an optional piece of software you can install during setup. This can be your new default text editor over Notepad++ (DEV-169871).
Jira API Key Expiration Notification — You’ll now receive a notification when your Jira API key is approaching expiration, so you can renew it before it interrupts your workflow (DEV-173511).
Updated App Icon — Refreshed the Desktop App Icon to be more on brand with the tool (DEV-175042).
Active Directory Login — Added support for Active Directory authentication (DEV-173578).
Unit Tests — Added a comprehensive unit test suite for core functionality (DEV-171838).

Bug Fixes

Orb and SDK folders are now correctly removed as part of uninstalling the SDK (DEV-165877).
Fixed issues where SDK Manager was reporting a successful installation but had missing software — post-installation verification checks now accurately confirm all components are present (DEV-172934).
Other minor UI fixes.

1.0.0 (April 8, 2024)

We’re excited to announce the initial release of SDK Manager (Version 1.0)!

Here’s what you can expect from this first version:

Core Function: SDK Manager debuts with essential features designed to streamline your SDK Installation process. A guided wizard walks you through hardware checks, software prerequisites, and the complete SDK installation.
Redesigned Installation Process: Enjoy improved efficiency in the SDK Installation process with a complete rewrite of how we handle the installation. Automated Chocolatey, SQL Server, Visual Studio, and supporting tool installation with prerequisite validation at every step.
Release Tracking: Experience a better way to manage your SDK submissions with an all-in-one Jira-integrated dashboard. View ticket statuses, comments, and submission history without leaving the app.
Documentation: Access comprehensive documentation and training materials to guide you through using the SDK, accessible directly from the Home tab.

We’re thrilled to bring you SDK Manager and look forward to your feedback as we continue to enhance and refine this powerful development tool.

Thank you to all individuals who have contributed to the development of SDK Manager. Your dedication and expertise have been instrumental in bringing this project to fruition.