Overview
The beta was the bridge between the alpha's raw CLI and something you'd actually want to use every day. The biggest shift: swapping the terminal for a real desktop interface built in Electron, and introducing a proper persistence layer so Jarvis could finally remember things between sessions.
For the first time it started to feel less like a script and more like an assistant — one that knew your name, recalled past conversations, and didn't need to be re-briefed every time you opened it.
What changed
Memory was the headline feature. Conversations were stored in a local SQLite database and summarised after each session, giving the model a rolling context window of who you are and what you've been working on. It wasn't perfect, but it was transformative compared to the stateless alpha.
The interface was deliberately minimal — a floating window, a single input, and a clean response area. No settings panels, no sidebars. The goal was something you could summon in under a second and dismiss just as fast.
Where it fell short
Electron was the wrong choice. The app was sluggish to launch and felt heavy for what it was doing. The memory system also had rough edges — summaries occasionally lost important detail, and there was no way to correct or curate what Jarvis remembered about you.
These limitations became the roadmap for the full release: ditch Electron, rebuild the memory layer with a vector store, and give the user more control over their own context.