What's new

v1.0.0-rc.5 — 2026-10-22

RC5 was published on 2026-10-22 as a GitHub prerelease.

Read the RC5 release notes and download.

Safer Appearance saves: saving one color submits only explicitly edited colors. A no-change Inherit all action clears its empty drafts.
Custom color controls: each checkbox has a purpose-specific accessible name, and Space toggles retain checkbox focus.
Compact-menu keyboard entry: group-only submenu controls can receive keyboard focus.
Long mobile labels: a linked parent label can truncate while its submenu caret stays within the mobile bar.
Empty navigation: the compact trigger is omitted when there is no renderable brand or visible navigation content.
Label-only entries: navigation items that cannot show icons avoid unnecessary icon-loading subscriptions.
Clearer guidance: documentation distinguishes shared-component settings from separate-copy staging and explains disabling, detaching, and Escape/focus behavior.
Release compatibility policy: subsequent releases and prereleases will track supported Discourse ESR and monthly releases at their latest patches, including both supported ESR lines during an overlap.

See known issues for outstanding issues and the testing record for verification results.

v1.0.0-rc.4

RC4 was published on 2026-10-18 as a GitHub prerelease.

Read the RC4 release notes and download.

Clearer setting descriptions: find out what each control changes, including direct color entry and when a setting uses the active theme’s colors.
Appearance color pickers: updated guidance explains how to use the color pickers or enter color values directly, and how to return to theme colors.
Menu ordering: help text explains how the up/down arrows change the order of items within the same Surface. The controls now have Move up and Move down tooltips.
Administrator guide: a detailed settings reference covers the component’s options, including Theme translations, colors, sizes and configuration bundles.
Examples and screenshots: updated header examples and compact, click-to-enlarge settings screenshots show the navigation and administration interface.
Support and community: support links lead to the CodeWorksLabs community Support category. The README also lists public installations and explains how to request a listing.

RC4 also includes the header size and color controls introduced in RC3, described below.

v1.0.0-rc.3

RC3 was published on 2026-10-17 as a GitHub prerelease.

Read the RC3 release notes and download.

Header sizes: choose separate desktop and mobile sizes for Brand Navigation’s header icons and link text, or keep the theme defaults.
Header colors: set link-text colors and a shared link/icon hover background separately from icon colors.
Dropdown contrast: choose a separate submenu text/icon color for hover and keyboard focus.
Configuration backups: the new size and color settings are included in exported bundles.

v1.0.0-rc.2

RC2 was published on 2026-10-17 as a GitHub prerelease.

Read the RC2 release notes and download.

The header and administration improvements include:

Text links in the Discourse header: choose text, an icon, or both.
Header alignment: put each link beside the logo or before the header controls, ahead of Sign Up and Log In.
Separate icon colors: set normal and hover/keyboard-focus colors, or inherit the theme’s defaults.
Friendlier editing: Menu item and Submenu item labels, with the editor staying open after saving.
Small-screen fixes: improved mixed-link layouts and minimized-topic behavior, with finite space and text truncation still worth checking on your own theme.
Clearer color controls: consistently aligned Appearance rows, without changing their save/reset behavior.

See Add links, menus and colors to use these options and the complete changelog for the full history.

v1.0.0-rc.1

RC1 was published on 2026-09-08 as a GitHub prerelease.

Highlights include:

one native Discourse Enabled? switch, with a documented staging-theme preparation and bundle-import workflow;
protection against an older asynchronous bundle-file read replacing a newer file selection or pasted configuration;
corrected mobile flow for linked-parent submenu children;
adoption of Discourse’s d-compat/<YYYY>.<M> compatibility-branch convention; and
updated installation, migration and testing documentation.

GitHub Release · Complete changelog · All releases

Release status and limits

Brand Navigation remains a prerelease. Before updating, read the notes for your chosen version, back up your settings and check Updates and compatibility.

Known-working Discourse builds are tested examples, not a minimum-version promise. Full human screen-reader and RTL acceptance remain open, and release-tag rollback retains the precautions in Migration and rollback.