Changelog: Search the web and a new follow-up action

This week, we introduce two new features: you can search the web using AI to create a Perplexity-like experience and chain actions for faster results.

Author

Samuel ROY
May 09, 2024

Opening Words

Caught some annoying bugs last week so I delayed the access, sorry for that!

You should have received the download link from my personal email: [email protected]. If not, here’s the direct link: Download Alter for macOS

Search the web

Perplexity is one of our latest providers. We've set up a special feature that lets you access their models online, allowing you to enjoy the Perplexity experience from anywhere.

I need to get used to accessing it directly rather than opening a browser and searching through Google or a Perplexity tab!

Reuse follow-up

Sometimes, you might want to enhance the results you get. The "Reuse" function does exactly this by using the output from one action as the input for another. Imagine it as a sequence: Improve Writing > Change Tone > Lengthen > Cut Filler Words.

You can click or, even better, use the shortcut you've already set to open Alter from anywhere.

Bug fixes and improvements:

  • We were using git as a backend to power our MagicDiff view. Git is not installed by default on macOS, so it prompted users to download it if it was missing. We removed this dependency and found another way.

  • The onboarding flow was unrestrictive, leading to a state where you couldn’t use Alter. The new onboarding will make sure that you enable the right permissions for Alter.

  • Default generation settings were set to GPT-3.5-turbo and 256 max tokens, leading to a poor experience. Changed to GPT-4-Turbo and 4096 max tokens.

  • Fix arrow navigation when you return to the parent folder: the parent folder is the selection instead of losing the selection.

  • Some prompts like Co-intelligences or Search the web don’t need an initial selection: now they show up.

Cheers,

- Sam and the Alter team