Split Panel in Alter

Hey everyone,

Thanks to your suggestions, we’re introducing Split Panel in Alter, a new way to interact with your workspace that lets you break free from a single-panel view.

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What is Split Panel?

Split Panel allows you to add a second panel next to your current session in the Hub.

Instead of switching between tabs, you can now work in parallel on two different tasks or collaborate on a single complex project without losing your place.

Here is how it changes your workflow:

1. Drag-and-Drop Context: See something interesting in one session? Just select the text and drag it directly into the other panel to ask a question or add it to your current task.

2. Flexible Organization: You can easily reorder your tabs or move a tab from one side panel to the other to keep your workspace organized.

3. Cross-Panel Referencing: Use the @ symbol in your conversation to quickly refer to and add context from another open panel.

4. Integrated File Viewer: You no longer need a third-party editor for your documents. Markdown, HTML, and PDF files can now be opened directly in a side panel. Just right-click a file and select "Open in the other panel" to inspect and interact with your data side-by-side with Alter.

Whether you're coding with documentation open on the side or organizing a recipe into a markdown file, Split Screen makes the process seamless.

Cheers,
Olivier & Sam

Full Changelog

New Features & Enhancements

• Hub Split Panel: Add a second panel next to your Hub session to work in parallel — with shortcuts and stable new-chat / drop behavior.

• Drag-and-drop context: Select text in one session and drag it into the other panel to ask a question or add it to your task.

• Flexible tabs: Reorder tabs or move a tab from one side panel to the other (including on external displays).

• Cross-panel referencing: Use @ to refer to and add context from the other open panel.

• Integrated file viewer: Open Markdown, HTML, and PDF files in a side panel via “Open in the other panel” — inspect documents next to Alter without a third-party editor.

• Audio workflows: Microphone and transcription run as workflows — queued transcription, workflow status in the mic menu and Edge Bar, and local speech diagnostics to help us debug users.

• Shell tools: Shell commands can include a purpose for clearer tool calls.

• ChatGPT tool calls: Tool calls display as they arrive during streaming.

• Localizations: Hub suggestion cards and new split-pane UI strings localized for non-English users.

Bug Fixes & Stability

• Hub: Blank window presentation, QuickHub hosting constraint loop, model sync feedback loop, overlay inspector with split layout, and input shortcuts on macOS 27.

• Conversation: Preserve generation errors; send queued messages after tools finish.

• Audio / transcription: Invalid microphone devices, meeting input picker flicker, hardened voice workflow processing, and rejection of malformed transcript timestamps; skip corrupt transcript rows during conversion.

• Custom endpoints: Better compatibility with exotic OpenAI-compatible endpoints.

• Editor: Prevent Sonoma sidebar truncation.

• Menubar: Clicks restored on macOS 27; workflow status shown in the menu.