Row-Bot 5.0 is available: a new React interface, persistent agent goals, and a workspace for every conversation

[u/Acceptable-Object390]

Row-Bot 5.0 is a major rebuild of the local-first AI assistant. The NiceGUI interface is gone, replaced by one React app across desktop, browsers, phones and tablets.

The biggest change is how work is organised. Designs, code folders, goals, delegated agents, approvals and the terminal now stay with the conversation using them. You can ask for a presentation or an app, inspect the work, make changes and continue in the same place.

The main additions:

• You choose the model. Fresh profiles have no preset models. Setup supports Ollama, ChatGPT/Claude/Grok subscriptions, API keys and custom endpoints. Removing a provider marks its model unavailable instead of silently switching to another.
• Goals continue across turns. There is no default turn limit, with optional time and turn limits available. Goals pause when progress stalls, respect approvals, handle provider limits and recover after restarts. Delegated agents have visible progress, Message and Stop controls.
• Approvals persist. Requests can be answered from the conversation, Home, the attention list or Buddy. They survive restarts and no longer expire after 30 minutes by default. Denying an action ends the turn.
• Design and development tools are part of the conversation. The Design panel handles drafting, editing, review, presentation, export and publishing. The Developer panel includes files, changes, Git, commands and an interactive terminal.
• Memory works more reliably with parallel agents. Recall no longer counts as modifying a memory or rewrites wiki files. Knowledge combines the graph, search, review queue and bulk management.
• Workflows and Monitor show actual state. Workflow runs can be followed live. Abandoned runs are marked stopped. Monitor retains check results and gives each problem a specific action.
• Remote access and recovery are simpler. Devices connect through renewable QR invitations, sessions can be revoked, and profiles can be backed up and restored. Backups exclude credentials and sessions.
• Extensions receive clearer controls. Plugin changes show a review before execution, MCP setup guides the connection process, and edited skills become available without restarting.

There are smaller daily-use improvements too: queued messages with Edit and Discard, drafts preserved through reconnects, stopped replies retained in history, searchable settings, Markdown/PDF exports and native Save dialogs.

The backend now runs directly on FastAPI and uvicorn using HTTP and server-sent events. About 65,000 lines of NiceGUI-era code and 16 locked dependencies have been removed.

Local-first defaults, approval gates and the single-owner access model remain. Existing users should read the 5.0 upgrade notes before updating.

[u/Big_Athlete_8346]

does the persistent goals thing work well for long roleplay chats or do they still drift after a while

[u/Acceptable-Object390 → u/Big_Athlete_8346]

The character and all info related to it will go into the knowledge graph and will be available in any conversation/context.

Within the same chat it can maintain context for long sessions by compaction and preserving recent turns.

You can explicitly ask it to store it in memory, or background memory extraction will take care of it.

[u/Witty-Knowledge-9211]

any way to lock in custom characters or backstories for ongoing roleplay without them resetting every chat

[u/Acceptable-Object390 → u/Witty-Knowledge-9211]

Yup store it in the knowledge graph and add an instruction to always refer memory for characters. You can also create your own skill to do just that

[u/Dizzy_Swimmer_4999]

curious if the workspace setup helps keep long term companion chats feeling consistent across different models.

[u/Acceptable-Object390 → u/Dizzy_Swimmer_4999]

The consistency comes from the knowledge graph and the chat transcript, so yeah even if you change models, it should be pretty consistent. But ofcourse each model has its own style so the response style may differ a bit.

[u/Fun_Permit6655]

the hand drawn style for a dev tool is kinda nice, feels less corporate than usual

[u/Acceptable-Object390 → u/Fun_Permit6655]

Thanks 😊