Valence 1.0.2 — clearer, calmer, and a smarter setup

A round of polish across the interface, a friendlier first run, and a batch of local-AI fixes. Here’s everything in this release.

What’s new

• AI Providers, reimagined. Every provider — your local AI, cloud, and enterprise — now lives in one calm, unified list. The local model leads with an at-a-glance read on how it’ll run on your machine.
• A cleaner menu. The main menu is reorganized into clear sections — Conversation, Export & Share, Tools — with a tidy “More options” expander.
• Edit Profile, redesigned. A clearer layout that groups personality, model & knowledge, and privacy, with deployment posture (Standard / Business) tucked under Advanced.
• Smarter local-model downloads. Real-time progress, the download keeps running if you step away from Settings, and a clear note that you can keep using Valence while it finishes.
• A friendlier first run. The setup wizard now tells you, in plain language, how well a local model will run on your hardware before you download it.
• See it think. When a local model reasons through a hard question, a live “Thinking…” indicator shows it’s working — not stuck.
• A fresh look on your desktop. A new brand-mark app icon, crisp at every size.
• Check for updates, anytime. A “Check for Updates” button is back in Settings → About, with an optional “check on startup” toggle (off by default) — update checks happen on your terms.

Fixes

• AI replies now show the time they actually arrived — not when you sent the message — and every timestamp uses a consistent 12-hour format.
• Model names are now consistent between the setup wizard and Settings.
• Ollama now lists the models you’ve actually installed — and tells you clearly when Ollama isn’t running — instead of a generic placeholder list.
• Local AI models give clear guidance when your NVIDIA graphics driver is too old to run them, so you can update instead of hitting a confusing error.
• Removed a stray “add an API key” prompt that appeared for local models, which don’t need one.
• Parent dashboard: the “Scan now” button is no longer hidden behind “Lock dashboard.”
• Fixed the support email used by the in-app bug reporter.

Download

Valence 1.0.2 (.msi) · Windows 10/11 (64-bit) · 791 MB · 7-day free trial, then $59.95 once.

SHA-256: AE9429E6EB8C93D36CE65FEA77937F07895FF7D60A0B38F427F6A589BF30361A Unsigned installer — SmartScreen may warn: More info → Run anyway. Existing installs upgrade in place.