v0.9.0
OCTOBER 31, 2026Installer and notes ↗Added18
The engine can run plugins.
A plugin adds something PitCrew does not do itself, such as a flag display on an LED matrix. It runs apart from the engineer: a plugin that crashes, hangs or uses too much memory is stopped and started again, and after three failures in ten minutes it stays off. The engineer keeps talking in every case. For plugin authors,
pitcrew-engine --headless --plugin-dev <folder>runs a plugin and reloads it when it changes, and--safe-modestarts with no plugins.Plugins can use USB serial devices.
A plugin opens only the port you pick in its settings, and two plugins never share one. PitCrew closes the port when the plugin stops or fails, so a device such as an LED matrix goes dark instead of freezing on the last frame.
Plugins remember their own choices.
A plugin can read back the files it saved, so the Flags plugin keeps your finished device setup and the flags you turned off between restarts.
Plugin settings are easier to undo and to pick.
Empty a number field to put the setting back to its default (for the Flags plugin, the board's own pin). An animation pack is now picked from a list of the installed packs, by name, so a pack you saved yourself can be chosen.
A device plugged in late shows up.
A plugin's port list looks again when you come back to the window, and has a button to look again now. With no device plugged in, it says so.
Plugin settings use sliders and button rows.
A plugin can ask for a slider, a percent slider or a row of buttons, add a unit and a one-line description, and offer a pin field for a board's GPIO pins.
A plugin's pixel editor has a palette.
Pick a color and paint with it, drag across cells, right-click to turn a cell off, fill or clear the frame, and change a color or add one with the system picker or a hex code.
A plugin's pixel editor works from the keyboard.
Tab into it, move with the arrow keys and paint with Enter or Space; a screen reader names each cell's row, column and color by name.
Changed07
Plugins are built for plugin API 2.
A plugin made for the first plugin API does not load until its author rebuilds it; the Plugins screen says why. The Flags plugin is already rebuilt.
Plugin screens hold up when something goes wrong.
A plugin screen PitCrew can't draw no longer blanks the window: it says so and keeps the plugin's settings usable. A screen that never arrives gets a Try again button instead of waiting forever, and a plugin restarting after an error counts down to the restart. A double click on a plugin's button or action sends it once, and the port list picks up a device as soon as you plug it in.
Plugin screens are easier to scan.
A plugin's tabs sit under its title, its buttons line up in rows, its status lines and switch lists group together, and its tables are denser. On the Plugins screen the status, Open and the switch line up from row to row, and a long plugin name keeps its place at narrow window sizes.
Clearer messages on the Plugins screen and on plugin screens.
Errors say what failed and what to do next, a port in use names the plugin that holds it, and the Plugins screen drops its one-tab bar. It now mentions the rail only when more plugins have a screen than the rail can show.
The curved-monitor correction moved to Settings › Display.
It sits next to the new field-of-view calculator. It works as before; only the place changed.
PitCrew installs for your Windows user, and updates without asking for administrator rights.
The download is now a
-setup.exeinstead of an.msi, and it installs into your own user folder. When you accept a new PitCrew from the update panel, it closes, shows a small progress window and opens again. The first time, if your PitCrew came from the old.msi, Windows asks your permission once to remove it. Your settings, profiles and voices stay where they are.Plugins are published next to PitCrew.
The releases page now also lists plugin releases, named "Plugin · …". The app's installer is in the newest release named "PitCrew v…". The plugin source and the guide for plugin authors are in the
plugins/folder of the public repository.
Fixed04
A plugin with damaged files now says it can't start, instead of saying it isn't installed.
When no serial port is found, the settings now say to plug the device in, and the list picks it up on its own.
Plugin screens work better with a keyboard and a screen reader.
A plugin's button keeps focus after you press it, and the color editor puts focus back on the color you edited. A screen reader now says when a plugin fails, restarts or comes back, and reads a setting's error with that setting. Error text in plugin settings is easier to read, unlit pixels on a matrix show their outline, and with no device plugged in the port row says so in a place the keyboard reaches.
The phone and tablet show the Companion and PIT screens of the version you installed.
An installer could carry the screens from an earlier build, so the race screen on the phone kept its old layout after an update.
PitCrew opens again after it updates itself.
When you accepted a new PitCrew from the update panel, the window closed for the installer and did not come back. It now reopens when the install is done.