Changelog

Stay up to date with the latest features, improvements, and fixes in Unspool Studio.

March 5, 2026

Clip Transcript Handles Restored

The drag handles for resizing clip boundaries in the transcript are back. A precision issue in boundary detection caused the handles to disappear when clip times didn't align exactly to word timestamps. Handles now reliably appear on every clip.

Active Word Highlighting During Playback

The currently spoken word is now visually highlighted again during audio playback. Uses a subtle text-shadow effect that makes the active word stand out without causing text to reflow or jump between lines.

Clip Playback Reliability

Fixed an issue where clicking play on a clip could fail silently if the cached audio URL had expired. Clips now recover from expired audio the same way episodes do — falling back to IndexedDB cache, Supabase storage, or the original URL.

Faster Podcast Search

Podcast episode lists now load the first 50 episodes instantly, with more loading on scroll. Previously, the entire feed was fetched upfront which could be slow for podcasts with hundreds of episodes.

Reliable Transcription for Long Episodes

Transcription now handles long-form episodes (2+ hours) reliably. Previously, very long episodes could time out during processing. Unspool now processes these in the background and notifies you when they're ready — no need to keep the tab open. Learn more →

Card Visual Overhaul

Every card type on the canvas — sources, clips, videos, reels, and posts — has been refreshed with a consistent design language.

Unified badges — All card type badges now use the same shared component with consistent colors and sizing
Floating action buttons — Delete and AI actions appear as a hovering pill above the card instead of inline, keeping cards cleaner
Play button redesign — Source cards use a red play button with white icon; clip cards use a bold yellow play button with black icon. Both use rounded rectangles instead of circles.
Active clip stroke — Selected clip cards now show a visible colored border instead of shadow-only
Consistent icons — Standardized icon usage across cards and the layers panel (e.g. Video icon for "Generate Video" instead of Film)

Smart Edge Connectors

Canvas connectors between cards now attach to the nearest edge pair instead of always connecting top-to-bottom. Cards arranged side-by-side get horizontal connectors, and the routing adapts based on relative position — cleaner lines with fewer awkward bends.

Auto-Regenerate on Style Changes

Changing a video's format, aspect ratio, style palette, font, or caption settings now automatically triggers regeneration after a 1.5-second debounce. No more manually clicking "Regenerate" after every tweak. The card shows a loading indicator while the video updates.

Side Panel Reorganization

The side panel layout is now context-aware. When your canvas has content, the layers panel appears at top for quick navigation. Upload and Record buttons are always pinned at the bottom. Search stays accessible in the header.

Bug Fixes

Fixed playback getting stuck in a "pending" state if a seek operation timed out — a 2-second safety net now clears stuck state automatically
Fixed transcript text reflowing during playback when the active word highlight changed font weight
Fixed clip transcript highlighting where the end boundary gripper was hidden behind highlight styles
Fixed the font selector dropdown opening with too much gap from the button
Fixed video card delete button being cropped by card overflow
Fixed clip titles not using the full available card width

UX Improvements

"New Canvas" button downgraded from primary to secondary styling for less visual competition
Platform dropdown in the video panel now matches the font selector's custom dropdown style
Canvas empty state replaced with cleaner, action-oriented prompt

March 4, 2026

Speaker Identification

Unspool now automatically identifies who's speaking in podcast transcripts. Using show metadata — host names, guest names from RSS tags, and episode descriptions — the AI labels each speaker throughout the transcript so you always know who said what.

Automatic detection — Speaker labels appear in transcripts without any manual tagging
Show-aware context — The AI uses podcast host info, guest names from <podcast:person> tags, and episode descriptions to make accurate identifications

Keyboard Shortcuts

A new keyboard shortcuts modal (press ? on the canvas) shows all available shortcuts at a glance. Faster navigation and editing for power users.

Agent Feedback

You can now give thumbs up or thumbs down on agent-suggested clips directly in the Agent view. Your feedback helps the AI learn your preferences and improve future suggestions.

Clip Length Preferences

A new clip length range setting in Agent preferences lets you control the minimum and maximum duration of AI-suggested clips. Set your preferred range and the agent will respect it for all future suggestions.

Auto-Regenerate Videos

Videos now automatically regenerate when you edit a clip's transcript or adjust its boundaries. A toast notification confirms the regeneration so you always know your video is up to date.

Smarter Episode Detection

Unspool now learns each podcast's release schedule and only checks for new episodes when they're likely to publish — instead of polling every feed every 5 minutes. This means faster detection during release windows and significantly lower infrastructure costs. Twice-daily fallback sweeps ensure nothing is ever missed.

Bug Fixes

Email notifications — Fixed broken logo images in agent notification emails across Gmail, Outlook, and other email clients
Queue fairness — Fixed an issue where one user's slow transcriptions could block other users' episodes from processing. The queue now uses per-user round-robin scheduling.
Podcast detection reliability — Fixed a timeout issue where podcasts near the end of the check list were never reached
Podcast page 404 — Fixed a broken link when clicking podcast cards on the My Podcasts page
Dark palette visibility — Fixed the selection indicator being invisible on dark swatches in lite mode

UX Improvements

Font selector dropdown now previews each font in its own typeface
Georgia added as a system font option for video captions
Social post text field auto-expands with content
Palette preview text uses the active font in the color theme selector
Clip cards are more compact — removed transcript preview and reduced spacing
Canvas auto-scrolls to newly created clip cards
Drag handles on transcript clip segments have a larger hit area
Transcribing badge updated from black to a clearer light red style
Regenerate Video button is always visible with error feedback
Browser tab notifications now persist until you return to the tab

March 2, 2026

Video Style Customization

You can now customize the look of your video clips with color palettes and font presets. Choose from 16 color palettes (8 dark, 8 light) and 8 Google Font presets to match your brand or aesthetic. The mode toggle filters palettes by category so you can quickly find the right vibe.

Color palettes — 16 options ranging from warm earth tones to cool blues, with accurate Figma-sourced colors
Font presets — 8 caption font options loaded via the FontFace API for crisp rendering
Agent preferences — Style settings are available in both the video panel on canvas and the Agent preferences panel

Export Transcript

You can now export episode transcripts in multiple formats directly from the episode panel. Useful for show notes, blog posts, or accessibility.

Four formats — SRT (subtitles), VTT (web captions), TXT (plain text), and JSON (structured data)
One-click download — Open the export modal from the episode panel and pick your format

Post-Download Social Copy

After downloading a clip, Unspool now automatically generates platform-specific social copy you can post alongside it. A modal appears with AI-written text tailored to your selected platform.

Platform selector — Choose between X, LinkedIn, Threads, and Instagram, each with appropriate character limits and tone
Short/Long toggle — Switch between concise and extended copy lengths
Inline editing — Edit the generated text directly in the modal
Prompt-based iteration — Enter a custom prompt to regenerate the copy with specific direction
Copy to clipboard — One click to copy and you're ready to post
Persistent platform — Your preferred platform is remembered across sessions

Agent View Redesign

The Agent page now uses a responsive grid layout with a modal detail view instead of the previous carousel, making it easier to scan and act on multiple clips at once.

Grid layout — Clips are displayed in a responsive grid with thumbnails and metadata
Modal detail view — Click any clip to open a full-detail modal with video preview, transcript, and action buttons
Text messages — The agent now shows contextual chat-style messages alongside clips
Refined dark mode — Dark palette shifted from warm brown to warm slate for a more neutral, professional look

Bug Fixes

Sealed audio — Transcribed episodes now lock to the exact audio that was transcribed, permanently preventing audio/caption drift caused by dynamic ad insertion. If a cached audio file expires, the episode card shows a restore prompt.

February 28, 2026

Improvements

Updated favicon — The browser tab now shows the Unspool U logo for a cleaner, more recognizable look

Bug Fixes

Audio/caption mismatch in agent clips — Fixed a race condition where video clips could play audio that didn't match the on-screen captions. This happened when a podcast host used dynamic ad insertion, causing the live audio feed to differ from the transcript. Clips now always use the exact audio that was transcribed, ensuring captions and audio stay in sync.
Clip boundary accuracy — Fixed an issue where the first word of a clip could be incorrectly included when it fell just before the clip start time. Clips now use precise word-level timestamps so boundaries are always accurate.

February 27, 2026

Agentic Clip Generation

Unspool now has an autonomous agent that monitors your subscribed podcasts and automatically generates clips from new episodes. When a new episode drops, the agent transcribes it, analyzes the content, suggests clips, and notifies you — all without lifting a finger.

Dedicated /agent page — A two-panel interface with show-centric threads on the left and a clip carousel on the right
Inline video preview — Preview generated clips directly in the agent chat before deciding
Approve, edit, or reject — Download clips instantly, send them to canvas for editing, or dismiss
Canvas workspace — The agent creates a full canvas (episode + clips) server-side so you can jump straight into editing
Per-show controls — Pause or resume the agent for individual podcasts
Email notifications — Get notified immediately when new clips are ready, plus an optional daily digest

Sidebar Navigation

Non-canvas pages (dashboard, podcasts, agents) now use a collapsible sidebar instead of the top navigation bar. The canvas page retains its existing breadcrumb nav.

Expand/collapse — Toggle between full labels and icon-only mode, persisted across sessions
Mobile support — Hamburger menu with a slide-over drawer on smaller screens

Design System Refresh

A comprehensive visual overhaul moving from hardcoded colors to a token-based design system with warm, neutral tones.

Warm surfaces — Dark mode uses brown-undertone backgrounds; light mode uses warm off-white with white cards
Shadow-based elevation — Cards use shadows instead of colored borders for depth
Yellow accent — Replaces the previous purple/magenta palette throughout the UI
Theme-aware contrast — New tokens ensure accent colors pass contrast checks in both themes
Neutral connectors — All canvas connectors use a single neutral color instead of per-type colors

Bug Fixes

First word dropped from clips — Clips and video captions now include words that partially overlap the clip boundary instead of silently dropping them
Transcript edits not persisting — Fixed a shared-reference mutation that corrupted old/new text comparison after the first edit, preventing subsequent edits from saving
Audio export failures — Export now falls back to the original RSS audio URL when the cached URL is missing, and the audio proxy timeout was increased for large files
Dark mode active word — The highlighted word in transcripts now uses theme-aware text color instead of hardcoded near-black
Video play button invisible — Fixed the play button on video cards being invisible in dark mode

February 22, 2026

Podcast Header Video Template

A new premium video export style inspired by professional podcast clips. Perfect for sharing podcast highlights on social media with a polished, branded look.

Karaoke-style captions — Words highlight in a warm peach tone as they're spoken, with elegant serif typography (Georgia)
Header with podcast info — Shows podcast artwork, episode title, and show name at the top
Dual aspect ratios — Export in 1:1 (square) for LinkedIn/feeds or 9:16 (vertical) for Stories/Reels
Smooth scrolling — For longer clips, text scrolls elegantly behind the header with a professional fade effect

Source-Centric Clips

Clips now derive their transcript directly from their source episode, improving reliability when editing. This ensures transcript changes stay in sync across your workspace.

Bug Fixes

Transcript spaces — Fixed an issue where spaces would disappear in highlighted clip regions
Selection popover — The transcript selection popover now hides when you start typing

January 24, 2026

AI-Powered Clip Suggestions

Unspool Studio can now automatically suggest the best clips from your transcribed episodes. When you transcribe an episode, the AI analyzes the content and recommends compelling segments to clip — saving you time scanning through long transcripts.

Auto-suggest clips — AI identifies the most interesting, shareable moments in your episode
Visual feedback — A connector line and skeleton card show when suggestions are being generated
Toast notifications — Get notified when suggestions are ready or if something goes wrong
Feedback system — Rate suggested clips to help improve future suggestions

My Podcasts in Canvas Sidebar

You can now browse your subscribed podcasts directly from the canvas sidebar — no need to leave the canvas to find a new episode to work with.

Auto-Transcription for New Episodes

Enable auto-transcribe on any podcast, and new episodes will be transcribed automatically when they're published. No more manual transcription for your regular shows.

UX Improvements

Clip suggestion UI appears instantly instead of after a delay
ESC key now clears transcript selection without deselecting the clip card
Improved search reliability with race condition prevention
Fixed auto-transcribe toggle and button text issues

January 23, 2026

Dark Mode Fix for Auth Pages

Fixed an issue where login and signup form fields appeared with dark backgrounds in dark mode. Auth pages now consistently use light mode styling for better readability.

January 11, 2026

Transcript Improvements

Smarter retranscribe button — The retranscribe option is now hidden when an episode already has clips or reels, preventing accidental loss of work
Performance optimizations — Retranscription is now faster and more efficient

January 5, 2026

Bug Fixes & Template Updates

Fixed artwork checkbox — The artwork toggle on clip cards now responds to clicks correctly
Modern dark template — Updated the dark mode template with improved styling and layout
UI polish — Adjusted padding on audio player and search field elements

This changelog is updated when new features ship to production. For the latest updates, check back here or join our Slack Community.