SpendLess

CHANGELOG

What’s new in SpendLess.

New features, improvements and fixes in every release. All releases on GitHub

v1.3.2

SpendLessDaw 1.3.2 - macOS audio preview fix

SpendLess 1.3.2 is a macOS stability patch for audio preview playback.

macOS audio preview fix

  • Prevented SpendLess from initializing Chromium audio input while playing project previews.
  • Removed unused microphone and audio-capture permission declarations from the packaged macOS application.
  • Kept preview playback, pause, seek, volume, fades, and track changes unchanged.
  • Left Windows audio behavior unchanged.

Packaging reliability

  • Added package-time checks that reject macOS bundles still declaring audio-capture permissions.
  • Verified the universal macOS bundle and native SQLite binding for both x64 and arm64.
  • Preserved the existing Windows installer and updater flow.

macOS installation note

SpendLess is not yet signed. macOS Gatekeeper may block the first launch. Open System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll down, and allow SpendLess. Accessibility permission is also required so SpendLess can read the FL Studio window title and detect the active project.

Automatic installation is not available on macOS yet. SpendLess will notify you when a future update is available and open the matching DMG download directly.


Thank you for using SpendLess.

v1.3.1

SpendLessDaw 1.3.1 - Stability and interface improvements

SpendLess 1.3.1 is a stability and interface update focused on more reliable FL Studio detection, clearer project workflows, and safer application updates.

FL Studio and project detection

  • Hardened FL Studio detection when project window titles disappear or change, including macOS Spaces behavior.
  • Fixed false FL Studio detections on Windows after startup.
  • Improved live DAW state refresh so closing FL Studio is reflected without restarting SpendLess.
  • Preserved the current project when FL Studio is still running but no reliable project title is available.

Interface improvements

  • Replaced the settings popup with an integrated settings page and animated sidebar navigation.
  • Refined project creation menus, dropdowns, context menus, scrollbars, toasts, and sidebar actions.
  • Added reusable input, textarea, and select controls across project and export dialogs.
  • Reorganized project details and added one-click project ID copying.
  • Moved cover and audio preview import, replacement, and removal into the project editor. Changes are now applied only when the project is saved.

Export changes

  • Refreshed the project export dialog.
  • Kept .spend and ZIP project exports unchanged.
  • Removed the unreliable FL Studio command-line audio rendering options (MP3, WAV, OGG, and FLAC).

Updates and reliability

  • Added manual macOS update notifications that open the universal DMG directly when a new version is available.
  • Kept automatic Windows updates while preventing duplicate system notifications and repeated dialogs for the same version.
  • Migrated user settings and preferences to a local SQLite database automatically. Project files and metadata remain in their existing portable JSON format.
  • Unified and hardened macOS and Windows packaging, including native SQLite bindings and versioned migrations.
  • Added CI validation for release versions, type checks, linting, and the complete desktop test suite before packaging.

macOS installation note

SpendLess is not yet signed. macOS Gatekeeper may block the first launch. Open System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll down, and allow SpendLess. Accessibility permission is also required so SpendLess can read the FL Studio window title and detect the active project.

Automatic installation is not available on macOS yet. Starting with 1.3.1, SpendLess can notify you about future updates and open the matching DMG download directly.


Thank you for using SpendLess.

v1.3.0

Welcome to SpendLessDaw 1.3.0 ✨ (MacOS Support)

SpendLess 1.3.0 is a major update focused on MacOS support, a complete interface redesign, better DAW and project detection, and overall stability improvements.

This update reworks an important part of the application foundations to make SpendLess more reliable across platforms, especially when detecting FL Studio, opening projects, and handling project states.

Here is a summary of the changes brought in version 1.3.0!

MacOS Support

  • Added MacOS support across the application
  • Added cross-platform FL Studio detection and launch logic
  • Adapted export behavior to work with MacOS command line logic, not only Windows
  • Added MacOS-compatible window title detection
  • Improved platform-specific window and tray behavior
  • Improved cross-platform path, icon, and file handling for better consistency between Windows and MacOS

Add

  • Added DAW auto-detection
  • Added stricter unit tests to improve reliability on critical flows
  • Added better loading skeletons in key pages
  • Added project navigation improvements from the Home page
  • Added fallback logic to create a new template from FL Studio data when available

Complete Interface Redesign

  • Fully redesigned the application interface
  • Reworked major layouts, dialogs, sidebars, menus, and project-related components
  • Improved visual consistency across the UI
  • Improved animations and transitions for a smoother experience
  • Improved overall readability, spacing, and component organization

Changes / Enhancements

  • Improved project open detection logic
  • Reworked the logic used to detect DAWs and opened projects
  • Detection now relies more reliably on actual window titles and FL Studio-related information
  • Added priority and filtering logic to avoid false matches when multiple titles look similar
  • Improved project title stability and uniqueness across project actions
  • Improved project handling and internal event logging
  • Improved template handling when loading and creating projects
  • SpendLess now tries to retrieve the base template from FL Studio data first before falling back to base.flp
  • Improved archiving and project state handling
  • Updated dependencies and internal project tooling for better compatibility and stability

Fix

  • Fixed detection issues with DAW / opened projects
  • Fixed title instability in project detection flows
  • Fixed duplicate project title conflicts by keeping generated titles unique
  • Fixed loading status not showing correctly during archiving
  • Fixed image display issues where broken placeholders could appear
  • Fixed audio preview playback issues on some files and environments
  • Fixed .spend import behavior not searching correctly inside files for samples
  • Fixed periodic scan issues
  • Fixed multiple MacOS-related compatibility issues
  • Fixed build issues introduced during the update cycle

Changes

  • Removed Discord RPC
  • Remove anonymizer option (useless without Discord RPC)

MacOS warning!

Important note: because the app is not yet signed, macOS Gatekeeper may block the app from launching. You will need to go to Settings > Privacy & Security > scroll down > Allow the app. You will also need to enable Accessibility for SpendLessDaw in your settings (you should be prompted automatically); this allows SpendLessDaw to retrieve and detect the name of your DAW window and determine whether the project is currently open.

Also, because the app is not signed, automatic updates are not available for the macOS version. We are working to sign the app as quickly as possible to make this possible; in the meantime, you will need to update manually by downloading the installer again.


Thank you for using SpendLess! This update prepares a more solid base for future improvements while making the app much more consistent across environments.

v1.2.2

SpendLess v1.2.2 🐞[Patch]

SpendLess 1.2.2 brings 2 fixes including 1 critical:

Fix

  • Add ts-flp@1.0.5: fix events serialization and parsing to avoid projects corruption
  • Fix color set randomly during project edit

Critic fixes in ts-flp@1.0.5

Since version 1.2.0, SpendLess uses ts-flp to read and modify .flp projects instead of a compiled version of PyFLP.

ts-flp is a library we maintain ourselves to keep up with FL Studio updates.

It also provides a built-in solution rather than relying on an unstable system that used a compiled version of PyFLP, which is no longer maintained.

The latest update to ts-flp addresses a problem related to the structure and variations present in .flp files that we hadn't seen before. This could lead to serious consequences such as project corruption and the inability to retrieve certain properties.

If one of your projects becomes corrupted, you can disable updates and restore a backup of your project.