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Aurora Sector Studio – Alpha 2 Is Here

By Peter

Hello all I'm excited to announce that Alpha 2 of Aurora Sector Studio (A.S.S.) is now live!
This update focuses heavily on core usability, bringing a far more polished and reliable editing experience.

What’s New in Alpha 2

A Brand-New, Improved Editor

The editor has received major upgrades to make working with sector files smoother and more intuitive:

  • Monospaced Code Editor — clean, structured, consistent.
  • Automatic Dirty-State Tracking — tabs now correctly detect when changes are made.
  • Unsaved Changes Protection — notifications when closing a tab or the app with unsaved work.
  • Better Tab Handling — predictable behaviour, including when closing the final tab.

File Watcher Support

External edits are now detected!

  • If a file changes on disk, A.S.S. will notify you and offer to reload it.
  • If you have unsaved local changes, you'll get a warning to prevent data loss.

Perfect for workflows involving Git or external tools.

Explorer & Project Handling Improvements

  • Cleaner and more consistent project loading/unloading
  • Correct handling of implicit file references inside .isc files
  • Structured folder-based tree view
  • Improved overall file management behaviour

More Polished UI/UX

  • Improved layout and visual consistency
  • Better theme integration
  • Resizable Explorer sidebar
  • General quality-of-life enhancements throughout

Thank You for Testing

Alpha software can be rough, but your feedback shapes everything.
If you want to support development, you’re welcome to do so at:
https://ko-fi.com/sectorstudio

More features are coming — and yes, some exciting editor upgrades are already planned for Alpha 3 ;)