Many changes since early July: new docs site, new Discover page, new Townie models, new app layout, and more.
Docfooding #
The Val Town [docs](https://docs.val.town/) are now written and hosted
[on Val Town](https://www.val.town/x/valdottown/docs). You can read about that
[docfooding](/docfooding) effort on the blog.
Discover #
To dislodge your codewriter's block, we have a new Discover page on val.town with templates, staff picks, and integrations.
Whack-a-model #
DeepSeek V4 Flash is now Townie's default model. It's ~100x cheaper and roughly as intelligent as Opus. We also added Fable 5 and Opus 5 to Townie, because to each her own. The game of
[whack-a-model](https://blog.val.town/glm5.2-and-sonnet5) persists, though, with
[Qwen 3.8 atop the charts today](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49200652).
ChatGPT Plugin + AGENTS.md #
After adding our plugin to Claude's official marketplace last month, we did the same for
Codex/ChatGPT. One more piece of news in agentland: we now
[support](https://blog.val.town/agents-dot-md) the `AGENTS.md`
[convention](https://agents.md) via a special `.config`
val. Those agent instructions are injected into Townie chats and MCP sessions.
Layout #
Jackson redesigned and implemented new val.town global navigation app chrome. There's now an org switcher, left sidebar, searchable val dashboard, and an updated footer.
Tags! #
You can now add tags to vals in val settings.
Monograms #
Vals now have little placeholder monograms instead of defaulting to your profile picture as the val's image.
Environment variables #
Environment variable groups are now accessible through our API — create, update, and attach environment variables for your org. Thanks to our friends at
Herd for the feature request. You can also now show and hide secrets while editing environment variables in the UI.
Sprig Sans #
We've been sprinkling Sprig Sans, the typeface on our new homepage, across other pages. Gosh, type foundries always have the coolest websites.
std/openai #
We updated the std/openai val to use OpenAI's latest models.
MCP branching tools #
New MCP tools: merge_branch
and delete_branch
. That's 54 tools now, so Steve
made some docs (in a val, ofc).
HTTP analytics #
HTTP analytics in a val now have more useful x-axis time labels.
Lightning round #
- PRs for vals now show the author's handle instead of their org's name
- We fixed a bug where some Pro users were seeing the wrong Townie limits in settings
- You can now link to a val's Connections page (and its other pages, like env vars) in its README by writing markdown, like
[Connect to Slack](/connections)
- The first HTTP file in a val is now auto-pinned so that a preview will appear on the val's home page. You can change a val's pinned HTTP file in settings
- When creating a val, we now present an inline warning when a val description is too long. Thanks Nicofor the suggestion - We fixed a tiny text overflow problem in Townie, e.g. when rendering long URLs
- The MCP server can now directly upload blobs up to 1 MB, or 10 MB if the blob is hosted at a URL
- We fixed the CLI command to rename an org
- The Townie/MCP system prompt now documents val transfers between orgs
- Code search is now available on public vals (thanks,
Nico, for reporting) We're hiring!
Are you an infra engineer who cares about the joy of programming?