Release notes.

Changed

• Transit Architect moves from Private Alpha to Early Access. Same license key, same one-time price, same browser build — this marks the game as past the earliest rough stretch, not a claim that it's feature-complete. See the [roadmap](/#roadmap) for what's still ahead.

Changed

• Trains are drawn as one continuous body that flexes along the track instead of a row of separate car shapes. The carbody is neutral, with the line colour as a narrow band low on the side, a window row, and thin seams where cars meet. The Fleet list icons match.

Fixed

• Release workflow ran `wrangler` on Node 20; wrangler 4 needs Node 22, so the R2 upload for the licence-gated channel never ran. Bumped CI to Node 22.

Fixed

• Publish the licence-gated installer and update feed to R2 — 0.0.9's release build skipped that step, so activated copies had no 0.0.9 on the gated channel.

Added

• Licence-gated download and in-app activation: a copy is tied to one machine and checks its key before unlocking play and before pulling updates.
• Per-line profit breakdown in the Command Center — an hourly P&L bridge, the service and cost drivers behind each figure, and a plain-language read on what is sinking a line.

Changed

• Trains are drawn car by car and flex along the real track through curves instead of as one rigid rectangle; the Fleet list icons use the same silhouettes.
• Train motion is smoothed between simulation ticks, so trains glide instead of stepping forward once a second.
• Station dwell can be set anywhere from 30 seconds to 5 minutes and now scales with how many riders are waiting.
• Junction protection reworked: a block signal placed on an approach track now protects the junction by proximity, and held trains stop short of the signal.
• Tutorial explains what a target headway is and suggests real-world figures.
• The Lines headway readout now reads "Every X min currently" to set it apart from the target you set.
• Hosting moved to the transit-architect.pages.dev feed for downloads, updates, and feedback.

Fixed

• Saving no longer breaks on Windows machines where the Documents folder is redirected into OneDrive and the shell lookup fails — it falls back to a plain Documents path, then to the app-data directory.

Added

• Automatic updates: the app checks for a newer installer on launch, downloads it in the background, and installs it the next time you restart. A banner tracks the download and offers "Restart now".
• "What's new" panel on the first launch after an update, and a Releases page on the download site — both generated from this changelog.

Added

• Fleet tab for managing trains separately from line planning.
• Real signal holding — trains wait at held signals instead of passing through.

Changed

• Reworked track connections and the curve engine for smoother alignments.
• Density overlay and UI consistency pass across panels.
• Saves now live in a visible `Documents/Transit Architect` folder instead of the hidden per-OS application-data directory.
• Clearer tutorial and onboarding copy.

Fixed

• Track curve geometry near stations no longer kinks or overshoots.

Added

• Full simulation engine — commuters with real origins and destinations choosing between transit, walking, and driving based on time, transfers, waiting, crowding, and fare.
• Worldwide population and activity data; start in thousands of real cities.
• Track and station editing, service planning (stopping patterns, headways, operating windows, fares, fleets), finances, and IPO/loans.
• Save system with automatic rotating backups.
• In-game tutorial/onboarding and a tester feedback panel.