Changelog
What’s new in Variant.
New features and fixes in the app and the Chrome extension, version by version.
Roles managed by Henkan
- Roles are now managed by Henkan in Henkan Account: My team and Team & clients show each role as "Role managed by Henkan" with no way to change it, new people join as members (a Henkan consultant for a Henkan address), workspaces not linked to Henkan Account can still get an owner from Team & clients, and a role Henkan changes reaches you within about two minutes without signing out.
Easier documentation
- Documentation is easier to read: screenshots open full size in the page, code blocks have a Copy button, "On this page" follows where you are, and every page was rewritten to be shorter and clearer.
Blog
- Your Henkan referents (the consultants Henkan names as your contacts) are now Owners of your workspace and can switch to it from the logo menu; they leave it when they stop being your referents.
- Fixed usage analytics loading twice on some pages.
- Added a cookie consent banner and privacy-friendly usage analytics (only with your consent).
- New blog at /blog: product news, guides and variant ideas, with a first article on what Variant does today. The home page has a Blog link in its top bar.
Resume a conversation, fix a test
- Studio (Build): after a build, the request box fixes the version you see instead of starting another change: Fixing version N, Fix version N, and a link to start a new change. Does this version work for you? Looks good / To fix. Notes on the copy, numbered, red to fix and green to keep, go with your text and example images in one request; the result is the next version, with Back to version N.
- The side panel (extension 0.14.1) has Resume a conversation in its ··· menu, at any time: every conversation kept in the browser and the app's variants for the page; one from another page opens that page first.
- The side panel (extension 0.14.0) gets the same Fix the test mode: notes on the page, screenshots, one request per fix, and V1 / V2 / V3 to look at an earlier version or start again from it.
- The side panel (extension 0.13.3) can resume a variant: on a page with no conversation, Resume offers the page's last variant from this browser or from the app, reapplies its steps and keeps saving to the same variant.
References in the side panel
- Studio: a site added as a reference that blocks reading (booking.com, for example) now says so, shows the style Claude assumed and suggests adding a screenshot; the style understood is shown under every site reference, and a site that answers with almost nothing is searched on the web.
- Studio: a reference or a mark you add slides in and stays highlighted for a moment, so you see the add worked.
- Studio: 2 more concepts works on a mockup whose request was written in its marks (it failed with Generation failed), and the request box under a concept is aligned on one line, with Creating… while images are made.
- Henkan admins: every AI call of Variant (Studio steps, proposals and visual reviews, mockup images, site style briefs, and the extension's requests and image edits) is now reported to Henkan Account, which shows the cost of AI per client and per application. Only the model, the token counts and the workspace are sent, never pages, prompts or code.
- The side panel (extension 0.13.0) can use the references you kept: + › Like a reference… attaches one to the next request, and Henkan takes its structure and behaviour with your site's look.
- When Claude refuses a side panel request, the extension now shows the reason and its error code in Technical details, to fix it faster.
- The side panel docs follow the new extension: one question at a time, the ··· menu, steps as cards, Keep as reference and Scan this site as sheets.
A lighter, calmer Studio
- The variant page reads like a test file: a progress line from the idea to the live test, a Test card with the hypothesis and the page, a Ready for the test checklist, and Explore mockups / Build buttons to open the Studio.
- Each idea now has its own page: what we see, what we think, what we change, its visual, why we believe in it and the other ideas of the page, with Explore mockups and Build the test.
- The Studio now has two sides: Explore (orange) makes image mockups to see an idea quickly, and nothing made there goes into the test; Build (blue) codes the change on the real page. Both show the conversation on the left and the page on the right.
- Build V… takes a mockup from Explore to Build, where it opens large next to the Original, ready for Convert to code. Code it in the extension is still offered in the menu next to it.
- Edit directly no longer freezes the browser on heavy sites: the picture used by the visual check and the previews is now drawn in under a second instead of up to a minute, and an AI error no longer says the page could not be read.
- The Studio is now light, like the rest of Henkan: white bars and panels, a light grey dotted canvas, and the violet only for the main actions.
- Edit directly follows the new Studio design: Point, Area and Whole page in the top bar, the pages, frames and layers on the left, and Ask, Properties and History on the right with ideas, recent requests and the request box at the bottom.
- Picking an element opens the request box next to it, with its scope (this element, its block, the whole page), and the right panel shows what Claude will receive: the site's colours, fonts and buttons, and the context.
- Three proposals are shown as cards with Choose, Mix with A and a before / after slider, next to a conversation to refine them; Add A to the variant keeps and saves it.
- An image concept opens large next to the original, with Convert to code and its progress, the gaps found, 2 more concepts and Export as PNG.
- Export to test opens a panel with the checks before export and the way to the code.
- An example image added while Claude is still writing is now kept for the next request, and the progress message sits at the bottom of the canvas so it no longer covers the frame names.
- Edit directly is much lighter on large pages: only the frame you work in is a live copy of the page; the other frames, the proposals and before / after are pictures of it. Click a frame to work in it.
- Edit directly: a new step is shown on top of the previous ones instead of rebuilding the whole copy, and the pictures used by the visual check are fetched at the size they are shown.
- Edit directly: if the browser runs short of memory, the Studio says so and pauses the pictures of the other frames instead of slowing down the computer.
- Edit directly: your request, picks, proposals and example images are kept in this browser like your drafts, so a reload loses nothing. When a new version is published, a line offers Reload (drafts kept).
- Edit directly: when Claude cannot answer, the message offers Retry; a frame that cannot be shown offers Reload this frame, and a request sent during a visual check now goes once the check is done.
- Each AI job now uses the model that fits it: Opus for a step, a conversion to code and idea series, Sonnet for the three proposals and the visual check (Opus for its last correction), and Haiku for the short style brief of a site. Proposals and checks come back faster; requests count exactly as before.
- A request that meets a busy AI service is retried once by itself, and the stable part of each request (instructions, page) is marked for reuse so repeated requests on the same page can start faster.
- Make it like another site: keep a component of any site with the extension (Keep as reference), then attach it in the Studio with Like…. Claude rebuilds its structure and behaviour in your own site's design, and the three proposals become Faithful, Simplified and Hybrid.
- The visual check now also gives a Brand fit score (does the result look like your site, not like the reference) next to the Visual score, and corrects a step that copied the reference's look.
- New Sites page: scan a site from the extension (version 0.12.0) to keep its design profile (colours, fonts, corners and spacing, components with their real classes) and add your team's rules; one profile per site or brand, matched to each page by its address.
- Every Studio request and visual check for a scanned site now includes its site profile, so changes reuse the site's own components and rules; the Studio shows which profile is used above the request box, with Change to pick another one.
Edit the page directly in the Studio
- Edit directly: the Studio is now laid out like a design tool. The page sits on a canvas you can move and zoom, as frames: Variant · Desktop and Variant · Mobile on top, with the proposals A/B/C (Keep, Mix with A), Original · Desktop and image concepts (Compare, Convert to code) smaller below, with a left panel for pages, frames and layers and a right panel with Ask, History and Properties tabs. Share copies the link and Export to test opens the code.
- Edit directly: Claude now gets the real layout limits of what you aim at (fixed heights, cut text, line limits) before writing a step and when correcting it, and the visual check keeps the best of its attempts, not just the last one.
- Edit directly: the visual check now also flags text the page cuts (an ellipsis or a one-line limit on a title) inside what the step changed.
- Edit directly: a step corrected by the visual check is checked again, up to 2 corrections; if problems remain, the step lists them as Still needs work.
- Edit directly: the visual check of each new step now runs (it was refused by the AI service until now).
- Edit directly: when the visual check cannot run, the step now says so instead of showing nothing, and a card placed over a large picture is no longer reported as an overlap.
- New loading screens: Henkan Variant now opens straight onto its own frame (sidebar with your organisation, top bar, grey placeholders and a thin progress line) instead of a plain loading page, and the first time you open it after signing in, the Variant monkey greets you for a moment before the app fades in.
- Studio: new Edit directly mode. The page itself, as the extension saw it after the last step, opens in the Studio: click a text, an image or a button to change its text, its image, its colours or size, or hide it, and see the result straight away.
- Direct edits go to the extension with Send to the extension and are added to the variant as a new step, with code written without AI (the same edits always give the same code) and no image from the quota.
- With extension 0.10.0, an editable copy of the page is saved after each step for the Studio. Help pages updated.
- Edit directly now takes requests: click one or more elements on the copy of the page, describe the change, and Claude writes it like in the extension; the result shows on the copy at once and you can refine it with more requests.
- Add to the variant saves those steps straight into the variant (steps, conversation and exported code), without going back to the site; the side panel (extension 0.10.1) picks them up the next time you open the page.
- The text, image, colour and hide edits are now quick edits under the request, free and saved as one more step.
- Edit directly: draw a rectangle around a whole block (Area) instead of clicking one element, and add example images to a request (paste, drop or upload a screenshot of another site, a mockup or a sketch). A site address written in the request brings that site's style.
- Edit directly: ask for 3 proposals at once, compare them on the copy and keep one. Before / After switches between the page without and with your Studio changes.
- Edit directly: clicking a button no longer offers to replace the large picture behind it in the quick edits.
- Edit directly: a new Image engine explores a big change as an image concept in about a minute (from the same request, elements and example images). Compare a concept over the copy, then Convert to code to make it a real step; differences are listed as Gap lines.
- Edit directly: every new step is now checked on the copy, like in the side panel: Variant draws the page, Claude looks for overlaps, cut text or changes that are not really there, and redoes the step once when needed (Corrected after visual review). Free, outside the monthly allowance.
- Edit directly: image concepts now start from the copy as it is shown, with your Studio steps not added yet, and the 3 proposals are more different from each other (only the first one follows an example image closely). The request box next to the selection says Explore as an image with the Image engine and hides while a concept is compared.
- Edit directly: a Mobile view shows the copy 390 px wide with the site's mobile layout, and a small request box now opens right next to the element or zone you pick. The bar above the copy and the request row fit on one line again.
- New look for every email Variant sends (confirm your account, sign-in link, password reset, email change, security code, invitation, access approved or declined): Henkan header, clear title, one button, a copy-paste link in case the button is blocked, light and dark mode. Subjects now name Henkan Variant. Every email is now in English.
- The internal access-request alert sent to Henkan no longer carries the Henkan marketing signature; emails to you keep it.
Simpler variant page
- The Immersive view is removed for now: the variant page has a single layout again, and the full-screen icon opens the full-screen viewer of every screen.
- Studio redesigned: one top bar with the versions as thumbnails and the Code button, a bigger capture, the drawing tools in a bar under the image (with keyboard keys), thinner marks with their number at the start.
- In the Studio, select a mark to move it, resize it, change its colour, describe it or delete it; the list of changes highlights the mark you point at.
- Studio: a request for a new style (for example "like another brand's site") is now applied clearly instead of coming back almost unchanged.
- Studio: references as thumbnails, one line for the overall request, the four suggestions add to it instead of generating straight away, one Generate button (1 or 3 versions) with the images left this month, and the image dims while a version is being made.
- Studio: refine a version by drawing on it (it makes V1.1, V1.2…), or edit the request that made it and redo it in place.
- Studio: add a site by its address as a reference (or write the address in the request); Variant reads the site and applies its style to the area you change.
- Studio: with marks, only the marked areas change by default; a version that comes back almost unchanged is retried once automatically.
- Help pages updated for the Studio: references and @ names, refining a version, starting from Before, image quota, data sent and common issues.
- Studio: references are listed with the name to cite them by; type @ in the request to cite one (for example @hermes.com). A clear loading line shows while a site is read.
- Studio: you can start a version from Before (the live page); it gets the next number (V3 after V2) instead of "V.1".
- Studio: the menus (Add a reference, number of versions) and tooltips now open above the Studio instead of behind it; the note of a new mark gets the keyboard straight away.
- Studio: images added as references are now sent lighter, so large screenshots no longer fail; thumbs up or down on each version.
- Ideas page redesigned like the Steps tab: one card per series, one line per idea with its status; open a line to see the visual, the hypothesis and the instructions.
- Steps tab redesigned: one line per step with its request and number of changes; open a line to see its screenshot, summary and changes.
Variant in beta
- Two views for a variant page: Classic (the page, tidier: one Code button, download, full screen and Studio as icons, the ideas behind the test in the right column) and Immersive (the screen at real size with floating controls: thumbnails, hold or Space to see Before, panels for history, code and notes, Escape to leave). Variant remembers your choice and a link can open on either view.
- Design versions now live in the comparison: “Compare Before with After, V1, V2…” at the top of the variant page, with New (3 automatic variations or the Studio), the Immersive view, the Studio and Code V…. The separate Variations tab is gone.
- The editor is now the Studio: explain your change by drawing on the capture (circle, arrow, box, freehand, text note, cross-out, in three colours), describe each numbered mark, and attach references (an uploaded or pasted image, or a Figma frame link once Figma is connected). Marks and references stay with the version and go to the extension with Code it (extension 0.9.1).
- The Steps tab now shows every screen at once: the cards wrap onto new rows instead of scrolling sideways.
- Sidebar: the group only Henkan admins see (Team & clients) is now called Admin, as in every Henkan tool.
- System status in the account menu now always shows "All good" (or which tool has a problem): it is checked again when you open the menu or come back to the tab, and a failed check is retried after 15 seconds instead of leaving the line blank.
- “Code it in the extension” now sends the design version straight to the extension (0.9.0): on the variant's page, the side panel offers to code it, then marks it as coded in the app.
- Steps made with extension 0.9.0 show a screenshot of the page after that step in the Steps tab.
- The editor now opens full screen; press Escape to go back to the variant.
- Variant page redesigned: the comparison and tabs in the main column, and the status, a summary, the code buttons and the steps in a column on the right.
- Download the Before and After screenshots from the variant page.
- The Steps tab now shows the variant as a row of columns, from Before to After.
- New Variations tab: generate design ideas from the After screenshot, adjust each one (bigger, smaller, more visible, brand colours or your own request), download them, and send one to the extension to code it. Each version counts as one image in the monthly allowance.
- New editor with a dark, full-screen view: pin changes on the screenshot, describe them, and generate one or three new versions; every version is kept with the variant.
- New sidebar menus: select the Henkan logo at the top to switch to another Henkan tool your company uses or to another workspace (the demo workspace reads "Acme" with a small demo tag). Your name at the bottom opens Profile and password, Henkan Account, the system status ("All good" or which tool has a problem), Documentation, Language and Sign out.
- Variants captured on mobile now show Before and After side by side at phone size, so the change is visible at a glance on a computer; the slider is one click away.
- The changelog page now uses the same dark design and navigation as the Variant home page.
- My account: the Account settings page is now the My account window, opened from your name at the bottom of the sidebar or the address /account (the old Settings address leads there too). Profile (display name, email), Sign-in (change your password, or a note if you sign in with Google), Your company (its Henkan tools) and Language, with Sign out at the bottom.
- New sidebar menus: select the Henkan logo at the top to switch to another Henkan tool your company uses or to another workspace (the demo workspace reads "Acme" with a small demo tag). Your name at the bottom opens My account, Henkan Account, the system status ("All good" or which tool has a problem), Documentation, Language and Sign out.
- Every Henkan & Partners consultant is now a member of the Acme demo workspace as well as Henkan & Partners, and can switch to it from the workspace menu. Henkan & Partners stays the workspace they land on.
- Demo workspace: Henkan can invite people to Acme, a demo workspace with about ten fictional variants (every status, screenshots, code, conversations and test ideas). A slim notice says so; it can be closed, and the workspace resets every night after 03:00 Paris time.
- Henkan's new public status page (account.henkanpartners.ai/status) can now check that Variant is up, through a small health check address that shares no data.
- Home page: Variant is now shown as "In beta" everywhere, instead of "H1 2027", since it is available on the Chrome Web Store.
- Home page: the Research card now reads "In beta" instead of "H1 2027".
- Home page: the button at the top, in the hero and at the bottom now reads "Talk to Henkan" instead of "Join the beta" and opens the Henkan contact form instead of the sign-up page, since access is opened by Henkan for its clients. "Sign in" is unchanged.
- The first time a variant's code is copied or downloaded for a test, it is now recorded in your company's Henkan account, so Henkan can show what it delivered each month.
- Extension 0.8.0: exported A/B-test code now finds page elements more reliably. Each element has several fallback selectors and a text check, the code waits up to 10 seconds for content that loads late, each change is applied only once, and a missing element is skipped with a console warning naming the variant.
- The extension now warns in the side panel when a selected element can only be targeted by a fragile selector, so you can pick a more stable element before exporting.
- When something goes wrong in Variant (a page that fails to load or a server error), a short technical report is now sent to Henkan so the team can fix it quickly. Reports never include your emails, messages, prompts, recordings or interview content.
- Error reports from Variant now reliably reach Henkan: they are sent before the request ends instead of in the background, where they could be lost.
Extension on the Chrome Web Store
- Home page on phones: the earlier example cards are more compact, so all four stay above the monkey's head.
- Colleagues from the same client company now share one company workspace, set up automatically from Henkan Account the first time each of them signs in, instead of each getting a personal workspace. Existing personal workspaces and their variants stay available, and the company workspace is selected by default.
- If Henkan Account cannot be reached the first time you sign in, Variant now waits and offers to try again instead of creating a workspace.
- Home page on phones: the Variant monkey now fills the whole screen on its own, in a vertical clip from its solo film that plays smoothly on iPhone, and the four example cards build up at the top like a conversation as you scroll, the newest one highlighted.
- New home page for visitors who are not signed in, in the Henkan Agent Platform style: the Variant monkey comes to life as you scroll, then the features, how it works and how Variant works with your consultant.
- Home page: each agent card shows its own monkey pose (eyes, mouth, ears covered), and the closing note sits on two lines.
- New browser tab icon: every Henkan tool now shares the same icon family, with its own symbol and colour, so you can tell your tabs apart at a glance.
- The extension is now installed from the Chrome Web Store and updates itself; the installation guide and documentation are shorter as a result.
- Home page: the "Coming in H1 2027" line next to the sign-up button is removed.
- Client workspace menu: workspaces are now picked by their identity, so two clients with the same name can no longer be confused, and the menu only lists workspaces you belong to.
- Browser tab titles now show the page first, then the product (for example "Privacy · Variant"), so open tabs are easier to tell apart.
Signed-in layout aligned
- Signed-in layout aligned across Henkan tools: usage, Documentation and version at the bottom of the sidebar, a standard account menu and a one-line footer.
Changelog started
- Version number and this changelog added.
- Code now synced to GitHub and editable outside Lovable.
- Sign-in and account emails now carry Henkan branding.
- The app is available in English and French, with a dedicated Ideas page.
- Security: every Claude and image request now counts towards usage limits, with per-request rules and a rate limit.
- Security: revoked extension tokens can no longer be reactivated, and database access rights were tightened.
- Invitations now match the exact email address, respect their expiry date and never change an existing member's role.
- Access to Henkan Variant is now managed in Henkan Account, and the app and the extension follow its decision.
- Variant is now reserved for Henkan clients: other signed-in visitors see a page to contact the Henkan team instead of an access request.
- Henkan Account now sees client sign-ins (time, approximate location, browser and device) and key actions in the app, such as viewing a variant or exporting its code, and the privacy policy explains this.
- Public documentation at /docs: guides for the extension and the app, with screenshots, linked from the sidebar and the footers.
- A few French words shown in the English interface are now translated (welcome page, installation guide, history).