8.1.1

What's Changed

• 🐛 Fix Docker build by switching PlantUML source to GitHub releases by @ubmarco in #1708
• ⚡️ Add NeedItem.is_in_document() by @chrisjsewell in #1709
• 🐛 Fix needs_schema_definitions triggering full rebuilds by @ubmarco in #1712
• 🚀 Release v8.1.1 by @ubmarco in #1713

Full Changelog: 8.1.0...8.1.1

8.1.0

This release focuses on filter performance improvements and bug fixes.

Full Changelog: 8.0.0...8.1.0

Performance

• ⚡️ Short-circuit simple filter expressions to avoid eval() overhead (#1677)

  Common filter patterns (e.g. id == "REQ_001", type == "spec") are now matched and evaluated directly without invoking Python's eval(), significantly reducing filtering time for large need sets.

• ⚡️ Add NeedItem.filter_context() to avoid costly {**need} unpacking (#1706)

  Filter evaluation no longer creates a full dictionary copy of each need on every filter call, reducing memory allocations and improving throughput.

• ⚡️ Cache NeedLink filter string (#1705)

  Pre-compute and store the filter string on NeedLink construction, avoiding repeated string formatting on every access through NeedItem.__getitem__.

Bug fixes

• 🐛 Fix needflow rendering very dark / black nodes when a need type has no color set in needs_types (#1664, #1702).
  Previously a hard-coded #000000 fallback was used as the fill color, which produced unreadable nodes — especially under browser dark mode. When no color is configured, no color is emitted and the diagram engine's default node color is used.

  Note: This is a minor behavior change for users with needs_types entries that omit the color key: diagrams (needflow, needuml, needgantt) that previously rendered such nodes as solid black will now render them with the diagram engine's default node color (typically light). To preserve the old appearance, set "color": "#000000" explicitly on the affected needs_types entry.

• 🐛 Fix :need: role in section headings by registering NeedRef node with Sphinx's LaTeX builder (#1700).

8.0.0

See https://sphinx-needs.readthedocs.io/en/stable/changelog.html

What's Changed

• 📚 Fix 7.0.0 release date by @ubmarco in #1666
• 🐛 Fix linkcheck CI job warnings by @Copilot in #1667
• 🧪 Add tests for variants in links by @ubmarco in #1669
• 📚 DOCS: add sphinx-ai-index to sphinx docs builder by @Felix-Ruh in #1671
• ♻️ Introduce NeedLink structured internal representation for links by @chrisjsewell in #1670
• 🔧 Use NeedLink directly in update_back_links function by @chrisjsewell in #1672
• ♻️ Store NeedLink instead of str in LinksLiteralValue and LinksFunctionArray by @chrisjsewell in #1673
• ♻️ Add _split_link_list parser with condition syntax support by @chrisjsewell in #1674
• ✨ Add conditional need link assessment by @Copilot in #1675
• 🔧 Use get_links(as_str=False) in needextend to avoid round-trip serialization by @chrisjsewell in #1678
• 🔧 Store NeedPartData.backlinks as NeedLink instead of str by @chrisjsewell in #1679
• 👌 Parse link conditions from imported and external needs by @chrisjsewell in #1680
• 👌 Add needs_json_include_link_conditions config option by @Copilot in #1681
• ♻️ Store NeedLink on NeedRef node at parse time instead of re-parsing later by @Copilot in #1682
• 🔧 Bump ENV_DATA_VERSION to 4 for NeedLink storage format change by @Copilot in #1683
• 👌 Add parse_conditions configuration for link types by @Copilot in #1684
• ♻️ Fix links_from_content to use parsed doctree nodes instead of regex by @chrisjsewell in #1685
• 🧪 Add some more tests for links_from_content by @chrisjsewell in #1686
• 🚀 Release v8.0.0 by @chrisjsewell in #1688

New Contributors

• @Felix-Ruh made their first contribution in #1671

Full Changelog: 7.0.0...8.0.0

7.0.0

See https://sphinx-needs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/changelog.html#release-7-0-0

What's Changed

• 🔧 Add validate_extra_option_schema by @chrisjsewell in #1602
• 🔧 Store full schema on FieldSchema by @chrisjsewell in #1603
• ♻️ Move needs_statuses and need_tags checking to schema validation by @chrisjsewell in #1605
• 🔧 Remove use of extra_options after config resolution by @chrisjsewell in #1607
• ✨ Add uniqueItems to array schema validation by @chrisjsewell in #1610
• ✨ Add needs_fields, deprecate need_extra_options, need_statuses, need_tags by @chrisjsewell in #1611
• ✨ Add default and predicates keys to needs_fields and needs_extra_links, deprecates needs_global_options by @chrisjsewell in #1612
• ✨ Add nullable key to needs_fields items by @chrisjsewell in #1613
• 🔧 Simplify import_prefix_link_edit by @chrisjsewell in #1615
• ✨🎄 Add parse_variants to needs_fields / needs_extra_link, deprecate needs_variant_options by @chrisjsewell in #1614
• [pre-commit.ci] pre-commit autoupdate by @pre-commit-ci[bot] in #1600
• 🔧 Fix typo by @ubmarco in #1618
• 🔧 Move link schema to LinkSchema by @chrisjsewell in #1617
• 🔧 Add AGENTS.md by @chrisjsewell in #1621
• 🔧 Update Python version for Codecov by @ubmarco in #1625
• 📚 Fix typo in documentation for GitHub service example by @ahamez in #1634
• 👌 Minor improvements for needs.fields inheritance by @chrisjsewell in #1635
• 🧪 Add tests for create_inherited_field by @chrisjsewell in #1636
• 📚 Fix small grammatical error in need.rst by @ahamez in #1637
• ♻️ Migrate use of extra_links to Schema-Based Access by @chrisjsewell in #1638
• 🔧 Refactor populate_field_type to use type-directed schema walking by @chrisjsewell in #1639
• ♻️ Add add_field API; deprecate add_extra_option by @chrisjsewell in #1641
• 🔧 Rename "option" to "field" by @chrisjsewell in #1642
• 👌 Allow add_field API to set defaults/predicates by @chrisjsewell in #1643
• ‼️ Make need fields added by services nullable and default to null by @chrisjsewell in #1644
• ‼️ Make needs_fields and add_field default to nullable and no default by @chrisjsewell in #1645
• 👌 Default values of extra fields now checked against schema definitions by @chrisjsewell in #1647
• 🐛 Fix schema validation returning per need errors by @PhilipPartsch in #1640
• 📚 Fix typo in sort of needtable documentation by @PhilipPartsch in #1619
• 🔧 Simplify generate_needs function by @chrisjsewell in #1651
• ⚠️ Separate reduced vs full need representation for schema validation by @chrisjsewell in #1652
• 🔧 simplify field/link validation by @chrisjsewell in #1654
• 🔧 Refactor schema validation: separate select filtering from local validation by @chrisjsewell in #1655
• ⬆️ Support Sphinx 9 and Docutils 0.22 by @mitya57 in #1653
• ⚠️ Migrate needs_extra_links to needs_links by @chrisjsewell in #1649
• [pre-commit.ci] pre-commit autoupdate by @pre-commit-ci[bot] in #1623
• 🐛 Fix needextend data purging and deterministic ordering by @chrisjsewell in #1657
• 🔧 Add GitHub Copilot setup workflow for dev environment configuration by @Copilot in #1628
• [pre-commit.ci] pre-commit autoupdate by @pre-commit-ci[bot] in #1656
• 👌 Expose parse_dynamic_functions in field/link configuration by @chrisjsewell in #1660
• ♻️ Replace jinja2 with minijinja for template rendering by @Copilot in #1659
• 🐛 Fix needs.json read/write when no needs are present by @qznc in #1661
• 🚀 Release v7.0.0 by @chrisjsewell in #1662

New Contributors

• @ahamez made their first contribution in #1634
• @mitya57 made their first contribution in #1653
• @Copilot made their first contribution in #1628
• @qznc made their first contribution in #1661

Full Changelog: 6.3.0...7.0.0

v6.3.0

What's Changed

• 👌 Relative paths from toml configuration by @chrisjsewell in #1589
• 👌 Ensure extra_links schema contains item type by @chrisjsewell in #1595
• 👌 Validate all schemas compile during config resolution by @chrisjsewell in #1596
• ♻️ Remove typeguard dependency by @chrisjsewell in #1597
• ⬆️ Support Python 3.14 by @chrisjsewell in #1598
• 📚 Fix typo in tutorial documentation by @dskkato in #1591
• [pre-commit.ci] pre-commit autoupdate by @pre-commit-ci[bot] in #1586

New Contributors

• @dskkato made their first contribution in #1591

Full Changelog: 6.2.0...6.3.0

6.2.0

What's Changed

• 🧪 Fix schema benchmark tests by @ubmarco in #1577
• 🧪 Improve schema process benchmarking by @chrisjsewell in #1579
• 🔧 Reduce nested functions in get_ontology_warnings by @chrisjsewell in #1578
• 👌 Improve schema validation performance (pre-compute validators) by @chrisjsewell in #1581
• 👌 Improve schema validation performance (use jsonschema-rs) by @chrisjsewell in #1582
• 👌 Improve schema validation performance (improve reduce_needs) by @chrisjsewell in #1583
• 👌 Improve schema validation performance (cache recursive validators) by @chrisjsewell in #1584
• [pre-commit.ci] pre-commit autoupdate by @pre-commit-ci[bot] in #1421
• 🚀 Release v6.2.0 by @chrisjsewell in #1585

Full Changelog: 6.1.1...6.2.0

v6.1.1

What's Changed

• 👌 Allow . in schema regex by @ubmarco in #1568
• 🐛 Fix schema network type injection by @ubmarco in #1570
• 🐛 needs.json for nullable fields by @ubmarco in #1571
• 🔧 Remove mutable global variables by @chrisjsewell in #1575
• ✨ Add needs_schema_validation_enabled configuration by @chrisjsewell in #1574
• ✨ Add allow_type_coercion configuration for external/import needs.json reads by @chrisjsewell in #1573

Full Changelog: 6.1.0...6.1.1

v6.1.0

What's Changed

• 🐛 Fix schema rule severity by @ubmarco in #1535
• 📚 Co-locate dynamic and variant function docs by @chrisjsewell in #1544
• 🧪 Add snapshot test for field schema by @chrisjsewell in #1545
• 🔧 Derive core FieldSchema from NeedsCoreFields by @chrisjsewell in #1546
• 👌 Make incoming/outgoing keys optional in needs_extra_links by @chrisjsewell in #1548
• 🔧 Removed unused code by @chrisjsewell in #1550
• 📚 Enable link to full schema example by @ubmarco in #1538
• 🔧 Variable typo by @ubmarco in #1555
• 📚 Improve schema docs by @ubmarco in #1554
• 📚 Fix linkchecks by @ubmarco in #1556
• 🔧 Run new ubc action on docs by @ubmarco in #1541
• 👌 Improve schema severity handling by @ubmarco in #1561
• ♻️ Early resolution of schema_debug_path by @ubmarco in #1563
• 🚀 Release v6.1.0 by @ubmarco in #1565

Full Changelog: 6.0.1...6.1.0

v6.0.1

What's Changed

• 📚 Add release labels to changelog by @ubmarco in #1523
• 🔧 Improve error for variant options by @ubmarco in #1524
• 🔧 Fix schema json missing exc message by @ubmarco in #1526
• 👌 Add schema to add_extra_option by @ubmarco in #1527
• 🐛 Fix name error schema_path_contains by @ubmarco in #1530
• 🐛 Inject build_tags to variant filter strings by @ubmarco in #1531
• 🚀 Release v6.0.1 by @ubmarco in #1532

Full Changelog: 6.0.0...6.0.1

v6.0.0

What's Changed

• 👌 Re-allow dynamic functions for layout field by @chrisjsewell in #1423
• 🔧 Centralise allowed variant core need fields by @chrisjsewell in #1424
• 🐛 Warn on dynamic function with surrounding text by @chrisjsewell in #1426
• 🔧 Allow pre/post template global_options by @chrisjsewell in #1428
• ✨ Add is_import need field by @chrisjsewell in #1429
• 📚 update tox version to py39 by @ubmarco in #1438
• 🔧 Use ubuntu-latest in CI by @ubmarco in #1439
• 🔧 Added yamlfmt pre-commit by @ubmarco in #1446
• 🐛 Fix cyclic imports by @ubmarco in #1443
• 🔧 benchmark group non win32 by @ubmarco in #1450
• ⬆️ Drop Sphinx<7.4, test against Python 3.13 by @ubmarco in #1447
• 🔧 Allow template global_options by @chrisjsewell in #1454
• Allow collapse and hide in needs_global_options by @chrisjsewell in #1456
• 👌 Reset directive option specs at start of build by @ubmarco in #1448
• ⬆️ Drop Python 3.9 by @ubmarco in #1468
• 👌 Improve need part processing by @chrisjsewell in #1469
• 📚 Fix escape sequences by @ubmarco in #1470
• 📚 Format configuration.rst by @chrisjsewell in #1473
• ✨ Schema validation v2 by @ubmarco in #1467
• 📚 Clarify c.this_doc() for needextend by @ubmarco in #1475
• ‼️ Disallow add_extra_option overriding an internal field by @chrisjsewell in #1477
• ‼️ Improve needs default field application (via needs_global_options) by @chrisjsewell in #1478
• ♻️ Lazily assess directive options by @chrisjsewell in #1482
• 🔧 Split import item filtering to separate function by @chrisjsewell in #1484
• ♻️ Store needs as NeedItem / NeedPartItem, rather than standard dict by @chrisjsewell in #1485
• ♻️ Set some core need fields to nullable by @chrisjsewell in #1488
• 🐛 Fix: disallow need variants for list type fields by @chrisjsewell in #1489
• ♻️ split NeedItem internal data into core, extras, links and backlinks by @chrisjsewell in #1490
• ♻️ split off source fields in NeedItem internal data by @chrisjsewell in #1491
• ♻️ Auto-compute certain need fields by @chrisjsewell in #1496
• 📚 Fix needs_extra_links name by @HolgerPeters in #1501
• 👌 Capture more information about modifications on NeedItem by @chrisjsewell in #1502
• 🔧 Improve storage of constraint results on NeedItem by @chrisjsewell in #1504
• ♻️ Exclude is_need / is_part from needs.json output by @chrisjsewell in #1505
• 🔧 Improve storage of content generation on NeedItem by @chrisjsewell in #1506
• 🧪 Improve test for need parts by @chrisjsewell in #1507
• ♻️ Improve storage of part data on NeedItem by @chrisjsewell in #1509
• 👌 Write schema violations into a JSON file by @iSOLveIT in #1503
• Always generate schema violations.json report file by @iSOLveIT in #1511
• 🐛 Avoid leaking auth credentials for ext. need warnings by @cedossan in #1512
• 🔧 Add DynamicFunctionParsed dataclass by @chrisjsewell in #1514
• 🔧 Add VariantFunctionParsed dataclass by @chrisjsewell in #1515
• ‼️ remove parsing of deprecated needs_global_options format by @chrisjsewell in #1517
• 🧪 Move to snapshot testing for test_schema by @chrisjsewell in #1519
• ♻️ Allow for typed needs_extra_options fields by @chrisjsewell in #1516
• ♻️ Warn for missing needimport files by @PhilipPartsch in #1510
• 🔧 Improve plantuml check + add tests by @ubmarco in #1521
• 🚀 Release v6.0.0 by @ubmarco in #1522

New Contributors

• @HolgerPeters made their first contribution in #1501
• @cedossan made their first contribution in #1512

Full Changelog: 5.1.0...6.0.0