Your profile is easier to finish, and finishing it now pays what it always said it would, and the ticker on the front page is clickable.

The edit form stopped rejecting you

If you skipped the optional steps at sign-up, the edit form was asking for them anyway. It wanted a state, a role and a display name before it would save anything at all.

So you would open your profile, change one thing, press save, and get an error about a field you had never been asked for.

The form now asks for exactly what sign-up asks for. If you skipped something on the way in, you can still save.

Profile completion pays the XP it promised

The FAQ has always said Profile Completion is worth +30 XP. That reward is now actually being handed out.

Fill in your bio, tech stack, a social link, your role, your location and a picture, and the 30 XP lands. Members who already had all six have been credited, so some of you have gone up a level tonight without doing anything.

The front page ticker goes somewhere

The line of recent activity above the cards was just text. Every entry now opens the thing it names: a project, a bounty, an event, or the member who joined.

It also scrolls the opposite way to the cards below it, so the two rows are easier to tell apart.

Instagram

You can add an Instagram link to your profile. It sits with the rest of your socials.

Instagram and Threads links were also not showing up anywhere even when members had filled them in. Both now appear on your profile and on your dashboard.

A prompt to finish your profile

If your profile is missing something, there is now a short prompt at the top of your dashboard showing what is left and what each part gets you.

You can put it away for two weeks. Fill everything in and it stops appearing.

Smaller things

The profile editor has its own address, /dashboard/profile/edit, so you can link to it and bookmark it.

Scorecard generation has been retired from the profile. Existing scorecards are untouched and still readable.

Ambassadors now carry a badge and a label, so you can tell who they are without having to ask.

The Ambassador label

If you are on the ambassador roster, your name now carries an "Ambassador" mark on your profile and in the members directory. Five ambassadors are on the roster today, and all five have it already.

The point is simple: ambassadors are the people who represent KD on campus, in their community, and at events. If you are looking for someone to talk to about running something in your area, now you can spot them.

The badge is yours to keep

Alongside the label there is a new achievement badge, KD Ambassador, and it sits first in your achievements.

The two work differently on purpose. The label says you are an ambassador right now, so it goes away if you step down. The badge says you were one, and that does not get taken back. Serving is a thing you did, and it stays on your record.

Want one

/ambassadors explains the tracks and the two stages, and applications are open. The commitment is still one small action a week.

Upvotes on the showcase were quietly failing. That is fixed, the homepage is smoother, and the ambassador page has been rewritten.

Your upvotes count again

For about a day and a half, pressing the upvote arrow on a showcase project did nothing. No error, no message, the number simply never moved. If you tried to back someone's project and it looked like you had not, that was us, not you.

It is fixed. Votes register again, and the rarity a card has already earned still cannot go down if someone later takes their vote back.

Nothing was lost. Every vote that was already counted is still counted.

The homepage is smoother

The top of the homepage could stutter, especially around the logo and the member card rail. Those parts now hand their animation to the graphics card instead of redrawing the whole thing every frame, so scrolling should feel cleaner.

Ambassadors, rewritten

/ambassadors now explains the programme properly: how the two stages work, what you commit to, and just as importantly what you are never expected to do.

Pick your track on the page. Choose the one that sounds like you, and the apply button follows your choice.

The commitment is one small action a week. Not a job, not weekly events, not a quota. Repost something, welcome a newcomer, introduce KD to a club, write a short recap after an event.

Applications are open.

Social links in the nav

The KD Discord and Threads are now in the top bar on every page, and all six official channels are in the footer. The mobile menu lists them all.

The editor has more tools, and the formatting bar stops running away from you mid-article.

The editor got more tools

Writing a post now gives you strikethrough, links, three heading levels, task lists, tables and a divider, on top of what was already there.

Links open a small box instead of a browser prompt, so you can see and fix the address you already have. Paste a bare domain and it fills in the rest.

Tables and task lists render properly on the published post too, not just while you are writing. A wide table scrolls in its own box rather than stretching the page sideways.

The formatting bar stays put

Before this, the bar sat at the top of the box and scrolled away the moment your article got long, so bolding a word near the end meant scrolling all the way up and back down again.

The writing area now holds its size and scrolls inside itself. The bar stays where it is, however long the piece gets.

On a phone the tools sit in one row you can swipe through, instead of stacking into three rows and eating the screen while the keyboard is up.

If a moderator edits your comment, you can tell

Moderators have always been able to edit and remove comments. Now it is visible: a comment edited by a moderator says so, rather than looking like you changed it yourself.

Smaller things

The map shows developers and guilds. Jobs and events are hidden until there is enough on the board for those layers to be worth reading.

KD Raid is here. Once a week the whole server fights one boss, live, and your fighter runs on what you actually built that week.

KD Raid

Every Sunday at 9pm, the server stands in a ring around the KD Core and a virus-named boss comes for it. Bugs pour in from four gates, the fight plays out live, and everyone watching can cheer.

Your fighter is you. Its stats are your real numbers on KD, frozen at the moment the raid starts. Ship a project, answer someone in KD Square, keep a GitHub streak, win a bounty: each one makes you hit harder on the night. Nothing here is a grind you do inside the raid, it is the week you already had.

Make a fighter at /raid/fighter. Pick a name, pick a class, pick a look from the 24 available. Tank holds the line with more HP and defence; DPS hits faster and crits more. The page suggests one based on your numbers, but the choice is yours.

Sign-up opens 24 hours before each raid and closes when the fight starts. Tap JOIN on /raid or under the raid's post in KD Square.

Watching is open to everyone, whether you joined or not. Cheering from your phone genuinely swings the fight. You can also call it before the raid starts, win or lose, and there is XP in getting it right.

The first raid is Sunday 23 August, 9pm, against ILOVEYOU.

Every raid is kept

When a raid ends you get the full picture: the verdict, the MVPs, who landed the killing blow, the damage board and how each guild did.

Every past raid stays readable at /raid/results, so a raid does not disappear the moment the next one is scheduled.

Raid cards

Everyone who stood in the ring gets a RAID print for that night. The MVPs get full art, and if the boss goes down, the winning roster gets holo. Whoever lands the killing blow gets the boss card itself, which is the rarest thing in the set.

Card images are back, the hero is dressed for Hari Kebangsaan, and the Learn-a-thon pages have retired.

Your cards look right again

Shared cards and link previews were rendering without their artwork, and the download button had stopped producing an image. That is fixed. Profile cards, profile link previews and project showcase previews all render properly again.

Two things got fixed underneath it. The footer on profile cards was running its words together, so the year, badges and card ID collided into one line; each part now has room. And on project previews, a long tech tag could push the description straight through the title. Tags now clamp to the same limit the submission form enforces, so what you see on the card matches what you were allowed to enter.

If your project was submitted a while ago and carried a very long tech tag, it has been rewritten to a clean list using only the technologies you named. The longest tag across the showcase went from 263 characters to 30.

Hari Kebangsaan dan Hari Malaysia 2026

The homepage is wearing a Merdeka theme until 16 September. The KD wordmark assembles as usual, then hands over to a batik pixel-art mark drawn by matnep, and the backdrop cycles through white, red, blue and yellow.

This year's theme song, "Aku Berjanji", plays as the background track for the season. Sound is off by default. There is now a volume button in the top navigation, next to the notifications bell, so you can turn it on or off from any page.

The theme retires itself on 17 September.

The Learn-a-thon pages have retired

The AIMTO Learn-a-thon is over, and its pages have handed over to the permanent ones:

• /lat now takes you to your profile
• /lat/wall now takes you to Ideas

Your certificate is safe. It lives on your profile, along with your projects, and nothing needs to be claimed again. Old links and bookmarks still work, they just land in the right place now.

The board is now called KD Square. Same place, new shape: write journals and articles, not only questions; edit your posts; add images.

Three kinds of post: a journal (one paragraph about what you built or broke, no title needed), a question (with an accepted answer), or an article (long-form, with read time). One feed, filter by kind, tag or "needs a reply".

Edit and delete your own posts, answers and comments: small fixes within 15 minutes leave no trace; anything later or bigger shows an Edited stamp with the time. Moderators can edit too, and it says so.

Images in posts: drag or paste up to four images into the body; they upload and appear inline.

One editor everywhere: writing a post, an answer or an edit uses the same editor with a live preview that matches the published page.

A reply within a day: every post that has not had a reply sits in a "Needs a reply" list on the right until someone answers it.

Helpful and Report: mark a post or answer Helpful instead of writing "+1"; report anything off with one of five reasons from the post's menu, and a moderator looks at it.

Old links keep working: /community/question/... and /community/ask redirect to the new pages.

Connect GitHub from your profile without changing how you sign in.

Connect GitHub from your profile

No GitHub sign-in needed: if you joined with Google or email, your Activity Tracker had no way to see your GitHub work. There is now a "Connect GitHub" button on your profile. Approve it once on GitHub and your streak and contributions start showing, and you keep signing in the same way you always have.

Sync only when it can work: "Sync GitHub" now appears only after GitHub is connected, so it no longer sits there failing for accounts that never had GitHub attached.

Every project page now has a full share row, and a couple of small things across sign-in and the event pages.

Showcase

Share any project, six ways. X, Threads, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Facebook, or copy the link. X, Threads and WhatsApp open with a short caption about your project already written for you. LinkedIn and Facebook only accept the link, so there is a Copy the caption button next to them. Change any of it before you post.

Sign in

See what you typed. Password fields on sign in, sign up and password reset now have an eye button to show or hide your password.

AI Malaysia Takeover 2026

The event pages have wrapped. Your certificate lives on your profile under CERTIFICATES. From 21 August, the old event page sends you straight there.

Your certificates from KD events now live on your profile: private by default, shareable when you choose, and a one-time name fix if we printed the wrong thing.

Your Certificates

A CERTIFICATES tab on your profile: every certificate you've earned at a KD event, drawn as the real artwork. The tab appears once you hold at least one.

A permanent page for each one: every certificate has its own page that renders it full size, with the event name and date. Certificates outlive the event pages they came from.

Private by default: only you can see your certificate until you decide otherwise. To anyone else, a private certificate's link shows nothing at all.

Share it when you're ready: open a certificate and flip it to SHARED. Its link then works for anyone you give it to, and you can flip it back to private any time.

Fix your name, once: if your certificate printed a username or a misspelling, you can correct it once from the CERTIFICATES tab. It updates every certificate you hold, then locks. Need another change after that? Ask the KD crew.

Who Has One

Everyone who took part in AI Malaysia Takeover 2026 has a participation certificate, and builders who shipped have their projects printed on theirs. Jelajah AI MyMahir participants have theirs too. Sign in and check your profile.

Every member now has a dev card on their profile. It is built entirely from what you have actually done here — XP, badges, bounty wins, shipped projects and contribution streaks. Nothing on it can be bought or requested.

Each card carries a rarity, a title, an element and a power score. Rarity is the tier you have reached. The element says what kind of builder you are, not how good — FIRE for bounty winners, WATER for shippers, VOLT for streak keepers, WIND for badge collectors, EARTH where everyone starts. How each one is earned is documented in full at krackeddevs.com/cards.

You can download your card from the Share menu on your profile and post it anywhere.

Sharing your profile link now shows your card too. Paste it into Discord, X or LinkedIn and the preview is your actual card rather than a generic banner.

Also in this release:

• Daily login XP was broken and is now fixed. A bug meant most members stopped earning their daily login XP some time ago, while a small group kept receiving it. Everyone earns it again from your next sign-in. Nothing was lost from your existing total.
• Tightened the public profile image endpoints so hidden and banned accounts are no longer served.
• Fixed profile link previews missing the site name, and long bios being cut mid-sentence.

Security patches across the platform, and the KD Labs link works again.

Security

Platform Framework Updated — the platform now runs the latest patched release of its web framework, closing nine security advisories. These covered request handling, page caching, and image processing. No member action is needed, and no accounts or data were affected.

Fixes

KD Labs Link — the KD Labs links in the navigation menu, the footer, and the "built by" mark all pointed at an address that no longer resolved, so clicking them went nowhere. They now open KD Labs correctly.

AI API keys for members — granted for events, classes, and bounty wins, with spend capped on every key.

AI API Keys

Your Own API Key — a new API KEY tab on your profile. When you're granted a key, you view and copy it there yourself. Nobody else can read it, and it's never emailed.

How To Use It — every key comes with ready-to-run examples in curl, Python, and Node.js, the base URL and model name filled in, plus a short troubleshooting section for the errors you're most likely to hit.

Multiple Keys — hold more than one key at a time, each with its own note and expiry, so a class key and a bounty prize key can live side by side.

Labelled By Purpose — keys are marked by why they were issued: event, class, one-time, onboarding, or bounty reward.

For Organisers

Grant On An Event — issue keys to everyone who attended an event in one batch, with live progress as each one is created.

Grant On A Bounty — bounty winners can be awarded an AI credit key straight from their winning submission.

Spend Controls — every key is capped, the cap is enforced by the AI proxy rather than by us, and a platform-wide monthly ceiling sits above all of them. Granting can be switched off entirely at any time.

Revoke Instantly — revoking stops the key at the proxy first, then updates the record, so a revoked key stops working immediately.

Security

Keys Encrypted At Rest — issued keys are stored encrypted, readable only by the member they belong to. Every reveal is recorded.

Stored Credentials Encrypted — the platform's own stored AI credentials are now encrypted at rest, replacing plain-text storage.

Events and the bounty program leveled up, and the platform's plumbing got a major overhaul.

Events

• Guest RSVP — register for events without creating an account, then claim your registration when you sign up
• Flagship Event Pages — dedicated pages for hackathons and partner events, with countdowns, venue maps, and custom layouts
• Flexible Prizes — events can now award non-cash prizes such as AI credits

Bounty Program

• Multi-Winner Bounties — a single bounty can now award multiple winners
• AI-Credit Prizes — bounty rewards support credit-based prizes alongside cash
• Bounty Posters — shareable poster images for every bounty
• Winner Announcements — one-shot winner announcements with email notifications for prize claims

Platform

• Email Overhaul — transactional email migrated to Resend for better deliverability
• Admin Console v3 — the entire admin surface rebuilt on the v3 theme, with a new community demographics view
• Simpler Submissions — tech stack is now optional when submitting a showcase project
• Database Resilience — database access now fails fast and recovers cleanly under load

Fixes

• Top Hunters Leaderboard — the Hunters tab failed to load for visitors; it's back
• Profile Sidebar — social link buttons now align cleanly with the other profile actions

The biggest visual update since launch. The entire platform moved to our new terminal-inspired v3 design system.

The v3 Redesign

• New Design System — landing, members, events, guilds, showcase, news, FAQ, profiles, leaderboard, and this changelog all run on the new v3 theme
• New Landing Page — redesigned hero, live community stats, and clearer paths for developers, companies, and partners
• Community Map — explore the KrackedDevs community across Malaysia on the new interactive map
• Redesigned Profiles — activity tracker, achievements, bounty history, and a share-profile menu for X, Threads, Facebook, and LinkedIn
• Mobile Polish — responsive fixes and overflow cleanups across the board

Reliability

• Faster, Steadier Pages — resolved a connection-pool issue affecting high-traffic pages during the cutover
• Post-Launch Stabilization — a sweep of small visual and content fixes across the redesigned pages

Community infrastructure and platform trust took center stage this cycle.

Tutors & Classes

• Tutor Dashboard — class tutors get a dedicated dashboard for their sessions, including attendance check-in
• Showcase Pipeline — student projects from classes can be elevated to the public showcase

Community

• Discord Announcements — platform events now announce automatically to our Discord
• Share Card Redesign — link previews for events and profiles got a full visual refresh
• Event Winners — winners are showcased directly on event pages
• GitHub Sync — contribution syncing is more reliable, with navigation cleanups alongside

Security & Trust

• Security Hardening — multiple rounds of platform-wide hardening across authentication, data access, and community content
• CAPTCHA Protection — Cloudflare Turnstile now protects sign-up and sign-in
• Tighter Content Policies — stricter browser security policies across the platform

Fixes

• Admin Accuracy — corrected list counts and search on large datasets in the admin console
• Email Rendering — fixed subject-line rendering edge cases in notification emails

Fixes

A set of urgent production patches were applied to resolve issues discovered post-deployment.

• Runtime Execution Fix — Resolved a runtime crash caused by an incompatible module import in our background worker tasks. Job-related asynchronous tasks (AI scoring, resume parsing) now run reliably in production
• Database Query Resolution — Resolved a query type error that could occasionally affect job application submissions. The query now correctly casts types, ensuring all applications process smoothly
• Connection Timeout Retries — Background workers now automatically retry on timeout errors, improving resilience for tasks running against the database during high-load periods
• Discord Chat Evaluation — The /chat feature (Discord bridge) has been temporarily removed from the platform while we evaluate the best way to bring community chat forward. The navigation entry has been removed

Infrastructure

• Jobs Data Migration — All job listings are now sourced exclusively from the active ATS jobs table. Legacy data has been fully migrated and retired from user-facing features
• Profile Data Sync — A post-deployment discrepancy in data access was corrected, restoring proper visibility for internal operations like logging candidate contact events

Applicant Tracking System (ATS)

Employers on KrackedDev now have access to a full recruitment pipeline directly from their company dashboard.

• Job Posting Wizard — Create and publish job postings with a rich-text editor, salary range, employment type, and location fields
• Candidate Pipeline — Kanban-style board to track applicants across stages: New, Screening, Interview, Offer, and Hired
• Applicant Panel — View candidate profiles, resumes, and application details in a single side panel
• Application Notifications — Companies are notified via email and in-app when a new candidate applies to their posting
• Filter & Search — Dynamic location search, employment type filters, and salary range filters on the public jobs board

AI Scorecard

We've introduced an AI-powered candidate scoring system to help employers surface the best-matched candidates faster.

• Pre-computed Match Scores — Candidate-to-job compatibility scores are computed asynchronously and stored, ensuring the jobs board loads instantly without waiting on AI
• Resume Extraction — AI parses uploaded resumes to auto-fill profile fields including work experience, education, skills, and links
• Scorecard Generation — Detailed AI scorecard per candidate with structured feedback across multiple dimensions
• Profile Readiness Indicator — A checklist on the dashboard shows developers exactly which profile sections to complete to improve their scorecard eligibility

Billing & Subscriptions

A full billing layer is now live for company accounts, powered by Stripe.

• — Tiered access to job posting slots (3 for Starter, 10 for Pro) and recruitment features

Infrastructure: Rate Limiting

We've introduced server-side rate limiting across critical API endpoints to protect the platform against brute-force and abuse patterns.

• Auth & Login Endpoints — Rate-limited to prevent credential stuffing attacks
• Bounty Submission — Throttled to prevent spam submissions
• Profile Writes — Rate-gated to ensure system stability during high-traffic events

Security: Data Access Controls

We've tightened role-based access controls across the platform's data layer to ensure strict separation of privileges.

• Restricted Data Access — Strengthened internal access controls. Sensitive profile fields are now restricted to server-side operations only, with no path to exposure via public-facing APIs
• Role Verification — Enhanced the role validation logic to ensure web-tier requests are strictly bound to their intended session context
• Action Scoping — Server-side actions that modify critical platform data now enforce stricter session binding before accepting user input

What Stays the Same

All existing features continue to work exactly as before. These changes are infrastructure-level security patches — no user-facing functionality was altered.

Released 13 April 2026

Infrastructure: Edge-Level Authentication

KrackedDev's primary security boundary has been migrated to the edge, significantly reducing latency and intercepting unauthenticated traffic before it reaches the application core.

• Edge Interception — Protected routes (including onboarding, dashboards, and settings) now validate cryptographic session tokens at the Vercel Edge layer, enforcing latency budgets of <50ms.
• Fail-Secure Routing — Any unauthenticated or tampered traffic attempting to reach protected boundaries is immediately trapped and seamlessly redirected.
• Authoritative Server Actions — All data mutation routines (bounty submissions, profile edits, event creation) now enforce server-side session binding. Client-provided IDs are ignored to maintain strict database-level Row Level Security (RLS).

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Security: Defense-in-Depth & Content Security Policy (CSP)

The platform’s frontend has been fortified against XSS and data-injection attacks using a hardened security header architecture.

• Cryptographic Nonces — Every page load generates a unique, high-entropy nonce at the middleware layer. Only scripts signed with this exact token are permitted to execute by the browser.
• Elimination of unsafe-inline — We have completely scrubbed unsafe-inline permissions from the codebase. Maliciously injected profile bios or chat messages (Stored XSS) are now incapable of executing scripts.
• HSTS Preloading — strict-transport-security is now enabled globally with preload, ensuring all connections are locked to encrypted tunnels and neutralizing protocol downgrade attacks.

We rebuilt KrackedDevs from the ground up. v2.0 is the biggest visual and functional update since launch — a complete pixel-aesthetic redesign across every page, a new guild hierarchy system, and dozens of quality-of-life fixes.

Pixel-Aesthetic Redesign

The entire platform has been reimagined with a brutalist, pixel-art visual identity:

• New pixel-art hero with animated cubes, grid backgrounds, and isometric assets
• Custom Geist Pixel Square typography for all headings
• Monospace green-on-dark design language across every page
• Sharp-edged cards, neon accents, and scanline effects replacing the old glassmorphic UI
• Light mode and dark mode parity across all pages
• Pixelated sun/moon theme toggle and speaker audio icon in the navbar

Pages Redesigned

Every public-facing page has been rebuilt:

• Landing page with new hero layout and featured event banner
• Profile pages, dashboards, and achievement badge cards (Figma assets)
• Guild pages, guild events, and guild project views
• Showcase, Jobs, and Bounty Marketplace
• Startup Directory and Registration Portal
• Company Directory and Company Profiles
• News, FAQ, Changelog, About, and Manifesto
• For Government, For Developers, and For Companies pages
• Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
• Login modal with pixel-themed branding
• Footer with multi-row layout and newsletter signup

Guild Ambassador Hierarchy & Referral System

• Guilds can now have parent-child relationships via parent_guild_id
• Guild referral codes for tracking member acquisition
• Profile referral attribution with database-enforced immutability

Released 3 April 2026

New Feature: Guild Events

Guilds can now run and manage their own events — online or physical.

• Create events — Guild captains can create draft events with a title, description, type (online/physical), date/time, location or meeting link, and optional attendee cap.
• Publish & cancel — Captains publish events to make them visible to all members. Events can be cancelled at any time, and cancelled events remain accessible to captains for record-keeping.
• Public event pages — Published events have a public detail page with full event info, RSVP count, and post-event recap — no login required.
• RSVP — Members can RSVP as Going or Maybe, and cancel their RSVP at any time. Captains see who's coming before the event.
• Attendance tracking — After an event, captains mark which members actually attended. Attendance records are used to compute KPIs.
• Post-event content — Captains can upload photos, a YouTube recap video, and a written recap. Photos are displayed in a grid on the event detail page.
• Project attribution — When uploading recap content, captains can link guild projects to the event, crediting the members who worked on them during the session.
• Publish to guild feed — Captains can publish a completed event recap as a post in the guild activity feed, surfacing photos, project links, and recap text to all members.
• Event calendar — Members can browse upcoming events in a month-view calendar. Selecting a date shows events scheduled that day.
• Notifications — Guild members receive an in-app notification when a captain publishes a new event.

Released 17 March 2026

New Feature: 30-Day Goal Cycles

Stay accountable with timed, trackable goals.

• Set a 30-day goal — From the My Startup dashboard, set a goal you want to achieve in the next 30 days. The clock starts immediately with a visible countdown.
• Live countdown — See your progress bar, days remaining, and current day at a glance. Goals approaching deadline (≤5 days) are highlighted in amber.
• Edit your goal — Change the goal text at any time without resetting the 30-day clock.
• Complete or cancel — Mark your goal as done when you achieve it, or cancel if plans change. Completed goals are added as milestones on your startup profile.
• Goal history — View all your past goals (completed, expired, cancelled) in a collapsible "Past Goals" section.
• Auto-set on registration — If you provide a 30-day goal during startup registration, it automatically starts as an active goal cycle.
• Public profile display — Your active goal with countdown is shown on your public startup profile. Completed goals display with a "Completed" badge.
• Daily reminders — Receive a notification when you have 5 or fewer days left on your goal. Expired goals are automatically marked and you're notified.

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New Feature: Startup Submission Gate

Quality-first onboarding for new startups.

• Pending review status — New startup registrations enter a "Pending" state for admin review before going live in the directory.
• Readiness checklist — During registration, founders complete a readiness checklist (live product URL, incorporation status) that gives admins a quick signal of startup maturity.

Changelog — Showcase Comments, Celebration Screen & Discovery Tabs

Released 14 March 2026

New Feature: Showcase Comments

Engage with the community directly on showcase projects.

• Comment on any project — Logged-in users can post, read, and delete comments on any approved showcase project. Comments are displayed oldest-first with the author's avatar and name.
• Character limit — Comments are capped at 500 characters to keep discussions focused and readable.
• Flag inappropriate comments — Logged-in users can flag comments for review. Flagged comments are sent to the admin moderation queue for human review.
• AI content moderation — Comments are automatically screened for harmful content before posting. Flagged content is held for admin review — never silently blocked.
• Guest-friendly — Visitors can read all comments without logging in. A prompt to log in appears for those who want to participate.
• Comment count on cards — Showcase cards now display the comment count alongside the vote count.

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New Feature: Celebration Screen

When your project is approved, you deserve a moment.

• Celebration screen — Approved projects now display a shareable celebration screen with confetti animation, your project name, and social sharing links.
• Downloadable OG card — Each approved project gets an auto-generated Open Graph image that can be downloaded and shared on social media.
• Social sharing — One-click sharing to X (Twitter) and Threads with pre-filled copy celebrating your approval.

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New Feature: Discovery Tabs & Hero Slider

Changelog — Social Links, Error Handling & Soft-Delete Fixes

Released 12 March 2026

Startup Ecosystem Improvements

• Social Link Fields — Startups can now add Facebook, Threads, X, LinkedIn, Instagram and WhatsApp links. Available on both the registration form and the edit dashboard.
• Company vs Product URL Labels — The startup profile page now clearly distinguishes between the company website and product/system URL with visible labels.
• Manual Milestones — Founders can now add custom milestones from the My Startup dashboard with a free-text note and optional date. Great for tracking progress visible to the community.
• Delete Your Startup — Founders can now soft-delete their startup from the dashboard. Deleted startups are removed from all public views, directory listings, and link selectors, but data is preserved for admin audit.
• Startup Badge on Guild Cards — Guild directory cards now show a badge when the guild is linked to a registered startup.

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Error Handling

• MD Status Proof Upload — Upload error messages are now user-friendly. Raw storage errors are logged to the console for debugging but never shown to users.
• Signed URL Failures — A clearer message is displayed when upload succeeds but link generation fails, with guidance to try again or contact support.

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Changelog - Startup Ecosystem, Showcase Improvements, Guild Invites

Released 11 March 2026

New Feature: KD Startup Ecosystem

KrackedDev now has a dedicated home for Malaysian tech startups.

• Public Startup Directory — Browse verified startups at /startups. Filter by stage, search by name, or explore the full directory.
• Startup Profile Pages — Each startup gets a dedicated public page with their pitch, problem/solution, stage, partner badges (Cradle, MyStartup.gov.my), linked Guild and Showcase projects, team milestones, and a directors panel.
• Startup Registration — Founders can register their startup via /startups/register. One startup per founder, enforced.
• Shared to Socials — Every startup profile has a share button to copy or share the direct link.
• Milestone Feed — Active milestones are displayed on the startup profile, showing progress toward key targets.
• KD Backed Badge — Startups approved by the KrackedDev team receive a visible "KD Backed" indicator on their profile and directory card.
• My Startup Dashboard — Founders get a dedicated /dashboard/my-startup page to manage their listing, update details, view their progression tracker, and access quick-action links.
• Startup Progression Tracker — Visual tracker on the founder dashboard showing completion steps (profile filled, guild linked, showcase linked).
• Link Your Startup to a Guild — When creating a new Guild, founders can link it directly to their registered startup.
• Link Startup to Showcase Projects — When submitting a project to the Showcase, you can now attribute it to your startup.

Changelog - Guild Project v2

Released 7 March 2026

This is our biggest release yet. Guild Projects turns guilds from simple social groups into fully collaborative, GitHub-connected development teams. Members can now create and manage real projects, track contributions automatically, and coordinate work through an integrated hub — all within KrackedDev.

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New Features

Guild Projects

• Project Hub — Each guild project now has a dedicated hub with tabs for Activity, Milestones, Integration, and Webhook Health. Public visitors can browse projects without logging in.
• Project creation & management — Guild captains can create projects, set a tech stack, define open roles, add descriptions, and publish them with a demo or repository URL.
• Captain Dashboard — Captains get a dedicated dashboard to oversee all guild projects, manage members, review offers, and monitor project health at a glance.

GitHub Integration

• Connect your GitHub repos — Guild captains can link a GitHub App installation to a project and select specific repositories to track. Each project tracks its own repos independently, even if the same GitHub App is installed across multiple projects.
• Webhook pipeline — Push events, pull requests, and issue closures from connected repos are automatically captured and attributed to the correct project and contributor.
• Webhook Health monitor — A live health dashboard shows delivery success rate, queue depth, last delivery timestamp, and any recent errors.

Contribution Tracking

• Activity Feed — Every merged pull request, commit, and resolved issue is recorded as a contribution event and displayed in the project's activity feed.

🔔 What's New

In-App Notification Centre

KrackedDev now has a real-time notification centre. You'll receive in-app notifications for the key things that matter to you — no need to refresh or check emails constantly.

• Guild activity — Get notified when someone joins your guild, accepts an invite, requests to join, or leaves.
• Community Q&A — Receive a notification when someone answers one of your questions, or replies to an answer you posted.
• Showcase activity — Know when someone sends an inquiry on your showcase project.
• Hunt Signal highlights — Get notified when your profile is flagged as a strong match for a job posting.
• Verified badge — Receive a notification when your showcase projects are granted (or have removed) the Verified Badge.
• Platform changelog — Get notified when a new platform update is published so you never miss what's changed.
• Badges, level-ups & more — Notifications for badge awards, level-ups, team events, bounty updates, and submission activity.

Guild Chat Improvements

• @mention notifications — Mentioning a teammate in guild chat now sends them a priority in-app notification directly.
• Clickable @mentions — @mentions in chat are now clickable links to the tagged member's profile.

Event & Registration Improvements

• Registration lock after event start — Registration is now automatically disabled once an event has started, preventing late sign-ups.
• Discord ID on registration — You can now include your Discord ID when registering for an event.

What's New

• Redesigned Event Pages: The Matrix template got a full visual overhaul — cleaner layout, glowing hero section, animated stats, and interactive prize cards.
• Banner Lightbox: Click any event banner to view it fullscreen.
• Dynamic Parallax Backgrounds: Events using the Parallax template now use the event banner as the splash background.
• Markdown Descriptions: Event descriptions now support bold text, bullet lists, headings, and horizontal rules.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed timezone display for event dates across all templates.
• Fixed multi-day event date range formatting.

1.6.0 – Performance & Platform Reliability

This update is an under-the-hood pass focused on making the platform faster, more reliable, and leaner — no new features, just everything working better.

Performance Improvements

• Faster Page Loads: Version data is now cached server-side, eliminating a redundant database call on every page render.
• Optimised API Queries: Eliminated N+1 query patterns in the community map and leaderboard APIs. Member locations and top hunters now load in a single database trip instead of one query per user.
• Smaller Bundle Size: Removed unused dependencies and tightened import optimisations across the app. Pages load with less JavaScript overhead.

Platform Reliability

• Database Consistency: All tables now use automatic updated_at triggers — timestamps are always accurate without manual bookkeeping.
• Cleaner Data Model: Removed stale, duplicated data from the messaging layer. Chat now always reflects your current username and avatar — no more stale display names in old messages.
• Community Chat: The community chat at /chat is now fully powered by Discord, giving you real-time sync with the Kracked Devs Discord server.

Developer Experience

• Expanded Test Coverage: Added automated tests for critical platform paths — profile updates, stats APIs, location data, and bounty logic -reducing the risk of regressions in future updates.

This update brings a full Achievement Badge System, comprehensive security hardening, and a wave of platform-wide improvements.

Achievement Badges

A brand-new badge system to reward community contributions.

• 8 System Badges: Earn badges for milestones — OG Kracker, Bounty Hunter, Bounty Winner, Serial Winner, Event Crasher, Hackathon Veteran, Rising Agent, and Elite Operative.
• Badge Engine: Badges are awarded automatically as you submit bounties, win competitions, register for events, and level up.
• Custom Badge Creator: Admins can now create, award, and revoke custom badges from the dashboard — no code deploy needed.
• Badge Wall: A dedicated achievement section on every profile page with rarity tiers (Common, Rare, Legendary) and neon glow effects.

Security Hardening

A comprehensive security audit and remediation pass across the platform.

• XSS Prevention: All text inputs are now sanitized for HTML tags and javascript: protocol URLs.
• Server-Side Validation: Profile updates are now validated server-side with strict schemas.
• Username Hardening: Usernames are restricted to alphanumeric characters, underscores, and hyphens only.
• Database Security: Fixed mutable search paths on all functions, scoped RLS policies, and revoked unnecessary public API access.
• Dependency Patching: Resolved ajv ReDoS vulnerability.

Malaysia Tech Map

• Click to Explore: Clicking any state on the landing page map now navigates directly to the full page with that state's panel pre-opened.

Released: February 20, 2026

This update brings multi-guild support to the community, plus a series of interactive map improvements including click-to-explore navigation and visual refinements.

Guilds

• Multi-Guild Membership: Users can now join multiple guilds simultaneously. The previous one-guild-per-user restriction has been removed — join as many guilds as you like, or create your own on top of existing memberships.

Malaysia Tech Map

• Click to Explore: Clicking any state on the landing page map now navigates directly to the full /map page with that state's panel pre-opened.
• Smarter State Labels: State label placement has been refined for better readability across all screen sizes.
• Faster SSR: Eliminated all HTTP self-requests from the map page during server-side rendering, improving load performance.

v1.5.3 – Malaysia Tech Map

Released: February 19, 2026

This update ships the Malaysia Tech Map — an interactive map of Malaysia's tech ecosystem — along with a suite of event date and archive fixes.

Malaysia Tech Map

A fully interactive map of Malaysian states showing developers, jobs, events, and guilds.

• Ocean Background: Map now renders with a dark navy ocean gradient for a proper geographic feel.
• Event Date Range: Event cards in the map side panel now show full date ranges (e.g. 19 Feb → 22 Feb 2026) when an end date is set.
• Cleaner State View: Removed per-state count labels for a cleaner, less cluttered map — counts are revealed in the side panel on click.
• Smart Search: Clicking an event result in the map search now selects the state and opens the side panel, instead of navigating away to the event page.
• Map CTA Banner: A new dismissable banner on the landing page surfaces the Malaysia Tech Map with live developer counts.

Events

• Archive Fix: Events starting today are now correctly classified as upcoming regardless of what time of day it is, using a day-boundary comparison instead of a timestamp comparison.

This update brings a major upgrade to the Community Chat experience, along with improved social sharing for the chat page.

Community Chat

A full overhaul of the Discord-powered chat integration.

• Cyberpunk Aesthetics: Redesigned chat UI with a premium cyberpunk look and feel, consistent with the KrackedDev design language.
• File Uploads: Members can now share files directly in the community chat.
• User Mentions: Tag other members with @mentions for better conversations.
• Improved Stability: Rebuilt the Discord client for a smoother, more reliable chat experience.

SEO & Metadata

• Chat OG Image: The Community Chat page now has a dynamic Open Graph image for rich link previews when sharing on social platforms.
• Chat Metadata: Improved title and description tags for the chat page.

Changelog 2026-02-17

Features

• Map Enhancement: Added user detail upon clicking the states.
• Plunk Migration: Successfully migrated email service provider from Brevo to Plunk for improved deliverability.
• Global Loading State: Added consistent loading spinners throughout the application for smoother transitions.

Improvements

• Dashboard Cleanup: Streamlined navigation by linking "Showcase" directly to the personal project management page and removing the redundant "My Projects" link.
• Page Naming: Renamed the dashboard project management page to "My Showcase" for consistency.

Fixes

• Login Loop: Resolved an issue causing infinite redirects on the login page.
• Footer Layout: Fixed layout shifts where the footer appeared before content loaded on profile/dashboard pages.
• Showcase Navigation: Fixed the dashboard "Showcase" link incorrectly directing to the public page.

This major update introduces the Guilds System and XP Rewards, alongside critical Metadata improvements.

Guilds System

A new way for developers to form sub-communities and collaborate.

• Join & Create: Users can now form or join guilds based on interests or location.
• Guild Feed: Dedicated activity feeds for guild members.
• Membership Management: Tools for guild leaders to manage join requests.
• One-Guild Limit: Fostering tighter communities with exclusive membership.

XP & Rewards System

Level up your profile by contributing to the community!

• XP for Showcases: Earn XP when your project is approved.

Event Management

A complete overhaul of how we handle community events.

• Server-Side Search: Blazing fast search for event registrations.
• Admin Panel: Comprehensive tools for managing events and attendees.
• Discord Integration: Seamless links to our community Discord for event coordination.

SEO & Metadata

• Dynamic OG Images: Custom sosial preview cards for every request (Showcase, Guilds, Events).
• Enhanced Metadata: Improved title and description tags across all public pages for better SEO.
• Social Sharing: Fixed issues with link previews on platforms like WhatsApp and Twitter.

Improvements & Fixes

• Navigation:

Overview

The Project Showcase feature allows developers in the KrackedDev community to submit, view, and interact with projects. It includes a voting system, real-time updates, and an admin workflow for project moderation.

Added

• Project Submissions: Users can now submit their projects with descriptions, tags, and images.
• Project Feed: A public showcase gallery to browse community projects.
• Voting System: "Hot Signal" implementation for upvoting projects.
• Real-time Leaderboard: Dynamic ranking of projects based on community engagement.
• Notifications: Smart notifications for project approvals and interactions.
• Navigation: Showcase link added to the main site navigation.

Fixed

• Resolved lint and build errors in showcase components.
• Fixed hydration issues in the project feed.
• Corrected image optimization settings for Supabase external domains.

Changelog - 2026-02-06

🚀 New Features

• Global Share Button: Implemented a reusable ShareButton component with:
  • Native Integration: Uses Web Share API on mobile devices.
  • Desktop Fallback: Dropdown menu with Copy Link, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook options.
• Integration Points: Added share functionality to:
  • Community: QuestionCard (reveals on hover).
  • Events: Featured event, upcoming schedule cards, and legacy archive list.
  • Hackathons: HackathonLandingMatrix and HackathonLandingParallax templates.

💅 Improvements

• Rebranding: Updated site metadata (Title, Description, OpenGraph, Twitter) from "Cracked Developers" to "Aspiring Developers" in layout.tsx.

🔥 New Features

• News & Discord Updates:
  • Overhauled /news page with category filters (All, MY Tech, Global, Gov), better UI, and new integration.
  • Global update of Discord invite link
• Hackathon Landing Page:
  • Added "About Event" section.
  • Implemented dynamic hackathon banner with countdown timer to homepage.
  • Enhanced banner with dynamic prize pool and copywriting based on event type.
• Database:
  • Synced database schema across all environments.

🐛 Bug Fixes

• News System:
  • Fixed integration fetching strategy.
• Hackathon UI:
  • Fixed hydration errors and countdown label alignment.
  • Improved banner text alignment and mobile responsiveness.
• System:
  • Fixed build errors (missing closing braces).
  • Fixed race conditions in Brevo logs using upsert.

🚜 Refactor & Chores

• Refactored banner wording for better engagement/impact.
• Updated banner details.
• Merged changes from main to staging for deployment.

Changelog - February 3, 2026

🚀 New Features & Enhancements

Hackathon Experience

• Mobile Optimization: Significantly improved the mobile responsiveness of the Hackathon Portal. No more side-scrolling or layout shifts!
• Team Management: detailed view for team rosters and clearer team code exposure for easier joining.
• UI Polish: Added a polished "Standby" component for smoother state transitions and empty states.

Admin Capabilities

• Dashboard Expansion: Rolled out new administrative tools to better manage platform resources and user data.

🛡️ Security & Reliability

System Hardening

• Gamification Engine: Implemented major security upgrades to the XP System. XP awarding logic is now strictly server-side verified, ensuring fair play for everyone.
• Vulnerability Patching: Resolved underlying dependency alerts to keep the platform secure.

Infrastructure

• Database Stability: Improved migration scripts to be robust and idempotent, ensuring smoother deployments without downtime.

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Building the future of developer careers. 🚀

🚀 Introducing the Events Platform

We've officially launched the Events Platform, our central hub for community gatherings, hackathons, and workshops:

• Dynamic Events Overview: A new home for all Kracked Devs events, highlighting the next big thing.
• Event Details: Deep-dives into every event with dates, locations (online/offline), and full descriptions.
• Legacy Archive: Celebrate our community's history with an automated archive of all past events.
• Live Event Status: Real-time status tracking for every event, so you always know what’s coming up.

🖼️ Enhanced Media Experience

• Rich Event Visuals: High-resolution banners and logos across the platform to help you visualize every session.
• Faster Image Loading: Optimized media handling for a smoother, high-performance browsing experience.

🛠️ Improvements & Fixes

• Unified Navigation: "Events" is now easily accessible from the top navbar, sidebar, and footer across the entire platform.
• Self-Healing UI: Fixed hydration issues for a more reliable and consistent initial page load.
• Smarter Registration: Event registration flows are now more intuitive, with automatic closing once an event has finished.
• Platform Performance: Optimized background API calls to reduce data usage and improve overall page responsiveness.

Bounty Board Improvements

Smart Bounty Sorting

• Active bounties now appear first - New and ongoing bounties are prioritized at the top of the list
• Latest bounties first - Within each category, the most recent bounties are shown first
• Completed bounties moved to bottom - Finished bounties automatically move down to keep focus on active opportunities

Enhanced Loading Experience

• New 3D glitch loading animation - A cyberpunk-inspired loading spinner that matches our aesthetic
• Faster page loads - Improved performance across the bounty board

UI Polish

• Refined bounty cards - Better visual consistency across all bounty components
• Improved theme support - Better color handling across light and dark themes

⚡ Performance & Stability

Faster, More Reliable Platform

• Improved database connections - Eliminated connection issues that could cause slow page loads
• Smoother navigation - Pages load faster and transitions are more responsive
• Better error handling - The platform gracefully handles temporary issues without breaking the user experience

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These improvements are part of our ongoing commitment to providing the best experience for Malaysian developers.

Features & Improvements

🔗 Multiple URLs in Bounty Submissions

Hunters can now include multiple links when submitting a solution! You are no longer limited to just a GitHub PR URL.

• Support for comma-separated URLs (e.g., https://github.com/user/repo, https://demo-app.vercel.app).
• Live demos and deployment links can now be submitted alongside your code.
• Admin dashboard and Winner displays now render all submitted links for easier review and showcasing.

🧭 Changelog Access

• Added a direct link to the Changelog in the main sidebar navigation, making it easier to stay updated with platform changes.

🎨 UI & Theming Fixes

• Bounty Price Visibility: Fixed an issue where the bounty reward badge was invisible on the "Light Noir" theme due to contrast issues. The text color now dynamically adapts to ensure readability across all themes (Light, Dark, and Monochrome).

🎨 Enhancements

User Interface

• Profile Page Updates: We've updated the navigation tabs and buttons on your profile page with bolder, high-contrast styling. This makes them much easier to see and interact with, especially when using different themes.

✨ General

• Performance & Stability: Applied various under-the-hood optimization and fixes to ensure a smoother experience.

🚀 Newsletter & Smart Notifications

We've officially launched our new Smart Notification System:

• Weekly Digest: Get a curated summary of top bounties, polls, and opportunities.
• Custom Preferences: You're in control. Manage your subscription settings directly from your profile or the new secure preference center.
• KL Timezone Support: All event times are now fully localized for our community in Kuala Lumpur.

🎨 Bounty Board 2.0

We've refined the Bounty Board for a cleaner, faster browsing experience:

• Focus on Content: Bounties now take center stage with an expanded grid view.
• Better Filtering: Polls and filters moved to a streamlined sidebar.
• Compact Mode: Easier to scan through opportunities on both desktop and mobile.

Improvements & Fixes

• Footer Redesign: Refined layout for better responsiveness on all devices.
• Form Scaling: Fixed issues with newsletter signup forms on smaller screens.
• Secure Unsubscribe: Implemented a 1-click secure unsubscribe flow (though we hope you'll stay!).
• System Stability: Various backend optimizations to improve platform speed.