# Changelog v0.5.29 - 2026-06-15

### Fixed
- **Router now respects your priority order (fixes #120, reported by @jammin1911).** Previously, priority was only 20% of the routing score, so a healthy low-priority model (e.g. GPT-OSS 120B) could serve traffic even when higher-priority models you deliberately ranked above it were also healthy. Routing is now **strict priority-first**: `#1` is always tried first while it is healthy, and the health score is only used as a tiebreaker between models that share the same priority (e.g. cold-start ties). Circuit-breaker safety is preserved — closed (healthy) models always come before half-open (recovering) ones. Your fallback chain is now authoritative.
- **Daemon startup errors are now surfaced instead of swallowed.** The TUI captures `--daemon-bg` stdout/stderr and shows the real failure reason (port in use, config corruption, etc.) as a dashboard notice, instead of silently flipping back to "stopped".
- **Dev checkouts no longer clash with production installs.** A git checkout now auto-enables dev mode (`FCM_DEV=1`) so its router daemon uses dev ports/files (`29280`, `-dev` suffixed PID/port/log files) and never collides with a globally-installed `free-coding-models` running on the same machine. Dynamic path resolvers pick up `FCM_DEV` changes that happen after module load.

### Added
- **`routingOrder` field in `/stats`** — exposes the exact attempt order the daemon will use for the next request (priority-first among healthy models). `routingOrder[0]` is the model that will serve the next chat completion. Dashboards use it to show which model is active.
- **Clearer priority indicators in the Router UI (all surfaces)** so users understand the fallback chain at a glance:
  - **Web Dashboard:** the active-set list now labels `#1` as a highlighted **Primary** badge (accent-colored) and the rest as numbered fallbacks. A one-line legend explains *"Primary tries first → Fallback on failure / rate-limit"*. The model that will serve the next request gets a green accent border + tint (**Next up** badge in the legend). Tooltips on every badge explain the semantics.
  - **TUI Dashboard:** a `▶ NEXT` marker (green) is drawn on the exact model the daemon will route to next, so the top of your fallback chain is obvious. Empty-state copy now explains *"Favorites become your router fallback chain — #1 is tried first."*
- **Always-visible Quick Setup card** on the Router dashboard (Web + TUI) with sensible defaults (`localhost:19280/v1`, model `fcm`, key `fcm-local`), so you can copy your tool config even before starting the daemon. The Web version adds a one-click **Copy all** button and a hero glow when running.
- **Better empty states** across the Web Router view: the active-set list and request log now show helpful guidance ("No models in the active set → Add models or Sync best", "No requests yet. Start coding to see traffic here.") instead of disappearing.
- **Auto-expanding request log** — the Web request log expands automatically the first time traffic appears, so you don't have to click to see your routed requests.
- **More prominent Start button** — the stopped-state "Start Router" CTA is now larger and easier to hit.

### Changed
- Router candidate sorting changed from `score DESC, priority ASC` to `priority ASC, score DESC` — the user's explicit ranking now wins. The `scoring` weights config is retained (still used for the health table and same-tier tiebreaks), so existing user configs and config normalization are unaffected.