Tessera 1.2.0 update

Tessera 1.2.0 includes two new color separations in the Export dialog, and lots of other improvements detailed below.

For desktop versions, the MacOS app should auto-update when you launch it. Other platforms can download the 1.2.0 zip files from Gumroad; login, visit your library, click on your Tessera purchase.

The latest updates are, of course, freely available in the online version, at tessera.slithy.me. Have fun with that, and please consider purchasing the desktop app if you'd like to support me or the project.

Also, if you have purchased the desktop app, please leave a positive review on Gumroad!

Here's the Gumroad product page for Tessera.

From here, I'm going to be slowing down on Tessera development. It's in a good place, I'm spinning up a new project, and I've got some capital-L Life stuff that I need to spend time on. I will work on bugs and such if they arise.

1.2.0 — 2026-06-03

Features

• Duotone separation — two-ink mode with independent midpoint sliders that shape a continuous tone curve; five built-in presets (Classic, Sepia, Night, Forest, Dusk) plus custom presets; exports PNG plates + composite, or SVG plates
• Monotone separation — single-ink mode for risograph, letterpress, and linocut workflows; four output modes: Bayer dither, Floyd-Steinberg dither, hard threshold, and grayscale; SVG export for threshold and grayscale modes
• Custom preset update — Duotone and Process Color preset menus now include an Update option to overwrite the active preset with current values
• Preset import/export — custom presets can be exported as .json files and imported on any device; export a single preset from Preferences or import a single preset or array of presets
• Backlight connectivity check — new Check Connection button in Backlight preferences tests the configured API URL and reports success or failure
• Preferences shortcuts — Reveal buttons on the Data folder and Logs rows open the location in Finder
• Clear browse history — new button in Preferences clears saved folder and album navigation history
• Clear logs — new button in Preferences deletes accumulated log files
• Cache usage display — cache panels now show current usage alongside the cap (e.g. 1.2 MB of 500 MB)
• Cache eviction protection — the currently-open local folder and Backlight album are excluded from cache eviction

Other improvements

• Smoother gallery scrolling — reduced layout work during fast scrolling in File Browser, Backlight, and Unsplash views
• More responsive compare slider — the before/after slider is more reliable across browsers and devices
• Mobile tap highlight — buttons no longer flash when tapped on touch devices
• Windows — "Check for Updates…" menu item is now hidden on Windows, where auto-updates are not supported