# Homestead Free 0.6.8.31

This standalone package is intended for a fresh Windows/Docker or server Docker installation. It does not require an earlier Homestead build.

## Release highlights

- One shared first-run wizard for Free, Family, Plus, and Pro.
- Free includes Movies, TV Shows, Music, Books, locally archived YouTube, local search, playback, watchlists, collections, watch orders, and progress.
- Paid libraries remain visible but locked with the plan required to enable them.
- Free server enforcement rejects paid APIs and strips attempts to enable paid libraries or integrations.
- Complete first-run setup for server identity, core libraries, branding, and owner access.
- Owner setup now creates the real owner account, signs that owner in, and enables the sign-in gate.
- Fixed local and integration artwork handling, including Lidarr artist artwork fallbacks.
- Added persistent local image selection for collection posters.
- Fixed long exact watch-order panels with independent scrolling and drag auto-scroll.
- Improved YouTube Extras playback configuration and added an always-available external YouTube fallback.
- Repaired Readarr connection testing and replaced disruptive browser alerts with inline results.
- Standardized Home, Watchlist, Dashboard, Family, Calendar, and Recipes layouts from the recent design passes.
- Added a deterministic Docker build, container health check, and corrected `/media` mount.

## Safety and compatibility

- Designed for a trusted home network; direct public-internet exposure is unsupported.
- Back up the persistent `data` folder before every preview update.
- Third-party integrations require the user's own services, credentials, and lawful media sources.
- YouTube or other providers may prevent individual videos from playing in an embedded frame; Homestead provides an external fallback for those videos.

## Validation completed

- Production client build completed successfully.
- All bundled regression scripts passed.
- A clean, empty-data startup completed successfully.
- Owner creation, session login, anonymous-access rejection, collection-poster storage, and production page loading were verified against the running server.

The Windows workspace does not include Docker. The JavaScript production build and a clean running-server entitlement test were completed locally; the final container image still needs its normal Docker/Unraid build verification before publishing.