QB News
The QB News page is a built-in news reader that surfaces announcements and release notes published by the QuickBox team. Instead of checking external channels for updates, you can read everything directly inside the dashboard in a clean, searchable, split-pane layout.
The page lives at System > News in the sidebar and is accessible to admin users.
QB News requires admin privileges. Specifically, you need the admin.system.update permission. If you do not see the News item in your sidebar, contact your server admin to verify your role and permissions.
Key features
Split-Pane Layout
Browse announcements in a sidebar list on the left and read the full content in a viewer panel on the right — no page navigation required
Search and Filtering
Search across announcement titles and previews, and filter by type using the <strong>All</strong>, <strong>News</strong>, and <strong>Releases</strong> tabs
Markdown Rendering
Announcement content is rendered as formatted markdown with full support for headings, lists, code blocks, links, and more
Deep Linking
Every announcement has a shareable URL. Copy a direct link to any announcement using the copy-link button in the viewer header
Channel Aware
Stable installs see the public stable feed. Beta and dev installs see their channel feed merged with stable, with a per-item pill showing which feed each announcement came from
In-Browser Caching
Previously viewed announcements are cached in the browser session so switching between items is instant with no repeated network requests
Announcement types
QB News delivers two categories of content, each with a distinct badge in the sidebar list and viewer header:
| Type | Badge | What it contains |
|---|---|---|
News | Blue "News" badge | General platform announcements from the QuickBox team — new features, upcoming changes, service notices, and community updates |
Release | Green "Release" badge | Version-specific release notes tied to QuickBox CLI updates — changelogs, bug fixes, new application support, and breaking change notices |
Announcements are sorted newest-first by their publish date. When you open the News page, the most recent announcement is automatically selected and displayed.
Channel detection
What you see in the announcement list depends on your server’s configured update channel:
| Install Channel | What You See | Page Indicator |
|---|---|---|
Stable | Stable feed only — published from the public QuickBox GitHub repository | No banner — this is the default |
Beta | Beta feed (private release proxy at central.quickbox.io) merged with the stable feed in a single list | Yellow "BETA Channel" banner above the list |
Dev | Dev feed (private release proxy at central.quickbox.io) merged with the stable feed in a single list | Yellow "DEV Channel" banner above the list |
Channel detection is automatic based on your server’s configured update channel. You do not need to change any settings — the News page reads the same channel that your CLI update system uses.
On beta and dev installs, every list row carries a small per-item channel pill (Stable, Beta, or Dev) showing which feed that announcement came from. This lets you tell channel-specific announcements apart from the general stable announcements you see alongside them.
If the same announcement is published on both the stable feed and your channel’s feed, your channel’s copy is shown and the stable copy is hidden. Beta and dev feeds are typically ahead of stable, so this rule keeps you reading the most current version.
If your server is on the beta or dev channel, a colored banner appears at the top of the announcement list so you always know which channel your install is on.
Using the News page
Browsing announcements
The left panel displays all available announcements as a scrollable list. Each item shows:
- Title — extracted from the announcement content
- Type badge — “News” (blue) or “Release” (green)
- Preview — a short text excerpt of the announcement body
- Date — the publish timestamp in human-readable format
Click any item to load its full content in the right-hand viewer panel.
Searching and filtering
Use the search field at the top of the sidebar to filter announcements by title or preview text. Below the search field, the segmented control tabs let you narrow the list:
- All — Show every announcement
- News — Show only general news announcements
- Releases — Show only version release notes
Search and type filtering combine — you can search within a specific type by activating a tab and typing a query.
Sharing a link
Each announcement updates the browser URL with a unique identifier (the ?id= parameter). To share a direct link to a specific announcement:
- Select the announcement you want to share
- Click the link icon button in the viewer header (top-right corner)
- The current page URL is copied to your clipboard
Anyone with admin access to the dashboard can open that link and land directly on the same announcement.
Server-side caching
The dashboard caches announcement data on the server to reduce upstream API calls and improve load times:
- Announcement list — cached for 15 minutes
- Individual announcement content — cached for 1 hour
This means newly published announcements may take up to 15 minutes to appear. Once an announcement appears in the list, clicking it loads the full content quickly because the server pre-fetches and caches content during the initial listing request.
FAQ
admin.system.update permission, which is only available to admin users. Regular users do not see the News item in the sidebar.Related pages
Join the Community
Media server operators sharing configs, getting support, and shaping the future of QuickBox Pro.