What's new
Changelog
Every change that makes CrossBeam better for the cities and builders who use it, written up the night it ships.
Tuesday, October 6, 2026
PreCheck assistant explains pin colors correctly
Asked what the pins on a sheet mean, the assistant now gives the same answer every time: red is a correction, orange needs review, green passes, coral marks an unreadable result and grey is not applicable. Four help pages that listed a nonexistent purple pin now match the sheet viewer.
PreCheck queue shows submit time and applicant email
Each row on the staff PreCheck tab now shows when its latest round was submitted in Pacific time ("Submitted Oct 5, 2:14 PM", or "Started" for an unfinished upload) and the applicant's email on its own line. Search matches the email too.
PreCheck assistant shows only the answer
Applicants no longer see a stray "I need to look up..." line above an answer. Any text written before a help-page lookup is held back and dropped from the stream, so only the final answer appears; short direct answers now arrive all at once.
PreCheck assistant answers questions about the whole flow
Applicants on a city's PreCheck page get real answers about submitting, rounds, re-checks, corrections and FastPass instead of "I don't have information". The assistant draws on a built-in guide to the PreCheck flow and opens the relevant help-library page when it needs more detail.
Monday, October 5, 2026
Re-checks grade the step as the applicant read it
A brief step now passes when the sentence the applicant read is done, and the re-check searches related sheets before calling a step open. Brief cards show why each comment matters under its title and drop the who, time estimate and step count.
Brief runs show only Your brief and Findings
On a PreCheck run with an applicant brief, City staff now see the same two tabs as the applicant, Your brief and Findings. Empty builder tabs such as Action Items no longer appear. Runs without a brief keep their usual tabs.
Sunday, October 4, 2026
FastPass at half or more of the brief's steps
A PreCheck re-check now grades each step of the round 1 brief with the same sheet verifier Backcheck uses. FastPass is earned when half or more of the steps are done, with half credit for a partly done step. Anything missing from the upload counts as open.
PreCheck re-checks grade only the requested fixes
A round 2 PreCheck grades only the items the applicant was told to fix: fixed, partly fixed, still open, or not in this upload. The counts are computed once, so the email, FastPass and results card agree. Re-dropping the same address offers "Re-check my fixed plans".
Brief results open without a flash of other tabs
Opening a brief from the results email no longer shows the default PreCheck tabs and counts for about two seconds before switching. The loading skeleton holds until the brief's tabs are ready, and the brief draws once.
No permit-type picker when uploading a corrections letter
Applicants who upload a corrections letter no longer pick a permit type, and "Not sure" no longer defaults to an ADU. The AI review reads the letter and plans, names the permit kind, and runs and prices the corrections read as that kind.
Saturday, October 3, 2026
City staff see PreCheck corrections runs
Corrections-letter runs now appear in the City's PreCheck queue, staff summary and weekly digest, with a Corrections pill and the round at that address. Applicants are told each read uses a free round, and the results email points them to the open questions.
Resubmittal briefs keep round 1 comment numbers
On a resubmittal, the brief keeps the first round's comment numbers, marks each comment Still open or New this round, and lists cleared comments under their old numbers. The re-check card reads, for example, "3 of 4 previous comments cleared".
Redesigned PreCheck results and re-check emails
The round 1 email now opens with the brief's summary, lists what already works, and shows the steps in work order, with no red to-do counter. The re-check email leads with the FastPass result: the certificate and code if issued, or how many items remain.
No false slow-run email after a review is re-finished
Applicants no longer get a "Your PreCheck is taking longer than usual" email when only the final step of a finished review is re-run. The stuck-run check now looks at the newest run, including re-finishes, and skips them.
PreCheck results now arrive as a short applicant brief
Buena Park PreCheck applicants get a short, ordered brief instead of a list of roughly 300 worksheet checks. It groups the failed and flagged findings into steps in work order, and each step cites the findings behind it.
Friday, October 2, 2026
One consistent PreCheck time estimate
Every applicant screen and email now says results take 30 to 90 minutes, including the intake page, receipt, live status ticker, FAQ and receipt email. The range comes from completed reviews on real plan sets, which took about 35 to 70 minutes.
Daily limit on the PreCheck results chat
The chat on the PreCheck results page now follows the same per-user daily usage limit as every other chat, and shows a Chat paused notice instead of silently dropping a message. City staff accounts are no longer mistaken for applicants and keep Job Sites, Drive and the general chat.
Focused PreCheck accounts and slow-run notices
Applicants with only city-paid PreChecks now see just Projects and their city's Ask AI assistant, without Job Sites or Drive. If a run is still going at 90 minutes, the applicant gets one email saying results are taking longer than usual and will arrive by email.
PreCheck email link opens a live receipt
The link in the PreCheck receipt email now opens the same receipt card applicants saw after submitting, with live stages (Extract, Research, Review, PreCheck Report), a progress bar and elapsed time. City artwork on the receipt now crossfades slowly instead of popping.
Thursday, October 1, 2026
Help article for reading applicant PreChecks
City staff in a PreCheck program now find a PreCheck category in Help, with an article on finding the PreCheck tab, searching by address, what each status means and what the staff summary shows. Only staff who can see the tab see the article.
Abandoned PreCheck uploads are cleaned up
An upload left unfinished for 24 hours, for example after the applicant closed the tab, is now removed along with its stored files. The PreCheck FAQ assistant now says phone photos in JPG, PNG or HEIC are accepted and that a PDF plan set reviews best.
TIFF scans accepted for review
Applicants can upload TIFF scans on every intake flow. Each multi-page TIFF is converted to a PDF page by page and reviewed like any other plan set, and the file picker and upload copy now list PDF, JPG, PNG or TIFF.
Clearer PreCheck results page and emails
City-paid PreCheck applicants no longer see the builder welcome tour, and a visitor signed in to the wrong account gets a plain explanation instead of a database error. Clear-cut corrections use a neutral bullet instead of a green check, the stats pill fits on phones, and failed emails are no longer dropped silently.
Slow server start no longer locks a PreCheck address
When the review server is slow to start, applicants now see "We've got your plans" instead of an error. Within minutes an automatic retry either starts the review or releases the address and sends a retry link, so resubmitting is never refused.
PreCheck states it may miss requirements
Before starting, applicants now confirm that PreCheck may not catch every code requirement and that City staff may find more corrections in plan review. The terms add a matching "Not a Complete Review" section, so every applicant re-accepts the updated terms.
PreCheck applicants never see a failed review
For city-program PreCheck, a run that hits an error keeps showing the processing view while support reruns it, and after an hour the estimate switches to a high-volume notice. Program applicants no longer see error text, retry or refund prompts, the paywall, Cancel review, or an unusable credits row.
Failed PreCheck runs no longer email applicants
When a city-program PreCheck run fails, only CrossBeam support is alerted and reruns it; the applicant no longer receives a "needs another try" email. Runs that produced no output are flagged in the alert so they are rerun first.
Buy another PreCheck round after the free ones
After an address uses its city-paid PreCheck rounds, the applicant can upload the next version and pay by card in the resubmit dialog; payment grants the credits and starts the review. Emails for that round drop the city-sponsored wording.
PreCheck applicants see a progress bar while reviewing
City-sponsored PreCheck runs now show phase markers and an animated progress bar that advances with the review, in place of the raw activity log. The bar respects reduced-motion settings and other contractor runs are unchanged.
Resend link opens the review that is running
When an applicant submits twice at the same address while the first review is still running, the 'send my link again' email now opens the active review instead of the second submission that was refused.
Applicants now see the PreCheck name and new terms
Every applicant-facing email, results page, certificate PDF and terms page now uses the PreCheck name, and the terms move to a new version that applicants accept once on their next submittal.
PreCheck refuses addresses outside city limits
The intake now checks a geocoded address against the city's incorporated boundary before anything is created. An address in a neighboring city is refused right away, naming that city, and the applicant gets an email pointing to a regular paid pre-check instead.
Plain-language PreCheck errors and refreshed terms
Every error the PreCheck intake, retry and resubmit dialogs can return now shows written guidance instead of a raw error code, round-limit messages show the actual limit, and an applicant whose terms page went stale is prompted to read and accept the current version.
Expired PreCheck sign-in links lead to a fresh link
An applicant who opens an expired or already-used emailed sign-in link now lands on their city's PreCheck intake page with the resend form open, instead of a password login they never set up. If the browser is already signed in, they go straight to their results.
Long PreCheck reviews keep their billing hold
A PreCheck review still processing, or paused waiting on applicant answers, past 24 hours now keeps its address hold and billing record, so it completes and is charged correctly. Only submittals that never started are released by the daily cleanup.
Tuesday, September 29, 2026
PermitReady FastPass certificate for strong re-checks
Buena Park pre-check applicants who resolve more than half of the prior round's Fix items on a re-check earn a printable FastPass certificate to attach to their plan check submittal. City staff can confirm it on a public verify page; it does not promise faster review.