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AgentFEM 0.4.0

AgentFEM 0.4 consolidates the foundation for dependable finite-element workflows. It keeps one public route from engineering definition to numerical procedure, accepted state, and inspectable results. This is an architectural milestone, not a blanket promotion of every experimental analysis.

What this release establishes

  • Model and Operator: shared mesh, element, function-space, and quality contracts reject unsupported combinations before assembly. Typed time inputs distinguish load changes from changes that invalidate an operator.
  • Procedure and State: numerical strategies own advancement and reuse; accepted/trial state owns commit, rollback, and declared portable restart.
  • Result and Verification: constraint force, accepted-path work, energy, field identity, performance evidence, and failure status remain explicit.
  • Extensions: an independently installed provider exercises the ordinary workflow without modifying the core or adding a framework dependency.

The six foundation gates cover compatibility, quality, time inputs, bounded constraint closure, MPI result/state/checkpoint lifecycle, and external extension. Release evidence binds the source commit and wheel checksum: complete serial regression, representative MPI tests, independent extension acceptance, and Linux/macOS installation of the same wheel. Publication waits for the foundation audit as well as the existing scientific and optional dependency checks.

Reliability improvements since 0.3.8

Nonlinear and mixed finite-strain paths retain accepted-history identity across restart. RVE diagnostics distinguish spatial refinement, load-path refinement, and consistent-tangent checks; a passing lifecycle check is not substituted for an external accuracy comparison. Manifest sealing excludes only its own self-reference, preserves external artifact integrity, and reports write failures rather than silently accepting incomplete output.

Scientific scope

Existing capability maturity is preserved in the versioned release contract. Finite-strain J2/RVE remains experimental. The Zhang--Feng--Khandelwal comparison is not promoted: spatial and other external validation gates remain incomplete. Passing serial/MPI restart and a bounded tangent check does not close those gates. See the RVE reference and roadmap for the exact limits.

Contact evidence applies to the documented bounded routes; it does not imply general industrial forming, arbitrary deformable contact, or unrestricted rigid-body dynamics. Backend numerical infrastructure remains owned by FEniCSx/Basix/PETSc/MPI.

Installation and compatibility

Install or upgrade through the getting-started guide. The Python release and complete offline runtimes are separate artifacts: an older runtime is not relabelled as 0.4. A new offline runtime is offered only after its own build and acceptance. Real Windows/WSL2 installation and unsigned macOS runtime limitations remain separate from hosted Linux/macOS wheel tests.

Existing public examples and compatibility imports are included in the release ladder. Cite the software version actually used; the 0.4 citation points to the immutable release until a matching version archive DOI is available.

Next: bounded engineering progress

The next cycle prioritizes reproducible user workflows, supported mesh and formulation combinations, and performance measured with fixed inputs. One bounded scientific validation track may proceed alongside maintenance; an individual paper reproduction will not hold unrelated product delivery open indefinitely. See the product roadmap.