Hello everyone,
We are proud to announce the immediate availability of the Oxygen
AI Positron 8.4 plugins for all major Oxygen XML suite
products, including Oxygen XML Editor, Author, Developer (desktop
and Eclipse distributions), Oxygen JSON Editor, Oxygen XML Web
Author, and Oxygen Content Fusion.
Version 8.4 introduces a major interoperability
enhancement by allowing Oxygen AI Positron to run as a local
MCP (Model Context Protocol) HTTP server, making it possible
for third-party AI assistants such as Claude Desktop, Claude Code,
Open Code, and Cursor to connect to Oxygen and use the tools
contributed by AI Positron. This release also improves how
AI-generated edits are merged into documents, adds support for AI
clarification questions, expands the available AI model selection,
and provides new productivity tools for advanced documentation
workflows.
New in Oxygen AI Positron 8.4
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* Local MCP Server Support
The AI Positron add-on can now operate as a local MCP HTTP
server, enabling external AI assistants to connect to Oxygen
and use AI Positron tools. A new Oxygen MCP Server
preferences page is available in Preferences / Plugins /
Oxygen AI Positron, where you can configure the MCP server
port, start or stop the local server, and copy the MCP
configuration JSON for use in third-party AI assistants.
When external AI assistants make file changes through the Oxygen
MCP Server tools, a new status button appears in the Chat view,
allowing you to accept, modify, or reject those changes.
The MCP server can also provide external AI assistants with
contextual information from the open Oxygen application, including
open documents, DITA Maps Manager information, selected content,
project context prompts, and available skills.
* Enhanced AI-assisted Editing
AI-generated changes are now merged directly into documents
instead of overwriting and reloading files. If Track Changes
is enabled, AI edits are recorded as tracked changes, making them
easier to review, accept, or reject. AI Positron can also ask
clarifying questions when a prompt needs more detail, helping the
AI better understand the intended result before making changes.
The built-in Rewrite and Translate to... actions
now use targeted edits instead of regenerating the entire
document, improving performance, reducing token usage, and better
preserving markup and formatting, especially in large files.
* Expanded AI Model Support
Oxygen AI Positron 8.4 adds support for new models across
multiple AI providers, offering more flexibility for balancing
quality, reasoning, speed, and cost.
New and updated model options include:
- OpenAI: GPT-5.6 Sol, Terra, Luna, and their Thinking
variants. GPT-5.6 Terra with adaptive thinking is now the default
for AI Positron Service subscriptions.
- Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 5 and Claude Opus 5 are
available with AI Positron Service subscriptions.
- Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash, Gemini 3.7 Flash, Gemini 3.6
Flash, and Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite are available with AI Positron
Service subscriptions.
- xAI: Grok 4.6, 4.5, and 4.3 are available for
Enterprise users.
- Voice transcription: The speech-to-text model used for
voice prompts has been updated from GPT-4o Transcribe to GPT
Transcribe for AI Positron Service and OpenAI external
connections.
For Microsoft Azure and AWS Bedrock connectors, users can now
manually set the Maximum context window size. This helps
AI Positron accurately display context usage and ensures that
automatic context compaction works correctly when model
deployments or IDs are custom-defined.
* Improved Chat Experience and Productivity
AI Positron now renders Markdown responses in a rich, browser-like
preview and provides more detailed context usage information for
both external AI connections and Oxygen AI Positron Service
connections. You can also attach folders to chat messages, and
AI-generated command-line commands can now use environment
variables to help protect secret tokens.
Additional improvements include support for organizing AI actions
into sub-categories, displaying human-readable names for MCP
tools, better handling of pending AI Positron changes in sandbox
files, automatic resizing of large images before sending them to
the AI model, and wildcard support in the Unsafe tool
auto-approval preferences page.
* New Validation and Transformation Tools
Version 8.4 adds new tools for validation and publishing
workflows. The validate_and_check_for_completeness tool helps you
catch document errors and broken references during chat sessions,
while validate_with_schematron supports validation against
existing Schematron files or newly generated rules based on user
requirements.
New transformation scenario tools also allow the AI to discover
available scenarios, run selected transformations, and inspect
output logs or validation errors, helping automate publishing,
testing, and verification tasks directly from Oxygen.
The new validation and transformation tools require the upcoming Oxygen
XML 29 or newer. You can benefit of early access to these
features by contacting the Oxygen XML support at
support@oxygenxml.com.
For the complete list of features added in Oxygen AI Positron
8.4, please see:
https://www.oxygenxml.com/ai_positron/whats_new.html
Webinar
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For a hands-on exploration of the newest features in Oxygen AI
Positron, designed to make AI an active partner in your
documentation lifecycle, join the free webinar taking place on October
21 - Beyond the Chatbot: Harnessing Agentic AI, MCP, and
Validation Tools with Oxygen AI Positron.
The event is free, but registration is required -
https://oxygenxml.com/evs2026-7.html
As always, thank you for your support and don't forget that
feedback is welcome!
Best regards,
Alin
-- Alin Belu Oxygen XML Editor