THE STORY SO FAR
Every bottle has a story. So does the app that looks after it. Here’s how My Bottle Collection has grown, from the first source-controlled project to the latest features.
Dates show when changes entered the project, in Australia/Sydney time, rather than when every installation was upgraded. Related improvements are grouped into readable updates. “Source release” records a project update without claiming deployment. “Deployed” records a confirmed deployment; JavaScript highlights this installation’s current version when available. Early changes retain their original dates without invented version numbers.
Photo file references can use any public HTTPS download host, including direct Azure Blob storage links, without a vendor hostname allowlist. Local and private network targets remain blocked with checked and pinned public addresses. TLS validation, disabled redirects and bounded download size, time and concurrency remain enforced.
Photo uploads now accept the regional OpenAI content hosts used by ChatGPT, as well as its general file host. HTTPS, public-address checks, blocked redirects, byte limits and timeouts remain enforced. Original preservation and non-saving validation are unchanged.
Photo validation now distinguishes a rejected reference from download and decode failures. It reports safe scheme, host, port and field-presence diagnostics while excluding signed URL paths, queries, credentials and file IDs. Validation does not save or alter a photo.
Assistant upload instructions now follow the attachment input supplied by the chat host. A new validation action checks the received original photo and reports its dimensions, byte count and checksum without saving it or changing a bottle.
The website photo uploader also offers “Keep original unchanged”. This retains the exact file and embedded metadata for cabinet members; previews and public photo shares still strip metadata. Default uploads continue to resize photos and remove metadata.
ChatGPT can pass an uploaded photo through a file reference instead of long base64 text. Ask to keep the original and the saved photo retains its exact bytes and resolution, with a separate small preview. Saved photo details include dimensions, byte count and a checksum.
Original preservation is optional and retains image metadata. Public photo shares continue to strip metadata. Existing upload permissions, photo slots and replacement checks still apply. Deployment and a real ChatGPT attachment test remain pending.
Release labels are readable directly in the page, including for assistants and browsers without JavaScript. Confirmed deployments retain their labels; the running website version is highlighted when available.
Collection Owners can ask ChatGPT or Claude for the same saved wishlist, collection or bottle link again. Older links can be replaced after confirmation that their previous URL will stop working.
Expired and revoked links stay unavailable. Refresh the connection actions in each assistant after upgrading to see the new capabilities.
Owners can copy active wishlist, collection and bottle links again from Shared links. Older links offer an explicitly confirmed replacement that keeps their visibility and expiry; the previous URL then stops working.
Expired and revoked links cannot be retrieved or replaced. Saved link access remains private to collection Owners.
Add optional wine and whisky details, storage locations and tags. Filter your shelves by location or tag, and choose mL, cl or US fluid ounces for volume displays.
Keep sold, gifted, traded and broken bottles in history without counting them as current stock. Record dates and sale proceeds, see gain or loss when costs are known, and restore a bottle while retaining its earlier events.
Choose more currencies, including JPY, CHF, SGD and HKD. Share a public wishlist with optional target prices and notes, expiry and revocation. Collector details and outcomes are available through the website, Excel export and connected assistants.
Choose View beside outstanding ratings to see the bottle, recipient email and invitation status in Shared links. Expand an invitation for dates and revocation; earlier invitations stay tucked under Show history.
The missing-details summary appears only when a current bottle needs attention. Signing in opens your collection at the top of the interface.
The new-cabinet form suggests a name using your account display name, with “My cabinet” as a fallback. The shared-pour field now asks for the names of the people sharing the pour instead of showing personal example names.
Suggestions remain optional hints: choose your own cabinet name and enter the people who shared your pour. Existing cabinet names and pour records are unchanged.
Marking a bottle finished now records it as opened as well as empty. Confirming a historical opening also updates the opening state on an empty bottle, without inventing a date or changing its volume.
Website and assistant writes reject empty bottles recorded as sealed or unknown, and opening states that contradict confirmed opening or consumption history. Date corrections still preserve current stock. A database safeguard and a reviewed repair procedure help protect existing records; deployment requires a backup, consistency review and migration.
New guides explain how to turn label photos into reviewed bottle records and use tasting preferences or collection variety to research a wishlist shortlist. Both include example prompts, review steps and checks before saving.
The homepage now links to twelve guides in a complete desktop grid. Help and related reading link to both additions, and public search listings include the new pages. These workflows use existing connection actions; no new plugin tool or database change is introduced.
A new Claude Access link provides custom connector setup and lets you disconnect individual Claude grants. Claude and ChatGPT connections have separate identities while using the same cabinet permissions, consent and collection services.
A dedicated Claude guide, Home, Help and About explain the feature. Privacy and consent text cover both assistants, and the new guide is included in public search listings. No API key is needed; assistant plan and workspace limits apply. Production setup and a real Claude connection must be verified before rollout.
Two new collector guides explain rating bottles, inviting tasting reviews and approving comments, and bringing an existing CSV or Excel inventory into the cabinet through ChatGPT and the plugin.
The spreadsheet walkthrough covers a reviewed preview, confirmed physical bottles, small batches, duplicate checks and progress tracking. Home, Help and the ChatGPT guide link to both walkthroughs, with public crawler listings updated. Existing plugin actions and permissions are unchanged.
New guides walk through your first cabinet, sharing a collection, recording received wishlist purchases and keeping an offline Excel copy. Screenshots use a clearly labelled tutorial cabinet.
The guides are linked from Home and Help, with related reading, accessible image captions and mobile layouts. Public search listings include the four guide pages; private collection and account routes retain their existing exclusions.
The administrator dashboard adds 7, 30 and 90-day growth trends for new users, collections and physical bottles, with daily figures and comparisons when both periods have been tracked. Earlier creation dates remain unknown.
A filtered operational feed groups application starts, website version observations, server errors and admin sign-in outcomes. Recording begins with this release, excludes credentials and private collection content, and retains up to 10,000 events from the last 90 days. Existing administrator authentication is unchanged.
Reading a bottle through the ChatGPT connection includes its five-star average, rating count, your own rating and a paged list of ratings and comments. Unrated bottles keep an unknown average.
Collection Owners can also add or update their own rating when updating a bottle through ChatGPT. Current ownership and separate bottle and rating versions are checked, and bottle details and ratings save together. Comments still require Owner approval, and other reviewers’ ratings cannot be changed.
The same privacy rules apply as on the website: comments need Owner approval before other members can see them, while authors can still see their own. Reviewer email addresses stay private to their author and the collection Owner. Existing bottle details, photos and editing versions remain available.
Collection Owners can see comments awaiting approval and invitations awaiting ratings from the collection screen. Bottle cards show pending-review badges, and comments can be approved or rejected from a collection-wide review list without opening individual bottles.
Rating activity refreshes every minute while the collection is visible, when returning to the tab, or on demand. Finished bottles remain included in pending reviews.
Choose an optional five-star rating while adding a bottle, or rate an existing bottle and see its average. Collection Owners can invite up to 25 people at a time with separate HTML emails and private rating links. Guests can respond without creating an account.
Comments stay private to the author and collection Owner until the Owner approves them. Private invitations expire after seven days, accept one response and can be revoked. Rejected comments do not remove the star rating.
Removed hidden registration-closed wording from the initial homepage so crawlers and text readers do not mistake it for the site's current status. A closure notice appears only when the server confirms registration is closed. Account creation and sign-in continue to follow the site's registration setting. Version history now identifies 1.0.0.5, 1.0.0.6 and 1.0.0.7 as deployed releases.
Corrected the security policy for Google and Facebook sign-in redirects in Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Safari. Existing email verification and account-linking protections remain in place.
Added the homepage verification tag used to confirm ownership of mybottlecollection.com with Web of Trust. Verification is completed separately after deployment; the tag does not represent a WOT rating or endorsement.
Turn a wish into the bottles you’ve received. Start with the wish’s name and notes, enter quantity and details per bottle, and confirm that they’re in your possession. Each bottle gets its own record, with unknown values left unknown.
Cabinet Owners gained an Excel download of their complete collection, including finished bottles, pours, private timeline history and wishlist. Each bottle’s first stored photo is included for offline viewing, with unknown values and estimates preserved.
Help explains the export workflow. About adds data portability and Owen’s intention to keep the service free, without advertising or visitor tracking, while hosting remains affordable.
A refreshed homepage introduced the collection with original cabinet imagery, feature previews, clearer account-creation buttons and an explanation of the optional ChatGPT connection. Help and About were updated to reflect the growing app.
Later updates at the same version added a clearer technology and security overview to About, covering hosting, account protection, cabinet permissions, public sharing and ChatGPT authorization. Project documentation was then reconciled with the website’s deployed features.
Private bottle timelines brought received, opened and finished milestones together with pours, stock corrections, detail edits and photo changes. Event dates can remain unknown or approximate; correcting a date keeps the earlier history and leaves stock unchanged.
ChatGPT gained tools to read timelines and record confirmed milestones. Opening never assumes a remaining volume, and finishing requires confirmation that a bottle is empty.
A separate, read-only administrator dashboard added account and collection totals, membership information and stock summaries. Its own sign-in keeps administration separate from ordinary cabinet access, and the dashboard excludes private bottle notes and credentials.
The first explicit website version brought a configurable version display and expanded ChatGPT support for collection summaries, missing details, wishlist changes, invitations and account-settings status. Search tools gained stock, sorting and missing-detail filters.
Website and ChatGPT actions share cabinet permissions and retry protection. Sensitive account changes remain on the website. A follow-up documentation review clarified what was built, what was deployed and which checks still remained.
These early updates were not assigned website release numbers. Together they established the collection, accounts and ChatGPT connection.
Collection-wide search, stock filters, sorting, pagination and private bottle detail pages made larger cabinets easier to browse. A collection summary and missing-detail review helped show what was known and what still needed attention.
Wishlist entries gained ordering, notes, optional reference links and target prices. Email invitations added Viewer or Editor access, while account settings introduced verified email changes, password management, linked sign-ins and confirmed account deletion.
Owners gained confirmed bottle deletion on the website and through ChatGPT. Current-version checks protect against deleting a bottle after it has changed, and bottles with recorded pours are retained so their tasting history is preserved.
The README and supporting guides were also updated to distinguish the live hosted application, verified features and outstanding work.
Help and About introduced the connection guide and Owen’s story behind the app. Privacy and data-deletion pages explained account information and the available deletion process.
Public website files were made readable in the hosted container, fixing a homepage loading problem. Search engines were allowed to discover public information pages, and policy pages were made accessible to provider checks while private routes remained excluded from indexing.
Early compatibility improvements made OAuth sign-in work with ChatGPT’s account and resource requests. Tool discovery was corrected to describe structured results and numeric limits in the format clients expect, with the same validation applied to direct tool actions.
Photo viewing became quicker through smaller private previews, while keeping the full stored image available when requested. Collection permissions, stored photos and gallery quality were preserved.
Each physical bottle gained up to three photo slots with captions, thumbnails, a private gallery and HEIC conversion. Owners could choose whether to include photos in public sharing, and ChatGPT gained tools to manage and view photos within the connected cabinet’s permissions.
Google and Facebook sign-in were added alongside email verification. Linking a social identity to an existing account was then strengthened to require a fresh email confirmation, so a matching email address alone could not link accounts.
The project began with its repository and the first My Bottle Collection application: separate accounts and cabinets, roles, one record per physical bottle, pour tracking, selected public sharing, verified accounts and an optional authenticated ChatGPT connection.
The foundations kept unknown quantities distinct from empty bottles and preserved each collection’s access boundaries as the app grew.
This is a readable history of the website project. The ChatGPT plugin package has its own version, separate from the website. Visit Help for how to use today’s features.