Microsoft PowerToys 0.101 lands with on-device AI paste and a massive Mouse Jump rework
The v0.101.2211.0 release brings Phi Silica to Advanced Paste, finishes the WinUI migration for Mouse Jump, and tackles a mountain of Command Palette memory issues.
Microsoft PowerToys Preview v0.101.2211.0 has been released today. It's the largest feature release in the 0.101 series so far. The headline is Advanced Paste gaining an on-device AI provider backed by Microsoft's Phi Silica language model. There's no cloud API key. No data leaves your machine.
Keep in mind that Phi Silica is a Limited Access Feature. It requires the calling process to have a registered Windows package identity. Advanced Paste normally runs unpackaged, so the team solved this by adding an application entry to the sparse appx manifest and using a runtime attestation token helper. You can check readiness with a --check-phi-silica CLI flag, and --prepare-phi-silica triggers the model download.
The result is a clipboard workflow that actually understands what you're pasting. You get per-action customizations. Set a specific prompt for "summarize" and a different one for "reformat." It mirrors what you get with ChatGPT custom instructions, but running locally. It's arguably the best way to add intelligence to your clipboard without trusting a cloud provider.
The AI piece: Advanced Paste goes on-device
Phi Silica runs through Windows AI APIs built into the OS. The build also bumps Windows App SDK to stable 2.2.0 and adds Microsoft.WindowsAppSDK.AI 2.2.3. Advanced Paste gets its own independent versioning scheme. The dependency tree is cleaner too. The team removed Microsoft.Windows.Compatibility and the Common.UI force-matching DLL hack.
Advanced Paste is registered through AIServiceTypeRegistry and PasteAIProviderFactory. You can configure system prompts and coaching prompts per action. The settings UI in AdvancedPastePage.xaml lets you toggle availability and read the model status.
Next, the architectural cleanup. The release completes the migration of Mouse Jump from WinForms to WinUI 3. Michael Clayton ported the code from his upstream FancyMouse project. New assemblies MouseJump.HotKeys.dll and MouseJump.Models.dll replace the old WinForms code. The old version stays side-by-side for now, but the migration is effectively done.
The new thumbnail layout supports multiple devices. That's a prerequisite for integrating Mouse Jump with Mouse Without Borders later. CsWin32 bindings replace hand-written Win32 interop boilerplate. A new dev utility called MouseJump.Kicker helps launch the module during development.
The team ran a comprehensive test matrix covering multi-monitor DPI scaling, negative coordinates, and mouse crosshair synchronization. If you've been waiting for Mouse Jump to feel modern, it finally does.
Reliability and polish
A cluster of 15 PRs by Jiří Polášek targets Command Palette. The feature is arguably the most-used module in PowerToys. These updates focus on memory retention and responsiveness. Icons that change at runtime now restore correctly. The performance monitor dock is simplified to show CPU, RAM, and separate network bands. Network usage aggregates across adapters by default.
Memory leaks when reloading docks are addressed. Stale objects get cleaned up faster. The team fixed an SDK subscription leak where replaced commands held stale handlers. The command palette should feel snappier after long sessions.
IPC pipe hardening fixes the "another instance is running" errors you get after a crash. The named-pipe IPC server now uses FILE_FLAG_FIRST_PIPE_INSTANCE to claim ownership fast. Stale pipes from previous runs can't sneak in. Shutdown handlers are synchronized.
The Bug Report flow in Settings got a facelift. Instead of a silent 30-second wait followed by a plain message box, you get a native Win32 progress window. It shows "Generating bug report..." with a clear path to the zip file. A button opens the folder. Another button opens a prefilled GitHub issue template with the zip highlighted for drag-and-drop.
Settings also gets an Update Channel selector. The old "prerelease updates" checkbox is gone. You now choose between Stable and Insider. Insider gives you preview builds with the latest fixes. Stable keeps you on release builds. A managed-by-organization state appears if group policy controls updates.
Windows management modules got shutdown fixes too. FancyZones, Grab And Move, and Always On Top now exit cleanly during sign-out. Always On Top renders a solid border at 100% opacity instead of translucent when you set the max.
GitHub Copilot contributed the Brave Browser shortcuts manifest for Shortcut Guide. It's a small touch, but it shows the community-driven nature of the project. Contributors like Niels Laute, Gordon Lam, and Boliang Zhang wrapped up the release manager duties and maintain the pipeline.
PowerToys remains a productivity utility for power users. This release adds real AI capabilities while tightening the foundations. The WinUI migration is nearly complete. The memory leaks are squashed. Advanced Paste is no longer just a clipboard manager. It's a local AI assistant for your text.
You can download PowerToys v0.101.2211.0 from the GitHub release page. There are four installer variants available:
- Per-user x64: PowerToysUserSetup-0.101.2211.0-x64.exe
- Per-user ARM64: PowerToysUserSetup-0.101.2211.0-arm64.exe
- Machine-wide x64: PowerToysSetup-0.101.2211.0-x64.exe
- Machine-wide ARM64: PowerToysSetup-0.101.2211.0-arm64.exe
Keep in mind that Advanced Paste requires Windows 11 with the Windows AI APIs available.
