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+# AOC v1.1.0 Release Notes
+
+**Release date:** 2026-04-20
+
+## What's new
+
+### Natural language query (`/api/ask`)
+Ask questions in plain English and get AI-generated answers backed by your audit logs.
+
+- **Regex-based parsing** extracts time ranges (`last 3 days`, `yesterday`, `today`) and entities (`device ABC123`, `user bob@example.com`) without calling an LLM — fast and deterministic.
+- **AI narrative summarisation** via any OpenAI-compatible API (OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, MS Foundry, Ollama). The LLM reads the matching events and writes a concise story for non-expert admins.
+- **Graceful fallback** when no LLM is configured — returns a structured bullet list instead of a narrative.
+- **Cited evidence** — every answer includes the raw events that back it up, so admins can verify claims.
+
+### Azure OpenAI / MS Foundry support
+- Automatic `api-key` header detection for Azure endpoints.
+- `LLM_API_VERSION` config for Azure `api-version` query parameters.
+- `max_completion_tokens` support for newer model deployments.
+
+### Production hardening
+- **Dockerfile:** runs as non-root user, uses Gunicorn + Uvicorn workers.
+- **docker-compose.prod.yml:** MongoDB is internal-only (no host port exposure), health checks on all services, nginx reverse proxy with security headers.
+- **nginx config:** gzip, security headers (`X-Frame-Options`, `X-Content-Type-Options`), ready for TLS.
+
+### Frontend
+- New **"Ask a question"** panel at the top of the page.
+- Markdown rendering for LLM answers (bold, italic, code).
+- Orange warning banner when LLM is not configured or fails.
+
+### Tests
+- 29 new tests covering ask parsing, query building, and endpoint behaviour.
+- 62 tests total, all passing.
+
+## Configuration
+
+Add to your `.env`:
+
+```bash
+# Required for AI narrative summarisation
+LLM_API_KEY=your-key
+LLM_BASE_URL=https://api.openai.com/v1
+LLM_MODEL=gpt-4o-mini
+LLM_MAX_EVENTS=50
+LLM_TIMEOUT_SECONDS=30
+LLM_API_VERSION=                 # set for Azure OpenAI, e.g. 2024-12-01-preview
+```
+
+## Upgrade notes
+
+No breaking changes. Existing `/api/events`, filters, pagination, tags, and comments work unchanged.
+
+## Docker image
+
+```
+git.cqre.net/cqrenet/aoc-backend:v1.1.0
+```