Meltano

✨ New

- [7105](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7105) Support `meltano init` in a non-empty dir
- [7115](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7115) Allow top-level annotations in `meltano.yml`
- [7123](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7123) Optionally ignore missing env vars during expansion

🐛 Fixes

- [7145](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7145) Setting nested setting key no longer clears sibling keys
- [7120](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7120) Support str values when deep-merging config
- [7144](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7144) Check system database version compatibility before migrations

⚙️ Under the Hood

- [7069](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7069) Use a custom build backend

📚 Documentation Improvements

- [7139](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7139) Add Airbyte Source Connector FAQ
- [7140](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7140) Remove references to deprecated `MELTANO_CLI_*` aliases

🐛 Fixes

- [7093](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7093) Add missing description to environment context schema
- [7084](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7084) Display better errors when failing to connect with the Hub API
- [7078](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7078) Remove explicit aliases for S3 state backend

⚡ Performance Improvements

- [7091](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7091) Compile env var pattern only once

📚 Documentation Improvements

- [7089](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7089) Fix typo `tap-postgres` -> `postgres` -- _**Thanks visch!**_
- [7090](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7090) Fix config name for poetry -- _**Thanks adherr!**_
- [7088](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7088) Update banner copy & cta

🐛 Fixes

- [7057](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7057) Ensure `environment_name_hash` is collected
- [7064](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7064) Misc `meltano.yml` schema fixes

✨ New

- [7019](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7019) Support env vars in plugin `pip_url`
- [6995](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/6995) `meltano install --force`

🐛 Fixes

- [6873](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/6873) Correct migration downgrade for 2.7.1 release
- [7026](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7026) Permit `env` under plugins in `meltano.yml` schema
- [7022](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7022) Pin `setuptools==57.5.0` in plugin venvs
- [7017](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7017) Remove premature deserialization of settings in the CLI
- [7010](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7010) Re-create plugin venv if Python executable is missing
- [6997](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/6997) Correct meltano config behavior when explicit environment is provided
- [6986](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/6986) List strings instead of enum objects as CLI options

📚 Documentation Improvements

- [7046](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7046) Fix internal links and `meltano config` example code block in state backends page
- [7041](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7041) Expand UI deprecation description -- _**Thanks qbatten!**_
- [7044](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7044) Add star donation blurb to readme
- [7043](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7043) Add december campaign banner
- [7030](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7030) Env var expansion within `pip_url`
- [7035](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7035) Update custom extractor Poetry instructions -- _**Thanks EMCP!**_
- [7014](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7014) Add more project links to PyPI page
- [7012](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7012) Complete list of commands that run with environment flag
- [7002](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/7002) Add docs for state backend migration

✨ New

- [6911](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/6911) Remote state backends

🐛 Fixes

- [6971](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/6971) Correct strict_env_var_mode flag check in plugin configs
- [6935](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/6935) Persist `description` and `logo_url` to plugin lock files -- _**Thanks DanielPDWalker!**_

📚 Documentation Improvements

- [6984](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/6984) Fix tap-github
- [6955](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/6955) Remove UI docs
- [6977](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/6977) Link to Meltano Cloud from Production doc

✨ New

- [6964](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/6964) Add `--cwd` CLI option
- [6785](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/6785) Use `NO_COLOR` env var to disable colored output
- [6628](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/6628) Make `.meltano` folder path configurable via new `MELTANO_SYS_DIR_ROOT` env var -- _**Thanks rawwar!**_

🐛 Fixes

- [6938](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/6938) Handle case where setting metadata is `None`
- [6468](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/6468) Symbolic link creation for meltano.exe when on windows -- _**Thanks BuzzCutNorman!**_

📚 Documentation Improvements

- [6961](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/6961) Fix typo "differe" -> "different" -- _**Thanks kayakr!**_
- [6948](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/6948) Add additional plugin definition ref entries -- _**Thanks pandemicsyn!**_
- [6951](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/6951) Reindent code block -- _**Thanks jx2lee!**_
- [6887](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/6887) Exclude little t from docs
- [6923](https://github.com/meltano/meltano/issues/6923) Make clear you can override `executable` in `commands`