0.4.2 · Oct 7, 2026 · Release on GitHub

Kernl 0.4.2

The instance key no longer changes when Social is installed. The instance seed now always wins over the Social persona's; a seed that exists but cannot be decrypted turns peering off instead of minting a new identity. Installs whose friendships were made under the persona key keep it.
The Chief and the core system agents are always on. Deactivating or deleting the Chief, Agent Offline Monitor, Agent Factory or Data Retention is refused with a 409, and the failure breaker never pauses them.

Send text and files to Kernl friends, over the LAN, a public URL or Tor: signed offers, 8 MiB resumable parts with hashes, 24 h expiry. Social → Share has the composer and the activity; Commander gains "Send to a friend" and browses received files. Peering advertises real LAN addresses (KERNEL_LAN_URL in Docker), a port 3088 that passes only signed routes, and a manual address per friend.
Ask the AI for its opinion on an escalated question. When it agrees with an option, that option is marked recommended; otherwise it proposes its own answer.
The Workspace tab separates the agent's own files from the repo it works on.
Copy a Kernl bug's issue preview exactly as it would be published.

/projects has its own warm palette, per-project colours and initials.
The Tools menu is hidden unless Settings → General → "Show the Tools menu" is on.
Bundled themes meet WCAG AA contrast.
The terminal sign-in to Claude Code is explained step by step, and names Command Prompt on Windows.

Agents could not run on a Claude-Code-only install, as on a fresh Windows box: the executor looked for the session in ~/.claude.
Extension tools were published with an empty input schema, so agents guessed parameter names.
An agent run crossed its token budget by a whole turn, and resuming a run the budget had stopped failed on its first turn.
A woken agent could not find or acknowledge the letters it was woken for.