Kendr Optimizer v0.1.4 (pre-alpha)

Kendr Optimizer v0.1.4

This pre-alpha release adds a read-only terminal dashboard and strengthens the
public documentation and release evidence around the existing CLI. It does not
replace the frozen benchmark bundle with a fresh v0.1.4 optimizer evaluation.

Saffron terminal dashboard

• kendr-opt dashboard opens the dashboard; kendr-opt tui is a visible alias.
• Five panels cover Quick start, Commands, Harnesses, Updates, and Trust. Use
  Left/Right or Tab/BackTab to change panels, Up/Down or j/k to scroll, ?
  for help, and q or Escape to exit. The layout adapts to small terminals and
  asks for a resize when there is not enough room to present panel content.
• Running kendr-opt without a subcommand opens the dashboard only when both
  standard input and standard output are terminals. In a non-interactive
  context it prints long help and exits successfully. Asking explicitly for the
  dashboard without a terminal fails with a clear error.
• Alternate-screen and raw-terminal mode are confined to the dashboard and are
  restored on exit. kendr-opt run and the hosted CLI are never wrapped by the
  dashboard.
• Human-only setup, setup --list, runtime-error, and dashboard output uses
  Kendr saffron (#E2712A) on Kendr ink (#2B2925), with deep saffron
  (#B8551A) borders, when the relevant stream supports it. Labels remain
  meaningful without color; NO_COLOR selects a plain dashboard, while
  TERM=dumb disables the dashboard and selects plain output for other
  commands.
• JSON and other machine-readable output, update JSON, --version, child
  harness streams, and non-terminal service logs are never decorated. serve
  logs are written to standard error.

The dashboard is an informational guide, not an interactive configurator. It
does not install or update anything, call a provider, modify configuration, or
perform network requests.

Reference and downloadable whitepaper

The repository now carries a standalone CLI reference
for command behavior, outputs, environment controls, and automation boundaries.
The generated publication view of the technical whitepaper is also available
directly from this release as
kendr-optimizer-verification-gated-token-reduction-whitepaper.pdf.

The v0.1.4 release contains 16 assets. SHA256SUMS covers the other 15 assets,
including the PDF, and publication checks require those checksums to agree with
GitHub's recorded SHA-256 digests. CI checks that the release PDF is byte-for-byte
identical to the repository's canonical generated PDF and that its embedded
source digest agrees with the Markdown whitepaper. The
Markdown remains the authoritative source; the PDF is a generated publication
view.

Update and compatibility continuity

The default installer records the preview update channel, so an eligible
v0.1.3 installation can discover this prerelease with kendr-opt update --check
and install it with kendr-opt update. The stable channel deliberately ignores
pre-alpha prereleases. The published v0.1.2 executable still predates the updater
and must first be bootstrapped with a later official installer.

Host compatibility remains bounded by the explicit upstream versions and
commits in the compatibility ledger. The current
ledger was last audited on 2026-08-07, and its recorded verification run is dated
2026-08-08 with 59 tests. This release does not turn those bounded observations
into a claim of universal or future host compatibility.

Security and evidence limits

Normal optimization remains local and the core crates remain network-free. The
dashboard performs no network action. An explicit or passive update check sends
only repository and release requests to GitHub; release assets are downloaded
only for an explicit installation. Kendr does not send prompts, tool results,
recovery data, provider settings or credentials, or traffic to Kendr.org.
GitHub and its asset delivery network can still observe the client's IP address,
request timing, and version-bearing user agent.

GitHub release immutability, SHA256SUMS, GitHub-recorded digests, and the PDF
source-identity check detect corruption or publication drift within the GitHub
trust boundary. They do not independently authenticate the publisher. The
release is not protected by a maintainer signature, Sigstore identity, or
operating-system code signature; compromise of the GitHub organization,
workflow, or initial upload remains a supply-chain risk.

Updater replacement still requires the eligible immutable release, exact asset
set, checksum, archive, candidate-smoke, receipt, anti-downgrade, and
post-install validation gates documented for v0.1.3. Backup-backed rollback is
not a journaled, power-loss-safe transaction. Package-manager-owned binaries
should continue to be updated through their package manager, and bundled
adapters are refreshed by the next kendr-opt setup or kendr-opt run.

The optimizer ranking and per-case results remain the frozen
v0.1.0-benchmark.5 evidence. They are not a fresh v0.1.4 benchmark and should
not be read as proof of broad model non-inferiority or guaranteed savings on a
new workload.

Kendr Optimizer v0.1.3 (pre-alpha)

Kendr Optimizer v0.1.3

This pre-alpha release adds a guarded self-update path so an official Kendr CLI
installation can discover and install later releases without another manual
bootstrap.

Update workflow

• kendr-opt update --check reports whether the newest published channel
  release passes the metadata eligibility gates without downloading its
  archive or changing the executable.
• kendr-opt update installs that release only after every gate passes; it does
  not silently fall back past a newer mutable or incomplete release. Both
  commands support --json for a kendr.update/v1 result and
  --channel stable|preview for explicit channel selection.
• Official installers record the preview channel in
  .kendr-opt-install.json. The adjacent receipt records the repository,
  platform target, installed version, and channel.
• kendr-opt update --reinstall re-verifies and reinstalls the same eligible
  version for repair and release smoke testing. It cannot downgrade the CLI.
• Interactive kendr-opt setup and kendr-opt run can print one cached update
  notice to stderr. They do not check when stderr lacks a terminal or during CI;
  KENDR_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1 disables passive checks.

The published v0.1.2 executable does not contain the updater. Install v0.1.3
once with the v0.1.3 installer from GitHub Releases. Later official releases can
then be installed with kendr-opt update.

An older same-name Kendr OpenClaw adapter is now migrated automatically during
setup. Kendr still refuses to replace an unmanaged adapter or another occupant
of OpenClaw's exclusive context-engine slot unless the operator supplies
--force.

Verification and replacement boundary

The production updater is pinned to the public Kendr-AI/Kendr-Optimizer
repository identity. A candidate must be a published, non-draft GitHub Release
reported as immutable and eligible for the selected semantic-version channel.
Before replacement, Kendr:

1. requires the current platform archive and SHA256SUMS assets with bounded
   sizes and GitHub-recorded SHA-256 digests;
2. requires the checksum manifest to cover the exact release asset set and to
   agree with every GitHub digest;
3. validates the exact seven-member archive layout, paths, file types,
   permissions, and per-member limits, then extracts only the binary;
4. runs bounded --version and engines --compact smoke tests against the
   candidate;
5. fetches the release again and rejects a changed release fingerprint; and
6. backs up the installed executable, replaces it, repeats the smoke tests,
   writes the updated receipt, and restores the backup if validation fails.

Normal replacement requires a matching official install receipt. --force
can authorize a deliberately copied standalone executable, but it does not
bypass repository identity, channel, immutability, checksum, archive, smoke, or
anti-downgrade checks. Package-manager-owned binaries should continue to be
updated through their package manager.

Security limits

Normal optimization remains local and the core crates remain network-free. An
explicit or passive update check sends only repository/release requests to
GitHub; asset downloads occur only for an explicit install. Kendr does not send
prompts, tool results, recovery data, model/provider settings, provider credentials, or
traffic to Kendr.org. GitHub and its asset delivery network can still observe
the client's IP address, request timing, and version-bearing user agent.

GitHub release immutability and the two agreeing SHA-256 records detect
corruption and post-publication release changes within the GitHub trust
boundary. They do not authenticate the original publisher independently. The
release is not yet protected by a maintainer signature, Sigstore identity, or
operating-system code signature, so compromise of the GitHub organization,
release workflow, or initial upload remains a supply-chain risk.

Backup-backed rollback covers detected replacement and post-install validation
failures. It is not a journaled, power-loss-safe transaction; a machine or
kernel failure during replacement can still require a manual reinstall.

The updater changes the running native CLI and its adjacent install receipt,
and retains an empty sibling .kendr-opt-update.lock for cross-process update
serialization. Bundled adapters are refreshed by the next kendr-opt setup or
kendr-opt run.

Kendr Optimizer v0.1.2 (pre-alpha)

Kendr Optimizer v0.1.2

This pre-alpha release makes supported harness integrations installable without
publishing Kendr packages to npm or PyPI.

• kendr-opt setup detects and configures installed OpenCode, Claude Code, Pi,
  OpenClaw, and Hermes harnesses using adapter code shipped in the native CLI.
• kendr-opt run <harness> starts the local optimizer, launches the harness,
  and cleans up the service on exit.
• GitHub Release assets include the five Node adapter tarballs, a Hermes wheel,
  and the guarded NanoClaw skill archive for manual and managed deployments.
• OpenCode receives a dependency-free local plugin bundle; provider credentials,
  model selection, routing, and billing remain entirely inside the host CLI.
• The README includes a Claude Code install-to-execution walkthrough. Its
  69.41% figure is a workload-specific local preflight estimate, not provider
  billing or whole-session savings.

The binaries are checksum-protected but are not yet OS code-signed. OpenAI's
coding CLI is not presented as supported because it does not currently expose
the required pre-dispatch context replacement hook.

Kendr Optimizer v0.1.1 (pre-alpha)

Kendr Optimizer v0.1.1

This pre-alpha release adds build-free installation of the kendr-opt CLI.

• Native archives are provided for Windows x64, Linux x64/ARM64, and macOS
  Intel/Apple Silicon.
• The PowerShell and POSIX installers verify SHA-256 checksums and smoke-test
  the downloaded binary before replacing an existing installation.
• Each archive includes the project license, notice, README, and generated
  Cargo-dependency and Rust standard-library license notices.
• SHA256SUMS covers every downloadable archive and installer. These binaries
  are checksummed but are not yet OS code-signed.

The project remains pre-alpha. Review the documented security and deployment
limits before using the local service beyond controlled development.

Kendr Optimizer v0.1.0 (pre-alpha)

Kendr Optimizer v0.1.0 is the first source release. It remains explicitly pre-alpha.

Highlights

• Provider-neutral kendr.optimize/v1 contracts, verification-gated optimization, receipts, recovery, CLI, and loopback transform service.
• Nine native engines plus audited integrations for Claude Code, Claude Channels, Pi, OpenCode, Hermes Agent, OpenClaw, and NanoClaw.
• Reproducible preservation-gated benchmark evidence and a publication whitepaper.
• Generation-policy token arithmetic now handles the full unsigned range without wrapping or bypassing configured thresholds.
• Runtime request decoding now enforces the strict fields and object boundaries declared by the published JSON Schema.
• Canonical repository/package metadata and tag-triggered release validation are in place.

Validation

The exact tagged commit cddde880ae9265e6066fd4c5a9ea2d1d2afef148 passed the complete v0.1.0 GitHub Actions run: Rust format, Clippy, tests, benchmark integrity/rankings, documentation build, repository hygiene, five Node adapters, Hermes, NanoClaw, packaging legal-file checks, and release metadata.

Release posture

This is a source-only pre-release. GitHub supplies the source archives. No crates.io, npm, PyPI, signed binary, or container publication is implied. The APIs remain pre-alpha, and this release does not claim broad downstream non-inferiority or provider-verified savings.

See the changelog, technical whitepaper, publication PDF, and benchmark evidence.