Release day: Kernel v0.16.2 and TUI/Portal v0.10.5

TL;DR — This release is about making long-lived LingTai projects harder to damage and easier to reason about. TUI/Portal v0.10.5 hardens migrations, lingtai clean, and global config writes. Kernel v0.16.2 improves summary/manual contracts, daemon/MCP propagation, and persistent messaging context. Homebrew is the normal end-user upgrade path; PyPI 0.16.2 is published as the runtime package source and verification point for project virtual environments.

What changed

TUI/Portal v0.10.5

The TUI side closes three reliability reports from the community-issue sweep:

schema-critical migrations now fail loudly instead of advancing the stored migration version after a half-applied migration;
lingtai clean now refuses to delete .lingtai/ when live or surviving agents are discoverable, or when discovery itself fails, unless the operator uses --force;
global config.json, tui_config.json, and .env writes now use atomic sibling-temp writes with fsync, rename, cleanup, and permission preservation.

The release also includes smaller operator-facing improvements: clearer Codex account labels, pool credential UI polish, first-run and recipe error surfacing, preserved preset load causes, updater already-current feedback, API-call grouping, refreshed knowledge entries, async home telemetry, network activity evidence, Ctrl+End tail-jump coverage, and removal of the Time Machine auto-launch path.

Kernel v0.16.2

The kernel release continues the work needed for long-running agents that delegate, summarize, and communicate across many surfaces:

daemon/glob results now participate in summary flows, with clearer a-priori compression metadata and docs;
info/manual signpost actions are split so runtime health and bundled manuals do not blur together;
prompt section contracts, adapt-from-evidence guidance, retention-footprint reports, and timely transient _meta filtering reduce stale or noisy context;
Kimi native MCP config, parent MCP propagation into CLI backends, Codex pool provider/preset support, and external skill intake docs make delegated work easier to reproduce;
persistent Telegram notification/reply context and the LICC notification contract reduce message-surface context loss.

Why this matters

A release flow is exactly the kind of long task LingTai should survive: lots of validation, multiple repositories, delegated drafts, platform publishing, and public copy. The fixes in this patch release aim at that same shape of work. State changes should be atomic, cleanup should be guarded, and summaries should preserve the evidence without dragging every raw log into future context.

Release-window accounting

Following the same structure as the 20260703-1 release log, this entry accounts for every issue and PR closed in the release window, not only the items that shipped as merged code. The window runs from the previous TUI/kernel releases (v0.10.4 / v0.16.1) through this paired release.

Contributors/authors represented in the window: @huangzesen, @TZZheng, @ZigongXu, @BrianLiubr, @888yzbt888, and @9s5bz2jvd2-lang.

Commit author audit: TUI/Portal v0.10.4..v0.10.5 contains 45 commits: 39 by @huangzesen, 2 by @TZZheng, and 4 daily star-count updates by @github-actions[bot]. Kernel v0.16.1..v0.16.2 contains 51 commits: 29 by @9s5bz2jvd2-lang, 20 by @huangzesen, and 2 by @TZZheng. The contributor list names human authors; the bot is documented only in the audit counts.

TUI/Portal closed PRs (20 total: 19 merged, 1 closed unmerged)

lingtai#539 (merged) — docs: route issue reporting consent through issue-report skill — @huangzesen
lingtai#538 (merged) — Remove Time Machine — @huangzesen
lingtai#541 (merged) — docs: add YAML prompt section definitions — @huangzesen
lingtai#540 (merged) — Make home telemetry asynchronous — @huangzesen
lingtai#543 (merged) — Revert TUI prompt-section YAML definitions — @huangzesen
lingtai#542 (merged) — Expand TUI network activity evidence — @TZZheng
lingtai#547 (merged) — fix(tui): refresh knowledge view entries — @huangzesen
lingtai#545 (merged) — docs: mention issue report skill in tutorial skills catalog — @huangzesen
lingtai#544 (merged) — feat(setup): add Codex pool credentials UI — @huangzesen
lingtai#550 (merged) — fix(setup): label Codex OAuth accounts — @huangzesen
lingtai#556 (merged) — fix(update): skip TUI updater when already latest — @huangzesen
lingtai#557 (merged) — fix(preset): preserve load error causes — @huangzesen
lingtai#558 (merged) — test(tui): cover ctrl+o viewport anchoring — @huangzesen
lingtai#559 (merged) — fix(firstrun): surface API key save errors — @huangzesen
lingtai#555 (merged) — Add Ctrl+End chat tail jump — @TZZheng
lingtai#554 (closed unmerged) — fix: skip brew update when TUI is already at latest version — @BrianLiubr
lingtai#560 (merged) — fix(tui): surface recipe reapply errors before launch — @huangzesen
lingtai#575 (merged) — fix(tui): show api call group separators — @huangzesen
lingtai#584 (merged) — fix: make codex account fallback filenames clearer — @huangzesen
lingtai#585 (merged) — fix: harden migrations, clean, and config writes — @huangzesen

TUI/Portal closed issues (31 total)

lingtai#472 — Issue-report protocol should support scoped standing authorizations — @ZigongXu
lingtai#546 — /knowledge 命令在 agent 运行时写入 knowledge 后不显示新条目 — @huangzesen
lingtai#548 — feat: system(start, address=xxx) API for parent agents to launch child agents — @888yzbt888
lingtai#552 — bug: /update-tui runs brew update even when TUI is already at the latest version — @BrianLiubr
lingtai#483 — Preset Load() collapses parse/permission errors into “not found” — @ZigongXu
lingtai#495 — Add TestCtrlOAnchorToBottom regression test for ctrl+o anchor fix (PR #469 follow-up) — @BrianLiubr
lingtai#509 — API key save error silently ignored in first-run wizard — @ZigongXu
lingtai#490 — TUI: recipe re-apply errors are swallowed before agent launch — @ZigongXu
lingtai#494 — TUI: agent init.json venv_path can redirect launcher to arbitrary interpreter — @ZigongXu
lingtai#511 — API key materialized in temp file persists on crash (ctrl+e editor) — @ZigongXu
lingtai#513 — Source installer uses curl|bash without checksum verification — @ZigongXu
lingtai#505 — Batch LOW findings: migration system reliability improvements (3 items) — @ZigongXu
lingtai#518 — Batch: Non-atomic writes and silently ignored errors across preset/ and fs/ packages — @ZigongXu
lingtai#485 — Security: Portal binds 0.0.0.0 with CORS * and no authentication — exposes network topology and geolocation — @ZigongXu
lingtai#503 — Migration system: no concurrency control — TUI and Portal can race on same project’s migrations — @ZigongXu
lingtai#512 — Batch LOW: 6 reliability issues in firstrun.go Update() function — @ZigongXu
lingtai#537 — Portal: Batch reliability issues — topology race, TOCTOU, unbounded reads, ipinfo.io trust — @ZigongXu
lingtai#517 — ResolveAddress has no path confinement — absolute paths and ../ escape baseDir — @ZigongXu
lingtai#484 — Security: Postman UDP receiver — unauthenticated remote file write via msgID path traversal — @ZigongXu
lingtai#486 — Security: recipe library_name path traversal can escape project root and poison skills.paths — @ZigongXu
lingtai#492 — TUI: preset.Load accepts path traversal in preset name — @ZigongXu
lingtai#515 — Path traversal via preset.Name in Save/Delete — unsanitized path component — @ZigongXu
lingtai#506 — Security: First-run wizard agent directory name not validated — path traversal via dirInput — @ZigongXu
lingtai#532 — Portal: ResolveAddress path traversal — absolute paths and ../ escape baseDir — @ZigongXu
lingtai#533 — Portal: All file readers follow symlinks — TOCTOU and information disclosure — @ZigongXu
lingtai#534 — Portal: Raw init.json fallback exposes API keys and secrets via API — @ZigongXu
lingtai#516 — copyTree follows symlinks despite documentation claiming it skips them — @ZigongXu
lingtai#535 — Portal: Error responses leak internal filesystem paths — @ZigongXu
lingtai#488 — TUI: clean can delete .lingtai/ while agents are still alive — @ZigongXu
lingtai#502 — Migration system: per-file errors silently swallowed in m028/m030/m035/m039 — partial failures silently bump version — @ZigongXu
lingtai#508 — Non-atomic writes for config.json and .env — crash can corrupt API keys — @ZigongXu

Kernel closed PRs (26 total: 20 merged, 6 closed unmerged)

lingtai-kernel#694 (closed unmerged) — fix: confine pad/email paths to working directory (#624) — @ZigongXu
lingtai-kernel#695 (closed unmerged) — daemon: preflight required inputs before scheduling — @9s5bz2jvd2-lang
lingtai-kernel#696 (merged) — docs(prompts): add prompt section contracts — @huangzesen
lingtai-kernel#697 (merged) — feat(codex): add codex-pool provider — @huangzesen
lingtai-kernel#698 (merged) — fix(daemon): allow codex-pool presets — @huangzesen
lingtai-kernel#700 (merged) — feat: add Telegram notification persistent context — @huangzesen
lingtai-kernel#704 (merged) — feat: annotate Telegram persistent context — @huangzesen
lingtai-kernel#705 (merged) — fix: trim telegram transient notification hook — @huangzesen
lingtai-kernel#706 (merged) — docs: add LICC notification contract — @huangzesen
lingtai-kernel#701 (closed unmerged) — fix(daemon): expose Codex auth lane in quota diagnostics — @9s5bz2jvd2-lang
lingtai-kernel#707 (merged) — Move email notification context to persistent lane — @huangzesen
lingtai-kernel#721 (merged) — fix(notifications): move curated IM context to persistent lane — @huangzesen
lingtai-kernel#789 (merged) — docs(skills): document external skill intake — @huangzesen
lingtai-kernel#719 (closed unmerged) — docs(notifications): document persistent Telegram/email hooks — @huangzesen
lingtai-kernel#720 (closed unmerged) — fix(notifications): move WhatsApp context to persistent lane — @huangzesen
lingtai-kernel#722 (closed unmerged) — fix(notifications): move Feishu context to persistent lane — @huangzesen
lingtai-kernel#790 (merged) — fix(daemon): propagate parent MCPs to CLI backends — @huangzesen
lingtai-kernel#791 (merged) — docs(daemon): add architecture capability contract — @huangzesen
lingtai-kernel#792 (merged) — fix(daemon): mount Kimi MCP config natively — @huangzesen
lingtai-kernel#793 (merged) — Report high-footprint retention categories — @TZZheng
lingtai-kernel#795 (merged) — docs(prompt): prefer a priori tool summaries — @huangzesen
lingtai-kernel#799 (merged) — feat(summary): report a-priori compression effect — @huangzesen
lingtai-kernel#797 (merged) — feat(tools): split info and manual signpost actions — @huangzesen
lingtai-kernel#796 (merged) — feat(tools): allow summaries for daemon and glob — @huangzesen
lingtai-kernel#800 (merged) — fix: share timely transient meta serialization — @huangzesen
lingtai-kernel#801 (merged) — docs(prompts): add adapt-from-evidence principle — @huangzesen

Kernel closed issues (15 total)

lingtai-kernel#625 — Security: Agent can self-escalate to karma/nirvana by editing own init.json — @ZigongXu
lingtai-kernel#590 — docs(i18n): molt recovery note says ‘Check email’ while sibling strings use generic ‘inbox’ — @ZigongXu
lingtai-kernel#596 — docs(i18n): system.stuck_revive message says ‘You called: {tool_calls}’ but fills it with error description — @ZigongXu
lingtai-kernel#598 — enhancement(skills): skills info returns full manual body + health snapshot while knowledge info returns health only — @ZigongXu
lingtai-kernel#676 — MailService has no resource limits: no cap on message size, attachment count, or attachment size — @ZigongXu
lingtai-kernel#677 — Batch LOW findings: MailService reliability improvements (7 items) — @ZigongXu
lingtai-kernel#614 — lingtai-telegram: getUpdates offset advanced before handler — message loss on exception — @ZigongXu
lingtai-kernel#615 — lingtai-feishu: no WebSocket reconnection logic — single network blip permanently disables inbound — @ZigongXu
lingtai-kernel#617 — lingtai-imap: watermark stalls permanently on SEARCH→FETCH race (livelock) — @ZigongXu
lingtai-kernel#668 — Batch: LOW-severity code quality findings from lifecycle.py, meta_block.py, and init.py audits — @ZigongXu
lingtai-kernel#673 — rebuild_sqlite_event_index deletes -wal/-shm and replaces DB without coordinating with concurrent doctor()/query() — @ZigongXu
lingtai-kernel#594 — Daemon deliverables have no designated output area — files pollute agent working directory root — @ZigongXu
lingtai-kernel#595 — No rate-limit coordination between parent and concurrent daemons sharing same API key — @ZigongXu
lingtai-kernel#622 — Unbounded growth: events.jsonl, chat_history_archive.jsonl, and worker_hang artifacts lack rotation/resolution — @ZigongXu
lingtai-kernel#623 — No per-tool execution timeout: hung MCP/built-in tool blocks agent indefinitely — @ZigongXu

Validation and release hygiene

Release validation ran from clean worktrees.

TUI diff check passed with the documented docs/stars/stars.csv CRLF caveat left untouched.
TUI targeted tests passed; the full TUI suite passed after rerunning the known flaky TestPortalURLTimeoutKillsChild.
Portal web build and Go tests passed.
TUI and Portal release builds completed successfully from the release candidate.
Kernel diff check, compileall, and full pytest passed (3798 passed, 4 skipped).
Kernel wheel/sdist build and twine check passed.
PyPI upload succeeded: https://pypi.org/project/lingtai/0.16.2/.
Homebrew formula v0.10.5 is published with SHA256 7510d443f59d8d571d8f4ab6431c10103fbc5fead03903fb6851f543c15b94ed; Ruby syntax check and strict formula audit passed.