Kernel V3 and terminal-first TUI are live in Zagens v0.8.1 — one engine, desktop + terminal + CLI

Hey everyone — quick update from the Zagens team.

v0.8.1 is out. If you’ve been waiting to run a DeepSeek V4 coding agent outside a browser tab, the headline is: Kernel V3 is now the sole production turn engine, and zagens-tui ships as a first-class full-screen terminal surface on Linux, macOS, and Windows — same runtime threads and harness as the desktop app.

What’s new

Kernel V3 (event-sourced turn engine)
We replaced the legacy imperative turn loop with an append-only KernelEvent log in sessions.db, a LiveTurnMachine planner, and an EffectInterpreter that executes model calls, tool batches, steer injection, and long-horizon hooks. Session resume is log-first; CI verifies turns with golden replay fixtures instead of shadow bakes. Desktop, TUI, and headless CLI all hit the same path — no “lite” terminal fork.

zagens-tui — terminal-first agent harness
Full-screen ratatui shell with a three-column layout: sessions rail, streaming transcript (thinking + tools), and composer with slash commands (/model, /lht, /api-key). Inspector covers files, diff, checklist, sub-agents, and MCP. Collapsible long-horizon task pane, approval modal, theme presets, and session restore (zagens-tui --fresh for a clean start). First-run onboarding matches desktop (API key, task type).

Why this matters

Most agent products force a choice: GUI chat or headless CLI, often on different engines. Zagens is a desktop agent harness — completion gates, CRAFT sub-agents, exec policy, sandboxing (Windows + macOS) — meant for long-horizon code work, not one-shot Q&A.

With v0.8.x you can stay in the terminal on a remote box or SSH session and still get the same Kernel V3 loop, LHT panel, and tool approvals as the Windows desktop. Ship zagens for scripts/CI, zagens-tui for daily driving, or the Tauri desktop when you want WebView panels and embedded PTY — one sidecar, one SQLite session store, one turn engine.

Try it

• Releases: zagens-v0.8.1 — prebuilt zagens-tui + zagens for Linux / macOS / Windows

• crates.io: cargo install zagens-cli --version 0.8.1 --bin zagens-tui --features tui --locked

• Docs: AGENT_KERNEL_V3.md · README

We’d love feedback from terminal-first users — especially session restore, LHT gates, and TUI ergonomics on your daily workflow.

— Zagens team