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release notes
What's new in Kaeru.
Kaeru is in active development. Here is what has shipped each release, in plain language — no changelog jargon, just what changed for you.
0.13.0
5 changes in this release.
Fixed
- The Files tab shows the tree again.
- Display size now scales the header, status bar, menus, dialogs and toasts, not just the middle of the window.
- Settings stopped claiming things it could not do: a switch that never restored your window, an update button that looped on Linux, a Bundle ID that was wrong, a feedback button that opened a page that does not exist, and several controls left behind by features that had been removed.
- Shortcuts reads in Japanese, and its search finds rows by the words on screen.
- Editor autocomplete writes the model id the completion engine actually reads.
0.12.0
31 changes in this release.
New
- Turning Claude Code off turns its whole layer off
- Adopt "model-visible implies logged", starting with compaction
- Tidy up a chat instead of only starting over
- Open a project from GitHub
- Say which GitHub account a project will belong to, before it does
- Give the SSH remote failure a button, not just an explanation
- Show how well each AI actually drives tools
- Count how well each route actually drives tools
- Kaeru makes the GitHub repository, instead of asking you to
- Right-click a path segment to copy or reveal it
Fixed
- The model picker was the only menu set in the largest size
- A night of controls that claimed things they could not do
- Extensions says what the current AI can actually use
- Project search ignored the folders every project shares
- Privacy mode hides the terminal's folder too
- Let the terminal say when a command ended, and the ports menu say what is live
- "Setting up" could never stop, and the demo could never run
- Say which of the two reasons Set up is asking
- A Set up button that could never clear, and "Worked" while still working
- Follow the port the dev server actually announced
- The AI log, plan-mode visibility, and two failures that cost whole turns
- Stop Plan first asking permission for every look around the project
- Make the account the control, not a link beside it
- Name the workflow-scope push failure instead of dumping git at it
- Stop a stored one-row grid from opening the drawer onto black
- Declare the dependencies that actually change
- Stop blaming the repository when the key is the problem
- Stop sending people to GitHub to do what Kaeru now does
- The thinking stream went blank, twice, for two different reasons
- Notice when what you started has stopped
- Let a project be set up again
0.11.0
50 changes in this release.
New
- A live think shows the current thought, not the whole pile
- A stopped turn names what it was interrupted doing
- A wand that sharpens the prompt before you send it
- Click your own message to edit it, once there's nothing hidden
- Editing a message restarts the chat from there, as it says it does
- Give a malformed tool call one more chance
- Let a deleted chat come back
- Let the queued messages be reordered, not just promoted
- Say a chat is getting long, where the person can see it
- Suggest things about the project that's actually open
- Tell one citation from another, without asking the network
- The thinking line moves, instead of saying "Thinking…" and stopping
- Format from the rendered view, not just the source
- Formatting buttons on selection, and open rendered first
- Map the rendered page back to its source, character by character
- Type straight into the rendered page
- Type straight into the rendered page, anywhere on it
- Offer to hand an empty preview to the agent
- Offer Set up when a project's dependencies were never installed
- Say Kaeru is a workspace, and say when a reply was cut short
- Connect a GitHub repo for real, instead of promising to later
- Say which GitHub account a project belongs to, and switch
- File icons and a match-count badge on each result group
- Highlight the term inside each result line
- Choose where dictation is transcribed
- A Share button in the preview toolbar, and an interactive story
- Put a local dev server on the internet, verified end to end
- Kaeru's own skills, and a way to write one
- Built-in dictation, so the mic works before any download
Fixed
- A resting user message is just the bubble, as the mock shows it
- A retry you stop puts the old answer back, and Enter sends an edit
- A turn you stopped says so, and still offers Retry
- Give the edit bubble the composer's controls, as the mock always had
- Make a rating you can see after you have given it
- Name the subagent in its row instead of just saying "Subagent"
- One row of actions under a reply, not two
- Rate each reply, and close the edit box by clicking away
- Stop the chat picker crashing when you delete the chat you are in
- Move the panel toggle to the end, where its twin can see it
- One size for the icons in the right-hand cluster
- Translate the screens that were still speaking English
- Give links a pointer cursor, and stop stranding their icon
- Keep Connection: Upgrade so HMR websockets work
- Rewrite Origin, so hot reload survives the proxy
- The address bar follows the page you're actually on
- Reuse an idle terminal in the project folder instead of opening its twin
- Start the dev server without throwing the terminal drawer open
- Cut the result line so the match is actually on screen
- Look as you type, and stop counting the old results
- Stop showing people raw errors as the whole message
0.10.0
10 changes in this release.
New
- In Design Mode, the element you click stays highlighted. The green outline used
Improved
- "Select" above the preview is now called "Design" — it turns on Design Mode.
- The "Plan first" banner at the top of the chat is gone. It repeated what the
Fixed
- Design Mode no longer highlights the page background when you move to the chat.
- The AI panel harness mock (`ai-panel-states`) now matches the real composer
- "Allow / Don't allow" now only appears in "Ask me first". Plan first asked
- In "Plan first", Kaeru no longer says it changed a file it only queued. Ask it
- Files the AI creates now show up in Changes straight away. A new page it
- The terminal's context chips no longer run off the edge of the pane. A long
- Removed the clock from the terminal chips.
0.9.0
17 changes in this release.
New
- Plugin commands now appear when you type `/`. Typing `/octo` said "no
- "Just build" now accepts file edits without asking. Picking it meant one
- An update button for plugins, in Settings → Extensions. Built-in plugins are
Improved
- Updating Kaeru no longer interrupts you. The "Kaeru is now on v0.8.x, see
- Plugins pinned to a particular project now say which project, instead of being
Fixed
- The terminal was being started one row tall. Every shell Kaeru opened got a
- The chat panel couldn't be scrolled when you split it in two. In a short pane
- Built-in plugins were never actually updating. Kaeru refreshed the
- The "GitHub workflow" built-in pointed at a plugin that had been renamed, so its
- The Update button in the header showed the raw text `updater.pill.update`
- Turning a plugin on or off could flip the switch on a different row for the same
- If setting up the built-in plugins fails — being offline on first launch, say —
- Switching between two projects showed the previous one's changes. The
- An edit in a project whose name merely starts the same as the open one (an
- Closing a diff you'd opened from Changes left you on an empty Files pane with the
- The `/` and `#` picker was entirely in English, including in Japanese. Its
- Keyboard selection in that picker could highlight one entry and insert another
0.8.6
8 changes in this release.
New
- Type to find a project. The switcher was a flat list, which is fine at three
- The memory popover says what happens when it fills up before it fills up, names
Improved
- Replies use the full width of the panel.
Fixed
- Kaeru was discarding what the AI had just read, far too early. On the built-in
- The chat's memory popover said "1.05M" where it meant "1M", and its status label,
- "Today's free requests" refilled at 8:00 AM in Malaysia and 9:00 AM in Japan.
- The Claude model menu can switch back to Kaeru's own AI. Choosing Claude was
- Auto no longer names the model behind it. It changes without warning, and
0.8.5
Point at your live page and say what's wrong with it, search and change the whole project, and name a branch in plain words.
New
- Design Mode — point at something in your live preview and say what should change about it. Kaeru knows which element you mean, so you don't have to describe where it is. Works on a local dev server preview.
- Find and change text across the whole project from the new Search tab (⇧⌘F). Every match shows the lines around it, you can exclude any of them, and the button says exactly how many lines in how many files it will change. One undo puts it all back.
- Start a new branch by typing its name — type “My login page” and Kaeru offers `my-login-page`, showing the real name before you click. No terminal, no `git checkout -b`.
- File paths in Kaeru's replies are clickable — `src/app/App.tsx` opens the file, and `src/app/App.tsx:42` opens it at line 42. Commands and package names stay plain text, so a click never lands somewhere unexpected.
- Archive chats you're finished with. Nothing is deleted — the conversation, its files and its undo points all stay. Chats untouched for a month file themselves away.
- Web search results come back as sources you can read, instead of a wall of text.
- Hide the panel on the right (preview / files / changes) with ⌥⌘B, the same way you hide the file list. Reopening gives back the width you had.
Improved
- The branch under the chat box is now a switcher — click it for a searchable list and pick one to switch.
- The chat box shows where your work will land — folder, branch, and a link to review what changed — on one quiet line underneath it.
- Collapsed activity in the chat leads with how long it took (“Worked for 1m 17s · 2 files, 13 commands”), counting up while the agent works.
- Save now saves the changes the panel counted, without making you tick them first — and says why it can't be pressed, in the panel rather than a tooltip.
- The project search panel is calmer: one search box, with match-case and pattern options tucked inside it and file filters folded behind “Which files?”.
Fixed
- The AI answers again. Every turn was failing before it reached the model, which looked like the AI being broken rather than one field in the wrong place.
- Keyboard shortcuts show and use ⌘ on a Mac again — every shortcut had quietly become Ctrl.
- The terminal opens. It was mounting behind a font-loading step that never finished on macOS, so ⌘J opened an empty panel.
- Suggestions as you type now appear on Tab, which is what the popup said all along.
- When Kaeru can't answer because something isn't set up yet, it names the setting to change.
- “A new version is ready” waits in the corner instead of covering the app with a box you have to dismiss.
- The history view refreshes after a pull instead of needing a reopen.
- `.jsonc` files (and `tsconfig.json`) get colours and respond to comment/uncomment.
2026-07 · Week 1
The closed-beta build: built-in AI with no API key, a calmer Settings, and Japanese across the app.
New
- Built-in AI, no account — chat, agents, and inline code suggestions run on Kaeru's own AI out of the box, with a free daily allowance and nothing to install. Sign in with Claude to use your subscription instead, or connect your own provider.
- Build and Code layouts, per space — Build puts the conversation front and centre for making things by describing them; Code keeps the terminal in focus. Toggle in the top bar.
- Claude Sonnet 5 is now available, and the new default model.
- Voice input — a mic button lets you speak instead of type, transcribed on your device with local Whisper so nothing is sent out.
- Inline suggestions in the editor complete the rest of a line as you type.
- Review changes in place — unsaved edits sit in a bar above the chat, so you can keep or undo each file, or all at once.
- Clickable folder and branch in the terminal prompt — jump into a subfolder or switch branches without typing the command.
- Kaeru reads your existing CLAUDE.md project memory alongside KAERU.md, so Claude Code projects work with zero setup.
- An Update button appears in the top bar when a new version is ready, with a “What's new” note after updating.
- Find and replace in the open file — one match or all, with a single undo.
- Optional, anonymous usage stats — only that a feature was used, never your code, files, or prompts. EU-hosted, no accounts, off any time.
Improved
- Settings, redesigned — a grouped sidebar (Workspace / AI / System) instead of a nine-tab strip, in plain language and fully translated.
- Settings, Models is now Settings, AI — choose whether Kaeru's own AI or Claude answers you.
- Tool approval cards speak plainly — “Kaeru wants to edit a file”, with Allow / Don't allow / Always allow — instead of developer tool names.
- The code editor shows plain-language messages instead of raw errors, and calm cards for binary or oversized files.
- Deleting a file now moves it to the system Trash, so it can always be restored.
- Japanese now covers the tab bar, file explorer, project switcher, command palette, and notifications.
- “Check for changes” now asks GitHub before telling you whether anything is new.
- Accent colours are darker in light mode, so tinted labels are easy to read.
Fixed
- Opening a Markdown or previewed file no longer shows “No folder open”.
- Opening a file now reveals it in the explorer, expanding collapsed folders (Windows paths too).
- The web preview no longer leaves a white gap after the pane is resized.
- The AI panel now opens from every entry point — shortcut, command palette, Attach to Agent, and Ask AI about a selection.
- Faster startup — the AI stack no longer loads before the first window paints.
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