This is a hotfix release for v0.9.2. See the v0.9.2 notes for the full feature release: https://github.com/herdrdev/herdr/releases/tag/v0.9.2

Fixed

• Terminal shortcuts that send Escape followed by a key work again in panes. On macOS, Option+Left/Right and Option+Backspace from Ghostty's defaults or iTerm2's Natural Text Editing preset move and delete by word again, instead of typing b and f or deleting one character. Escape-based Shift+Enter bindings insert a newline in Claude Code instead of submitting. Clicking a pane still doesn't send a stray Escape. (#4751)
• Alt+[ followed quickly by another key no longer merges into a different key. (#4751)

Breaking Changes

• The Herdr-specific pane graphics API is gone. pane.graphics.info, set, clear, and stream now return unknown_method. Apps show images by writing standard Kitty graphics to their terminal, which Herdr renders natively. (#4561)

Added

• Agents can report their own resume command. Herdr then reopens their exact session after a server restart, with no built-in integration needed. Self-reported agents are also cleared once their pane is back at an idle shell. The new Add Herdr support to your agent guide covers state, resume, and release for agent authors. (#4687)
• Use more than one prefix key: prefix = ["ctrl+space", "ctrl+s"]. Every entry enters the same prefix mode, and prefix+? lists them all. (#4653, thanks @JJLiebig)
• Go To shows every agent and terminal as its own row, grouped by workspace, with its status and path. Left and Right jump between workspaces. (#4384)
• Bind keys.clear_pane to clear the focused pane's screen and scrollback while keeping the current prompt line. It is unbound by default and leaves full-screen apps such as Vim alone. (#4383)
• herdr machine status checks saved machines without prompting. herdr machine reconnect finishes SSH authentication, including MFA, in your terminal. Open clients recheck failed machines every 30 seconds, so no restart is needed after fixing a connection. (#3763)
• Interactive machine add finds the Herdr sessions already running on the host and lets you pick one. --label is optional; the machine is named after its SSH host. (#4204, #4678, thanks @JJLiebig and @dhh)
• terminal session control accepts terminal.mouse events, so bridge clients can click buttons in apps that enable mouse reporting. (#4685)
• Restored agents start one at a time, 100 ms apart by default, instead of all at once. Change the spacing with [session] startup_per_agent_delay_ms. (#4102, thanks @JJLiebig)

Changed

• Images render faster and more reliably. Local Ghostty receives image data through temporary files instead of terminal output. Popups and notifications crop images around themselves instead of hiding them. Images that scroll out of view stay loaded, so scrolling back no longer resends them. (#4561, #4652, #4686)
• SSH connections request compression. On slow links, remote panes catch up after scrolling in a fraction of the time. (#4340)
• Scrolling output on saved machines sends only the rows that changed, cutting bandwidth for build logs and streaming agents. Older clients and servers keep working with the previous format. (#4711)
• New panes set TERM_PROGRAM=herdr and TERM_PROGRAM_VERSION. They no longer inherit terminal session IDs, such as iTerm2's, or Claude Code session markers from the terminal that started the server. (#4104)
• Windows panes default to PowerShell 7 (pwsh) when it is installed, falling back to Windows PowerShell. An explicit default_shell still wins. (#4297, thanks @JJLiebig)
• Closing the last tab of a workspace now asks for confirmation. (#4379, #4409, thanks @minatoaquaMK2)
• Event subscriptions deliver bursts in full. A reader that falls too far behind now gets an events_lost error instead of silently skipping events. (#4178, #4225, thanks @minatoaquaMK2)
• On Unix, sending SIGWINCH to a Herdr client re-reads the host terminal's colors, so theme switchers that change colors without a light/dark notification can refresh panes. (#4349, thanks @dhh)

Fixed

• Saved layouts survive host shutdown and failed restores. On Linux with logind, Herdr saves before the system shuts down. Every platform keeps up to 48 layout snapshots in session-snapshots/ for manual recovery. (#4320)
• Clicking a pane no longer sends a stray Escape that interrupts a working agent. (#3480)
• An agent's first task now counts as done, even when it started with a prompt. Startup, restored sessions, and Pi's /new no longer fire false done notifications. Hook-reported status survives live handoff. (#3338, #3990, #3916)
• The server uses far less CPU with many populated panes. The navigator, pane splits, and named targets stay fast in large sessions, and bursts of external events no longer stall rendering. (#4506, #4546, #4426, #4669, #4670, #4671, #4672, thanks @JJLiebig and @minatoaquaMK2)
• Apps that use synchronized output no longer show torn frames while you type. The cursor no longer flickers during status redraws or jumps around an idle Codex on Windows. (#2968, #4303, thanks @JJLiebig)
• The API socket keeps accepting connections after a transient error, so CLI commands and live handoff no longer fail while the server keeps running. (#4601)
• Slow Git operations during worktree lookups no longer freeze typing. (#4492, thanks @JJLiebig)
• worktree open no longer takes over the repository's own workspace, so removing the worktree no longer closes it. (#4293)
• Forwarded SSH agents keep working in remote panes after a reconnect. Repeated --machine commands open far fewer SSH connections. (#1931, #4252)
• OpenCode V1 panes stay working or blocked while their subagents run. An existing registration in tui.json is respected instead of regenerating tui.jsonc. (#1362, #4240)
• Codex is no longer reported idle during active output, its mention popups are recognized, and remapped interrupt keys no longer break detection. (#4507, #4196, thanks @JJLiebig and @unmanbearpig)
• Kiro approval prompts are reported as blocked. Grok idle panes settle with custom or disabled OSC titles. (#4203, #4372, #4333, thanks @vinayshah1998)
• Droid's scrollback clears are honored, so its welcome header and old transcript no longer repeat. (#4432, thanks @factory-ain3sh)
• Copy mode stays active while output continues and a movement key is held. (#3812, #4281, thanks @marcomayer)
• Ctrl+Shift+letter keeps Shift in panes that have not enabled enhanced keyboard input, so Ctrl+Shift+C no longer arrives as Ctrl+C. (#4581, #4597, thanks @factory-ain3sh)
• Mouse reports split across reads no longer leak into the shell after a focus switch over SSH. (#4630)
• Windows: multi-line pastes into Claude Code no longer submit at the first newline, and Shift+Enter is preserved. Mouse capture survives focus changes and resizes, Ctrl+Win no longer opens prefix mode with a ctrl+space prefix, and remote clipboard image paste works again. (#4251, #4284, #4470, #4314, thanks @JJLiebig)
• Windows: npm-installed OMP and agents launched through hardened runtimes are detected. machine add against a Windows host no longer fails as "not ready for saved machines." (#4313, #4579, #4309, thanks @JJLiebig)
• The navigate-mode workspace highlight is visible with theme = "terminal". Session navigator search matches words independently. The sidebar reveals agents selected by cycling or shortcuts. (#4300, #4408, #4273, #4535, #4355, thanks @minatoaquaMK2)
• session attach without a terminal explains the problem instead of leaving a new session running. (#4393)
• Socket error responses keep the original request ID, including subscription setup errors. (#4344)
• plugin install accepts options before the repository. (#4446)
• Windows panes pick up the host terminal's light or dark colors from the start, so apps no longer default to dark mode inside a light terminal. (#1530, #4369)
• After herdr update, Herdr lists which running servers are still on the old version, with the exact commands to restart each one, and reminds you to update your saved SSH machines.

Preview build 2026-09-29-9dc3a1df2b56

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Preview build 2026-09-29-8e78f929d8f0

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Preview build 2026-09-28-80c0c07250d2

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Preview build 2026-09-21-0ff0f27e2226

View changes

Added

• Control agents, panes, workspaces, and worktrees on saved SSH machines with herdr --machine <label-or-id>. Commands use the saved machine's session without needing an open Herdr window. Update Herdr on both machines to use CLI forwarding; failed remote commands never fall back to Local. (#3918)
• Connect to Windows SSH hosts from Linux, macOS, or Windows. Interactive setup can install or update the complete Windows package after confirmation; background reconnects never install updates. (#3651, #3701, #3661, #3687, thanks @JJLiebig)
• Edit names, filters, and search text at the cursor instead of only at the end. Herdr inputs now support character and word movement, Home/End, deletion, and familiar Ctrl+A/E/K/U/W/Y shortcuts, including Unicode text. (#1803, #3698, thanks @markjaquith)
• Added Letta Code detection and native conversation restore, including default conversations. Its experimental integration is installed through herdr integration install letta, not the Settings integration list or JSON integration API. (#3106, #3107, thanks @just-cameron)
• Hold Ctrl over a link to highlight it before opening it. Wrapped URLs and OSC 8 links remain clickable even when their beginning or end is outside the viewport. (#1282)
• Sidebar token rules can now hide matching tokens and their separators with hide = true; rows disappear when no tokens remain. (#3925)

Changed

• Workspace keyboard navigation now spans connected machines in sidebar order, with a visible highlight before Enter switches machines. Collapsed machine and worktree groups remain navigable without accidentally sending actions to the wrong machine. (#3754)
• Experimental live handoff can now transfer more than 64 panes when the sending server includes this update. An older running server still has its old limit for the first upgrade; this does not change update installation order or make live handoff non-experimental. (#3393, #3411, thanks @kataokatsuki)
• On Linux and macOS, terminal observers that stop accepting output are disconnected after 30 seconds without write progress. Their pane and other clients keep running; an interrupted stream may end without a final close record. (#3612)
• Windows terminal cleanup now explicitly resets mouse-reporting modes. The remaining standalone Git Bash detach report in #3748 is still under investigation; do not treat this release as a confirmed fix for that report. (#4055, thanks @JJLiebig)

Fixed

• Remote typing, switching, and popup interaction no longer resend the entire pane screen for small changes. Busy SSH sessions use less bandwidth, and idle attached clients avoid unnecessary redraw work. (#3769, #3745, #3822)
• A stalled SSH machine no longer traps the client away from Local. Clicking a local workspace or agent cancels the unfinished remote switch, and a recovered remote workspace refreshes without an away-and-back selection. Stale screens from before a reconnect are not reused. (#3903, #3842)
• Idle SSH connections use less CPU without losing final output. Repeated connection failures back off instead of reconnecting rapidly, and supported idle bridges clean up without stopping remote panes. (#3728, #4083)
• Large pastes no longer disconnect the client with an output-queue error. (#3833)
• SSH setup now shows authentication instructions and useful errors, including Tailscale login URLs and host-key failures, rather than appearing to hang or only reporting a lost connection. machine add also accepts options before the SSH target. (#3606, #3731, #3883)
• Machine and worktree groups collapse correctly without changing the selected workspace. The sidebar respects workspace row gaps, stays stable during resizing, and reveals newly focused workspaces. (#3778, #3738, #3817)
• The agent list keeps its scroll position when switching machines. Current-workspace and current-tab filters distinguish identical IDs on different machines. (#3937, #4101, #3732, thanks @minatoaquaMK2)
• Background machine activation no longer resizes another client's focused pane. Window titles follow each client's own view rather than another client's selection. (#3744, #4091, #4130, thanks @JJLiebig)
• agent focus and pane move --focus now move attached clients to the requested pane. Moving without focus no longer leaves a client following a deleted tab or later unrelated focus changes. (#3760, #4153, #4171, thanks @minatoaquaMK2)
• Creating a worktree focuses its new workspace again. Partially failed worktree removals can be retried, and worktrees with submodules offer an explicit forced-removal choice rather than failing without a recovery action. (#3766, #3314, #1797)
• Temporary worktree-action error banners expire instead of remaining on screen indefinitely. (#1827, #4063, thanks @JJLiebig)
• The last tab remains fully visible when the tab strip overflows, and the session navigator once again draws connected tree branches. (#4151, #3843)
• Muted sidebar and tab labels remain readable on dark themes, including Windows Terminal. (#2692, #4062, thanks @JJLiebig)
• Mouse drag and copy-mode selections stay active while output continues, even when part of the selection is outside the viewport. Copying uses the current text in the selected range. Selection repainting also avoids building up a backlog of mouse movements. (#3841, #3895)
• Double-click selections remain visible with automatic copy disabled. Holding the second click and dragging extends by whole words, and token selection stops at CJK punctuation. Host selection colors remain visible on transparent backgrounds. (#3847, #1836, #3706, #3798)
• Scrolling no longer combines mismatched terminal snapshots or leaves stale wrapped rows in fullscreen applications such as Neovim. Alternate-screen history reads preserve content across changing headers and scrollbars. (#3900, #3329, #3979)
• Local Kitty graphics keep their direct transport after the first image. Popups and notifications hide only overlapping image placements; uncovered images remain visible. (#3785, #4081)
• Pixel mouse coordinates work independently of image rendering and use the terminal's integer cell size, preventing clicks from drifting across the screen. (#3295, #4140, thanks @JJLiebig)
• Function keys F1–F12 are recognized in Kitty keyboard reports, and F1–F4 also work with parameterized reports from terminals such as foot. (#1809, #2378, #4067, thanks @ashokDevs and @JJLiebig)
• WezTerm control-key reports now preserve Enter, Backspace, Tab, and Escape. Cmd/Super-modified input reaches pane applications with its modifier intact. Modified Enter stays compatible with panes that have not requested enhanced key encoding. (#3589, #3710, #4103, #4110, thanks @minatoaquaMK2)
• Mouse reports split across delayed reads no longer leak their trailing bytes into pane input. Clients reassert mouse reporting after terminal reconnects. (#3911, #4079, thanks @JJLiebig)
• Saved sessions that cannot be loaded are preserved before replacement, rather than silently overwritten. Recovery copies are kept in session-backups/; failed preservation leaves the original untouched. (#4125)
• Deleting a session now requires its exact name, including case, on case-insensitive filesystems. Names beginning with a hyphen can be passed after --. (#3819, #4233, #3220, thanks @minatoaquaMK2)
• Newly started macOS servers retain access to user lookup and DNS across logout. Existing affected servers need a full session restart; live handoff cannot repair their inherited service context. (#4100)
• Linux process discovery stays responsive around stuck WSL agents and avoids repeatedly scanning an ever-growing process tree. (#2179, #3621, #3674, thanks @dark2momo and @caner-akca)
• Linux desktop notifications identify Herdr as their source. (#3638)
• pane split without a target now splits the calling pane when invoked inside Herdr, rather than another client's focused pane. Explicit targets keep their existing behavior. (#4123)
• Live agent names survive temporary process-detection uncertainty instead of leaving an active agent unreachable by name. (#3225, #3574, thanks @caner-akca)
• Windows Codex prompts reliably submit after pasted text instead of losing Enter, including long prompts. (#3187, #3961, thanks @JJLiebig)
• OpenCode V2 reports lifecycle state from the pane displaying the conversation, so shared servers do not mix up panes. Completed and interrupted turns return to idle, while pending permissions, forms, and failed executions remain blocked. V1 remains supported; restart OpenCode after installing the updated integration. (#3757, thanks @markjaquith)
• Codex stays working with static titles, animations disabled, and queued follow-ups. Composer sparkles and old confirmation text no longer make an idle pane appear blocked. (#4092, #4099, #3988, thanks @minatoaquaMK2)
• Claude Code's Unicode activity spinner and Pi's working border are recognized correctly. Cline launcher detection and idle-state reporting are more reliable. (#3949, #3629, #2396)
• Pi records native session paths on Windows. Nested OMP processes no longer replace the parent pane's resumable session, and Windows Kimi npm shims are recognized. (#3726, #2593, #3994, #3317, #4053, thanks @JJLiebig)
• Grok updates its restore reference after /new, and its imported Claude-compatible hooks no longer overwrite that reference. Reinstall the Claude integration to adopt the narrower hook matching. (#2681, #4018)
• Integration configuration updates preserve existing files when writes fail. Hermes installation also preserves valid YAML when enabled plugins use an inline list. (#3970, #3839, #4056, thanks @JJLiebig)
• Plugin registry writes preserve symlinks. Plugins keep using the running server's compatible binary after a client-only update, and manual pane navigation emits focus events again. (#3922, #3824, #4077)
• Config files containing a UTF-8 BOM load and save correctly. The default config places ui.accent in the right table. (#3678, #39...

Preview build 2026-09-16-2c29fb29e302

View changes

Added

• Manage Local and saved SSH machines from one Herdr window, with a combined agent list, machine-scoped navigation, notifications, and automatic reconnects. Add and manage connections with herdr machine; a disconnected machine does not interrupt the others. (#3670)
• Multiple clients can now view different workspaces and tabs independently. Different tabs fit their viewing clients; when clients share a tab, the last one to interact with it controls its size. (#3526)
• Added Muse agent detection for idle, working, approval, and question states. (#2489, thanks @ohk)
• Sidebar text and metadata tokens can now change color, boldness, and dimming based on their values, using ordered text or numeric rules. (#3693)
• Custom themes can now define separate light and dark color overrides when automatic theme switching is enabled. (#2324, thanks @aneym)
• ui.pane_borders = "always" can now frame a single pane when outer borders are enabled. "auto" keeps split-only borders, "off" hides them, and existing boolean values keep working. (#3234, thanks @rsmdt)

Changed

• Client updates can now leave compatible servers and their running agents untouched. Missing server features disable only the affected action instead of preventing connection. Servers older than endpoint generation 1 need a one-time upgrade. Replacing a remote server asks before stopping its pane processes, with No as the default answer; experimental handoff remains opt-in. (#3509)
• The terminal UI now runs in each client, reducing redraw work in busy multi-client sessions and keeping themes, menus, copy mode, and other presentation settings local to the viewing machine. (#3487)
• Idle terminal scrollback now uses less memory without reducing retained history or changing reads and resizing. (#3556)
• Pane images and the graphics API are now enabled by default in compatible terminals. Set terminal.kitty_graphics = false to disable them; the old experimental.kitty_graphics setting remains accepted.
• Closing a primary workspace with open worktree workspaces now requires explicit group intent: workspace close --group or workspace.close with close_group: true. Otherwise the whole group stays open. (#2874)
• New lifecycle event subscriptions now start with live events rather than replaying retained history. API clients should subscribe before taking their initial snapshot to avoid missing changes. (#1270)

Fixed

• Mouse selections now stay visible and copyable while terminal output continues, including with automatic copying disabled. Ctrl+C and Cmd+C copy a selection even before a delayed mouse release, and a failed copy no longer interrupts the agent. Selection highlights also remain visible when host colors are unavailable. (#3100, #2708, #3684, thanks @moret and @Pimpmuckl)
• Wayland clipboard copies no longer freeze Herdr while wl-copy serves the selection. (#3014)
• Live handoff now preserves mouse forwarding for running pane applications. (#3000, thanks @xkrogen)
• Interrupted pane exits during host shutdown no longer replace the saved session with an empty session or a new default workspace. (#3415)
• SSH clients whose terminal disappears now detach instead of resizing running panes to a fallback size and triggering expensive history reflow. (#3519)
• Focusing a workspace now scrolls the sidebar to keep it visible. (#3554)
• Removing a background worktree workspace no longer changes focus to its parent. Windows worktrees can also be removed while their agent panes are running, without a replacement shell locking the checkout again. (#3098, #3532)
• Worktree commands can now trust a verified repository for one request with --trust-repository, including accessible Windows repositories owned by another SID, without changing global Git configuration. (#3044)
• Oversized Kitty images no longer prevent smaller images from appearing, and image replacements no longer redraw or disappear one row at a time. Direct graphics stay bound to the client that owns them. (#3033, #3166, #3549, thanks @kataokatsuki)
• Pixel mouse coordinates remain correct when pane applications reassert SGR mouse reporting. (#3295)
• Prefix bindings such as prefix+| now recognize characters produced by macOS Option and custom keyboard layouts, while exact chords keep priority. Arrow navigation also works when terminals such as Alacritty attach text to special-key reports. (#3079, #3328, thanks @vlcinsky)
• Direct terminal attaches now honor ui.mouse_capture and preserve multiline pastes as one paste instead of submitting each line separately. (#2992, #3054)
• agent prompt now reliably sends the prompt and Enter before reporting successful submission. With --wait, prompts sent to a non-working agent require observed working or blocked activity, so unrelated state changes cannot complete the wait. Pending submissions fail cleanly if the terminal exits. (#3506, #3685)
• Long Codex prompts on Windows now wait long enough for the text to arrive before submitting Enter. Expired queued submissions are rejected before typing starts. (#3187)
• Recent pane reads now include output that has not yet scrolled off the viewport, instead of returning empty text. (#3444)
• pane report-agent and pane report-agent-session now accept options before the pane ID and --option=value arguments. (#2926)
• herdr agent explain --file now reports unreadable files as structured JSON rather than raw Rust errors. (#3022)
• Running named servers now pick up detection manifests downloaded by another server without needing a restart. (#2711)
• Agents that set their terminal title or progress once at startup no longer lose that detection signal when first recognized. (#3326, thanks @aneym)
• Claude Code now recognizes visible turn and background-agent activity when terminal titles are unavailable, and remains working while background MCP tasks continue. An idle prompt with only a background shell running no longer stays working. (#1630, #3090, #3414)
• Claude Code MCP questions and Bash approval prompts now stay blocked while waiting for an answer, including different option layouts and cursor positions. (#3283, #3383, #2650, #3615, thanks @caner-akca)
• Claude Code hooks now ignore Cursor's Claude-compatible events, preventing Cursor sessions from being saved as Claude sessions. (#2832)
• Codex no longer appears blocked because earlier output quotes a confirmation prompt, and its startup update dialog now correctly reports blocked. Explicitly resumed sessions are saved before the first prompt, so they survive a server restart. (#3301, #3632, #3517)
• GitHub Copilot CLI now stays working while it waits for background agents. (#3291, #3403, thanks @LaneBirmingham)
• Oh My Pi now stays working through already-scheduled continuations instead of briefly reporting idle and ending agent wait early. (#2851, #3122, thanks @caner-akca and @taoeffect)
• OpenCode child-agent permission and question prompts no longer leave the parent pane stuck as blocked after work continues. (#3669, thanks @markjaquith)
• Foreground working-directory reads now follow the foreground process-group leader rather than a descendant, keeping new panes in the intended directory. (#3270, #3386, thanks @caner-akca)
• Oversized or unreadable Git ref files no longer cause repeated heavy status reads or make workspaces use stale ref data. (#3343, #3373, thanks @caner-akca)
• Tab bar status commands no longer display stray ANSI escape fragments, and host palette replies are applied together to avoid redundant updates. (#3001, #3580)
• Unix plugin panes now keep PWD aligned with their requested working directory unless explicitly overridden. Windows plugin panes now resolve relative commands from the plugin root and handle launch paths correctly. (#2984, #3024)
• Plugin link handlers now receive matching OSC 8 file:// clicks; unmatched file links still do not launch the system URL opener. (#2941)
• Windows panes now preserve non-US shifted text, physical modified keys, Ctrl+/, and dead-key composition in Kitty keyboard applications. (#3045, #2954, #3546, #3503)
• Windows OpenSSH sessions now receive mouse input reliably without dropped reports or escape fragments leaking into panes. Remote and LF-only multiline pastes retain their newlines and order. (#2810, #3459, #3209, #3172)
• Windows panes now keep Cursor and bundled Pi launches detected, and PowerShell agent shims accept native arguments. Codex no longer inherits Windows Terminal identity that caused excessive repainting and scroll jumps during resume. (#3032, #3205, #3455, #3127, thanks @Pimpmuckl)
• Antigravity hooks now run correctly on Windows, and Devin integration setup uses the correct Windows config directory. (#3348, #2724)
• Windows installations no longer need a separately installed Visual C++ runtime. Installer paths remain discoverable in OpenSSH sessions, and malformed inherited environment values are rejected safely. (#3089, #3611, #3430)
• Windows users whose endpoint security blocks fileless PowerShell installation can use a local install.cmd bootstrap with checksum-verified downloads. (#2751)
• WSL remote sessions can now paste images from the Windows clipboard. (#3376)
• Nix installations now fetch crates through the static CDN, avoiding download failures from the previous endpoint. (#3505)
• The Unix installer now explains that Android/Termux is unsupported instead of installing a Linux binary that cannot run there. (#3571)

Removed

• Removed the single-process --no-session mode. All terminal UI launches now attach to a background server; detach leaves panes running, while server stop ends the session.

Preview build 2026-09-08-62431dbd033b

Built from 62431dbd033b on master.
Base stable: v0.9.0
Compare: v0.9.0...62431db

Fixed

• Reduce idle ssh cpu without dropping final output (#3728)