Changelog

Review quality and speed

The automated review process Boss runs on pull requests got a significant overhaul in this release. Reviews now run their checking rounds in parallel instead of one after another, which means the overall review time drops noticeably on larger PRs. Boss also now picks a review depth based on how much time is available: when there is a healthy budget, it runs the full stack; when time is shorter, it switches to a lighter mode that still catches real problems without stalling the build.

The other big change is convergence. Previously, the review loop could get stuck in a pattern where it flagged a new finding, a fix was applied, and the next round surfaced something related but unverified, repeating indefinitely. Boss now tracks whether each finding was actually confirmed by a follow-up check before it is counted. Findings that cannot be independently verified are no longer treated as blockers, and the loop has a clear exit condition so reviews reliably complete.

Improvements

• Boss now runs review rounds in parallel rather than serially, reducing the time spent waiting for review results.
• The review process has a defined convergence threshold: once findings have been verified across rounds, Boss stops re-reviewing and moves on.
• The PR description now shows which review tier was used, so you can see at a glance whether the full or lighter review ran.

Fixes

• Fixed an issue where several internal tools reported success even when they had actually failed, which could cause gates to pass incorrectly. Security checks, linting wrappers, and a handful of other steps now fail closed when something goes wrong instead of silently reporting a clean result.
• Fixed an issue where GitHub review reply comments could lose their markdown formatting or fail silently due to how the reply body was passed. Replies are now written through a file, which handles special characters and longer content reliably.
• Fixed an issue where Boss could crash or lose output when a linting tool produced a large amount of text.
• Fixed an issue where certain file paths containing non-ASCII characters were skipped by security checks.
• Fixed an issue where sensitive details could appear in delivery error messages. That information is now redacted before it is reported.
• Fixed an issue where remote sessions on machines using the fish shell could fail because shell-specific command wrapping was missing.

Sessions can now be renamed on the web

You can now rename a session directly from the web interface. Find the new Edit option next to Archive and Open GitHub on any session, update the title, and save. The change takes effect immediately.

Improvements

• When starting a new session on the web, the machine name is shown in the daemon selector instead of a raw internal ID, making it easier to pick the right one when you have multiple machines connected.
• Documentation for connecting Boss to a remote machine (via boss --host) is now a dedicated guide, covering setup, common failure states, and prerequisites.
• A new logging guide documents boss tail, including how to filter by repository and what different log formats look like. The troubleshooting section now points there directly.
• The docs site now shows examples for Chat, CLI, and MCP side by side with tabs, so you can jump straight to the interface you use without reading through the others.

Fixes

• Fixed an issue where Boss would sometimes misread a Claude tip or hint block as a question, causing it to incorrectly pause and wait for input.
• Fixed an issue where checkboxes in the terminal interface could render in different styles depending on where they appeared. They now look consistent throughout.
• Fixed an issue where starting a new session could feel slow because nothing was usable until the full setup finished. Boss now hands you a working session earlier and continues setup in the background.
• Fixed an issue where the new-chat agent picker did not pre-select the agent you have configured as your default.

Remote access with --host

You can now point Boss at a remote machine with --host and work with it almost as if it were local. Boss opens an SSH tunnel to the remote host, lists and opens chat sessions running there, and lets you attach to a running chat directly from your local terminal. If the tunnel drops, Boss shows you what went wrong and reconnects rather than hanging silently.

You can also paste a local image into a remote chat the same way you would locally. Boss copies the file over the tunnel automatically before the agent sees it.

Features

• OpenCode sessions now open interactively. When Boss launches an OpenCode session, it opens a live interactive session instead of running it in the background.
• Boss catches macOS permission blocks before they become problems. If Boss cannot read a protected folder because of a macOS privacy permission, the built-in health checker now surfaces that problem along with the steps to fix it, without needing to relaunch.

Improvements

• Starting a session is more resilient. A single session that gets stuck during setup no longer blocks other sessions from starting. Stuck sessions are cleaned up automatically.
• Boss now puts a time limit on its own internal requests. A temporarily unresponsive local service can no longer cause Boss to hang indefinitely.

Fixes

• Fixed an issue where previously merged sessions were not shown correctly in the archive view on the web.
• Fixed an issue where the bug-report shortcut (Ctrl+B) was unreachable inside tmux. The shortcut is now Ctrl+G, which works in all contexts.
• Fixed an issue where a failed remote chat attach was silently treated as a normal detach, hiding the actual error.
• Fixed an issue where terminal color and capability detection ran against the wrong machine when connecting to a remote host, which could cause display problems.
• Updated dependencies to address several third-party security advisories.

boss tail is here

You can now run boss tail to stream Boss’s live output directly in your terminal, the same way you might tail any log file. It follows along as new activity arrives, handles log rotation without losing lines, and works whether Boss is mid-session or idle. If you have been digging through files manually to see what Boss is up to, this is the shorter path.

Features

• Waiting sessions now show a spinner. When a session is queued or paused, Boss shows an animated indicator instead of a static status, so it is easier to tell at a glance that something is in progress versus stuck.

Improvements

• Boss now tracks more of its own activity internally, which will allow usage and automation history to appear in the product over time. No action needed on your end.
• The marketing homepage now covers agent coordination as a documented capability, with links to relevant guides.

Fixes

• Fixed an issue where Boss could misidentify your own work as belonging to another branch when the local copy of main was out of date. Builds are now checked against the actual remote branch rather than a potentially stale local one.
• Fixed an issue where trash cleanup could accidentally delete remote branches under certain conditions. Cleanup is now strictly limited to local references.
• Fixed a security issue where upload directories with pre-existing restrictive permissions could be reused in an unsafe way.
• Updated dependencies to address known security advisories.

Upload files to chat from the browser

You can now attach files directly to a chat session from the web interface. An upload control in the chat terminal bar lets you send files to the active session without leaving the browser.

Features

• File uploads in web chat. Select a file from the upload control in the chat terminal and Boss streams it to the running session. Upload progress and outcomes are announced so you know when a transfer finishes or fails.

Improvements

• Sessions waiting on an external event (such as a GitHub callback) now show as “waiting” instead of “working” in both the web interface and the terminal. This makes it clearer that Boss is paused on purpose, not stuck.
• The web app menu is reorganized: your account email leads the header menu, Sign Out is isolated at the bottom, and Daemons has moved under Settings alongside Cron Jobs.
• Boss now validates RSA signing keys used for authentication, rejecting keys that are too short to be safe. Previously, weak keys could be accepted silently.
• On macOS, upgrading Boss via Homebrew no longer revokes the system permissions (such as disk access) that Boss had already been granted. You should not need to re-approve those prompts after an upgrade.
• The documentation site now includes guides for GitHub PR callbacks, broadcasts, and notes.

Fixes

• Fixed an issue where a session stuck in a “pushing branch” state would never record a merged pull request, which also prevented it from being auto-archived after the merge.
• Fixed an issue where long-running unattended sessions could be incorrectly marked as finished while still actively running.
• Fixed an issue where a failed data load in repository settings could be treated as a successful (but empty) result, hiding the actual error.
• Fixed an issue where stale in-flight web requests could overwrite fresher data after a view change.
• Fixed an issue where login state could get out of sync during a re-authentication flow, causing spurious sign-in prompts.
• Fixed an issue where skill extensions with partial failures could appear to succeed, masking problems in the extension dispatch.

Filtered views, a nameable daemon, and a fix for PRs stuck in merge queue

The sessions, repositories, accounts, and cron jobs lists all now have a daemon filter. If you run Boss across more than one machine or environment, you can narrow any of these lists to a single daemon without losing your place between visits (the filter remembers your last choice). The accounts list also gets a manual refresh button so you can pull the latest usage numbers on demand.

You can now give your daemon a friendly display name in General Settings. The hostname Boss picks up automatically is used as a default, but if it is hard to read or unresolvable, you can type something clearer. The name shows up wherever Boss identifies which daemon is which.

Improvements

• Ctrl+X now works as a back/escape key in both the TUI and the web interface, everywhere the Escape key already worked.
• Fixed an issue where a transient network hiccup during a credential refresh could silently log the daemon out. Boss now holds onto your credentials and surfaces a “sign in required” notice instead of quietly deleting the session.
• PRs that are stuck in the merge queue because of outdated review threads (typically left behind by automated review bots after a rebase) are no longer treated as blocked. Boss now matches GitHub’s own behavior and ignores threads that have been marked outdated.

Fixes

• Fixed an issue where garbled or overlapping characters could appear in the chat terminal, caused by a missing UTF-8 setting on the terminal session.
• Fixed an issue where skill extensions could fail to load after being discovered, because Boss was looking them up by name instead of by file path.
• Fixed an issue where the daemon filter on the cron, repository, and accounts lists could show a misleading “no results” state when the underlying data had not finished loading.

Garbled characters in chat are fixed

Fixed an issue where strange characters could appear injected into chat messages. If you saw unexpected symbols or garbage text show up mid-conversation, that is now resolved.

Dark mode by default

The app and the marketing website now open in dark mode if you have not set a theme preference. You can still switch to light mode using the theme toggle, and your choice is remembered between visits.

Improvements

• Boss can now run review passes on API-shaped changes. The review step in a build session can apply an API-specific lens, giving more relevant feedback on changes that touch an API surface.
• Backlog issues now appear in the Linear issue list. Previously, issues in the Backlog state were silently excluded when Boss pulled up your Linear tickets. They are included now.
• Unattended build sessions can dispatch their own review sub-tasks. When Boss runs a build without anyone present, it can now hand off review work to a separate agent as the skill requires, rather than skipping that step.
• Routine sweep tasks now use a lighter model where appropriate. Four mechanical triage steps within sweep sessions are routed to a less expensive model, while the steps that benefit from deeper reasoning stay on the heavier one.
• Epic child markers are kept in sync with their parent. If a parent epic is renamed or its key changes, Boss now reconciles the child markers to match, rather than letting them drift.
• The merge gate for external reviews now fails safely. If Boss cannot verify the state of a review thread, it blocks the merge rather than allowing it through on an assumption.
• Skill documentation now has a lighter footprint in the model context. Internal sweep skills no longer spend part of the available budget just listing available models.
• Installed skill toolboxes are checked for drift at startup. Boss warns during plan and build preflight if the installed toolbox has fallen behind its source, so you are not running stale skill definitions without knowing it.
• The boss CLI reference is now organized by command group. Each group of commands has its own reference section, making it easier to find what you need without scrolling through everything at once.
• The shell snippets inside skill documentation are now syntax-checked automatically. This catches broken shell examples before they reach agents, reducing the chance of a skill giving bad instructions.

Fixes

• Fixed an issue where Boss could misreport the reason a set of agent instructions was not delivered, making the error message clearer.
• Fixed an issue where the merge gate could count review activity incorrectly, causing it to block or allow a merge for the wrong reason.
• Fixed an issue where the build session capability profile was keyed on the wrong agent, which could cause the wrong set of permissions to apply.
• Fixed an issue where internal skill names could leak into the published build skill description, exposing implementation details that are not meaningful to users.
• Fixed an issue where boss-plan and boss-repair contained incorrect statements about how cleanup, label classification, and sub-task execution work, which could confuse an agent following those instructions.
• Fixed an issue where the prettify sweep would run a changed-files formatter instead of the whole-repo formatter, leaving some files untouched.
• Fixed an issue where the sweep PR gate could act on a pull request the sweep did not open.
• Fixed an issue where Boss could leave your terminal in a broken state (stuck mouse-reporting mode or similar) after an abnormal exit. Boss now cleans up terminal state on exit and on hang-up. A boss fix-terminal command is also available under diagnostics if you ever need to recover manually.
• Fixed an issue where epic plan specs used a large encoded key that made the data harder to inspect and work with.

Smarter message delivery

Sending a message to Boss is more reliable in this release. Several edge cases that could cause a message to be silently dropped, partially entered, or misreported as failed have been fixed.

If Boss is mid-turn when you send a message, it now correctly queues your message and reports it as queued rather than flagging it as undelivered. If a message genuinely could not be confirmed, Boss tells you clearly and gives you guidance on resending, instead of returning a vague error. Boss also now refuses to deliver a message when a modal dialog is open in the session, rather than attempting delivery into a state where it cannot work.

Features

• Boss now files review comments from staging and production release pull requests to Linear automatically, keeping release feedback in one place.

Improvements

• boss mcp stop is more reliable. It now verifies the service has actually stopped before returning, sweeps up any stray processes that the status check might have missed, and no longer misreports success when the service is still running.
• When an account is removed, Boss now cleans up its associated on-disk data instead of leaving it behind.
• Stale credential projections are now removed when the underlying account data becomes invalid, keeping things tidy and avoiding potential confusion.

Fixes

• Fixed an issue where Codex credentials could be overwritten with stale data after a refresh, which could cause authentication failures until the next full restart.
• Fixed an issue where the wrong AI model could be used during the early startup phase of a headless session.
• Fixed an issue where Boss might attach a task to the wrong repository when working across multiple repos with similar names.
• Fixed an issue where a message could be partially entered into the composer if an earlier step had not fully cleared it, which could corrupt the prompt being sent.
• Fixed an issue where submit verification was checked against stale composer content instead of what was actually on screen, causing false delivery failures.
• Fixed an issue where Codex’s task-attachment capability listed operations that do not exist in the Linear connector, which could cause task-linking steps to fail.

Improvement notes from automated sweeps

Boss runs regular automated sweeps across your repositories to catch issues, suggest fixes, and generally keep things tidy. Starting with this release, those sweeps now record their findings as structured notes. Over time, this gives Boss a running memory of what it has observed in each repo, so future sweeps can build on earlier ones rather than starting from scratch.

Repositories can opt in to have these notes collected and maintained on a weekly cadence. The notes are deduplicated and merged automatically, so you won’t end up with a growing pile of redundant observations.

Improvements

• GitHub activity for Boss-managed epics is now routed to the correct work session. Previously, callbacks could land in the wrong session when multiple sessions were active at the same time.
• Boss sessions that use Codex in headless mode now have full access to the Linear connector. Certain tracker and planning capabilities that were previously unavailable in headless sessions are restored.

Fixes

• Fixed an issue where the mobile Usage view would shrink its text to fit rather than giving the cell enough room to display properly.
• Fixed a data race that could occur in the background usage monitoring, which could occasionally cause inconsistent behavior.

Narrow-terminal support

Boss’s interface now adapts to narrow terminal windows. The chat picker, repo browser, session wizard, settings tables, and cron tables all compress gracefully instead of overflowing or truncating content. Action bars, banners, and dialogs wrap rather than break. If you have been running Boss in a small terminal or on a mobile screen, the layout should feel much more usable.

Features

• Skills can now record improvement notes at the end of a run, giving agents a structured way to capture observations for future reference.
• When an AI assistant (like OpenCode or a headless run) needs to ask a clarifying question, Boss now correctly routes that signal so the question reaches you rather than silently disappearing.
• The web accounts list now refreshes automatically, so usage snapshots and account status stay current without a manual reload.

Improvements

• GitHub authorization callbacks now show a simpler, cleaner confirmation message.
• Boss handles repeated GitHub authorization deliveries more safely, so a failed first attempt no longer causes problems on retry.
• Stale or outdated installed skill files are now detected and flagged, reducing the chance of an agent running against an old version of a skill.

Fixes

• Fixed an issue where Codex chat renames were not reliably syncing, so a renamed conversation could revert or show the wrong name.
• Fixed an issue where usage statistics for Codex were appearing in the wrong column in the accounts view.
• Fixed an issue where usage values in the web view showed as 0% when no data was available yet, instead of showing nothing.
• Fixed an issue where error messages in the web chat could surface as raw internal objects instead of a readable message.
• Fixed an issue where the sub-day usage countdown did not fit correctly on mobile-sized screens.
• Fixed an issue where selections and filters in the session wizard could reset unexpectedly when the list was rebuilt.