# v0.25.8 — Fix Autonomous Mode Blocking & Session Bootstrap Crashes

## What Changed

**Autonomous state file moved from .claude/ to .instar/** — The autonomous skill's state file (`autonomous-state.local.md`) and emergency stop file were stored in `.claude/`, which triggers Claude Code's settings self-modification prompt — a confirmation dialog that can't be hooked or bypassed, even with `--dangerously-skip-permissions`. Moved to `.instar/` where they don't trigger this protection. Existing installations are automatically migrated via PostUpdateMigrator.

**Stop hook session_id UUID validation** — The autonomous stop hook now validates that the `session_id` field is a proper UUID. Previously, if Claude wrote a custom string (e.g. "my-autonomous-session") instead of the real `$CLAUDE_CODE_SESSION_ID`, the hook's session isolation would mismatch and fail open — allowing the session to exit early without completing tasks. Invalid values now fall back to self-bootstrapping.

**Autonomous skill files now included in npm package** — The `.claude/skills/autonomous/` directory was missing from `package.json`'s `files` list, so the skill's hook, setup script, and prompt never shipped via npm. Only agents with direct git access had it. Now all agents get the latest autonomous skill via `npm update`.

**Bootstrap message file threshold** — Large CONTINUATION bootstrap messages (~19KB of session context) were being passed directly to `tmux send-keys`, which silently failed. Sessions would spawn idle, get zombie-killed, and respawn in a loop. Now uses the same file-threshold pattern as regular messages — writes to a temp file and injects a short reference.

## What to Tell Your User

Autonomous mode is now significantly more reliable. Three bugs that could cause sessions to silently stop working have been fixed: (1) a Claude Code prompt that blocked autonomous sessions from starting properly, (2) a session isolation bug that let autonomous sessions exit early without completing their tasks, and (3) a crash when resuming sessions with long conversation histories. All fixes are applied automatically on update.

## Summary of New Capabilities

| Capability | How to Use |
|-----------|-----------|
| Autonomous state in .instar/ | Automatic — existing agents migrated on update |
| Session ID validation | Automatic — invalid IDs trigger self-bootstrap |
| Bootstrap file threshold | Automatic — large session contexts written to file |
| Autonomous skill in npm | Automatic — all agents get the skill via update |
