Kit Updated: 2026.7.4

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Kit 2026.7.4 is a stabilization release focused on backend parity. It adds a differential fuzzing harness and new parity guardrails, fixes native codegen module-record and package-alias resolution, optimizes internal JSON parsing, and adds integrity verification to the IL cache.

What Changed

Backend parity got its own safety net this release. A differential fuzzing harness now exercises the interpreter and compiler side by side, kit check joins kit run and kit build in parity as a triple-mode contract, and closed P1 codegen issues and checker soundness rejections are locked in as parity fixtures. The new guardrail suites are wired into the CI pipeline, and a package install invariants suite covers registry, package-directory, and git ref installs.

Native codegen fixes address several interpreter/compiler divergences: repeated register_global module records now preserve the later overwrite in compiled builds, package module aliases resolve correctly in codegen (fixing parity failures in packages such as kit-box2d and kit-game), stdlib dotted bindings and dotted value constants resolve through aliased module imports, and mono specialization is rejected for non-self partial application chains.

Internal JSON parsing is faster, using SIMD-assisted scans for whitespace, string sentinels, and JSONL newline detection, and transferring parsed buffers into Kit JSON values without redundant duplication. The build pipeline gained an emit-time validation gate for generated Zig sources, extern helper declaration validation, and paranoid IL cache verification with integrity checksums.

Tooling and docs also improved: the parity confirmation prompt only appears on interactive stdin, the LSP server exits cleanly when its stdin read fails, per-context application and zero-arity semantics are now specified and cross-referenced from the grammar, and the build cache has a documented inventory and key audit. The website package docs were regenerated for this release, and the playground WASM binary was rebuilt so kit version reports 2026.7.4.

Release Highlights

• Add a differential fuzzing harness for backend parity and wire guardrail suites into CI.
• Add kit check to parity as a triple-mode contract with new parity fixtures.
• Preserve repeated module record globals and resolve package module aliases in native codegen.
• Resolve stdlib dotted bindings and value constants through aliased module imports.
• Optimize internal JSON parsing with SIMD-assisted scanning.
• Add IL cache paranoid verification and integrity checksums.
• Complete the partition-global init planner migration and shared curried-closure naming contract.
• Regenerate package docs and rebuild the playground WASM binary for 2026.7.4.

Release Commits

The list below uses the v2026.6.30..v2026.7.4 changelog range, with each short SHA linked to the corresponding GitLab commit in kit-lang.

• fix: preserve repeated module record globals (4f71b87)
• chore: bump release metadata to 2026.7.1 (cc076d7)
• fix: optimize internal JSON parsing (9a63117)
• fix: resolve package module aliases in codegen (ffd4a4f)
• fix: repair codegen unit test regressions from package alias resolution (2d54d23)
• fix: only prompt for parity confirmation on interactive stdin (4a6497f)
• fix: exit LSP server cleanly on stdin read failure (ad725eb)
• feat: add emit-time validation gate for generated Zig sources (2420504)
• feat: validate extern kit helper declarations against emitted definitions (75af2b2)
• test: add parity fixtures for closed P1 codegen and parity issues (a5b34a4)
• feat: add kit check to parity as a triple-mode contract (5773fcb)
• fix: resolve stdlib dotted bindings through aliased module imports (eaf2573)
• feat: add differential fuzzing harness for backend parity (ab05668)
• feat: add partition-global init planner (Phase 1b increment 1) (fdc9d2d)
• fix: reject mono specialization for non-self partial application chains (0f04fdc)
• fix: resolve aliased stdlib dotted value constants in compiled builds (0aa85ec)
• docs: specify per-context application and zero-arity semantics (b4acf71)
• docs: cross-reference application semantics from GRAMMAR.md (b48dab4)
• docs: add build cache inventory and key audit (Phase 4a) (b976e7d)
• feat: add IL cache paranoid verification and integrity checksums (8336f01)
• test: lock in checker soundness rejections as parity fixtures (e3f5e5e)
• test: add package install invariants suite (88c683d)
• feat: complete partition-global init planner migration (Phase 1b) (cd2abd5)
• feat: extract shared curried-closure naming contract (Phase 3b) (647ec27)
• ci: wire the guardrail suites into the pipeline (e72c555)
• chore: bump release metadata to 2026.7.4 (85db026)
• fix: sync toolchain default_release_version and teach bump script to update it (78e249f)