diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index fdb2d8f..2aabc1f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -5,11 +5,13 @@
 
 ### News
 
-- **2026-07-31**: v0.0.6 released — side-effect-gated recovery (checkpointed halts with structured `InteractionRequest`), uncertain-effect reporting for failed outbound calls, centralized logging with an independent daemon log level, session-bound LeapBoard analysis, platform-neutral gateway validators, and end-to-end architecture contract tests with the CI gate restored.
+- **2026-08-06**: v0.0.8 released — Cross-platform Windows support (DaemonTransport protocol with TCP loopback IPC), real journey test layer with cassette-backed CI (6 e2e journeys, cost-bounded), community Windows fixes (@fanqiNO1). 1,540 tests.
+- **2026-08-06**: v0.0.7 released — 1M-class context windows end-to-end, self-calibrating token estimator, internal-defect failure category, concurrent-TUI session identity isolation. 1,442 tests.
 
 <details>
 <summary>Previous releases</summary>
 
+- **2026-07-31**: v0.0.6 released — side-effect-gated recovery (checkpointed halts with structured `InteractionRequest`), uncertain-effect reporting for failed outbound calls, centralized logging with an independent daemon log level, session-bound LeapBoard analysis, platform-neutral gateway validators, and end-to-end architecture contract tests with the CI gate restored.
 - **2026-07-28**: v0.0.5 released — adaptive-depth execution for long-horizon tasks, built-in coding tools, per-session daemon concurrency, improved TUI stability, and hardened leapd recovery/status diagnostics.
 - **2026-07-16**: **LeapBoard** — general-purpose monitoring web dashboard (Watch→Finding + Server-Driven UI); `/board` entry, live session analysis, and finance/sentiment/research templates.
 - **2026-07-16**: v0.0.4 released — protocol-driven recovery coordinator with budget-constrained strategies, unified error classification, checkpoint-based cross-turn resumption, structured audit trail, and tool execution idempotency ledger.
diff --git a/src/leapflow/cli/commands/host.py b/src/leapflow/cli/commands/host.py
index f1382b3..15fdcc1 100644
--- a/src/leapflow/cli/commands/host.py
+++ b/src/leapflow/cli/commands/host.py
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ def _read_pid_file() -> Optional[int]:
     if not pid_file.exists():
         return None
     try:
-        pid = int(pid_file.read_text().strip())
+        pid = int(pid_file.read_text(encoding="utf-8").strip())
         # Check if process is alive
         os.kill(pid, 0)
         return pid
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ def _write_pid_file(pid: int) -> None:
     """Write PID to daemon pid file."""
     pid_file = _daemon_pid_file()
     pid_file.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
-    pid_file.write_text(str(pid))
+    pid_file.write_text(str(pid), encoding="utf-8")
 
 
 def _remove_pid_file() -> None:
@@ -279,7 +279,7 @@ async def _cmd_start() -> int:
         creationflags = getattr(subprocess, "CREATE_NEW_PROCESS_GROUP", 0)
         start_new_session = False
 
-    with open(log_file, "a") as lf:
+    with open(log_file, "a", encoding="utf-8") as lf:
         proc = subprocess.Popen(
             [sys.executable, "-c", daemon_script],
             stdout=lf,
diff --git a/src/leapflow/daemon/_transport.py b/src/leapflow/daemon/_transport.py
index 30510f0..c4aa7dd 100644
--- a/src/leapflow/daemon/_transport.py
+++ b/src/leapflow/daemon/_transport.py
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ def _port_path(self, runtime_dir: Path) -> Path:
 
     def _read_port(self, runtime_dir: Path) -> int:
         port_path = self._port_path(runtime_dir)
-        return int(port_path.read_text().strip())
+        return int(port_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8").strip())
 
     async def start_server(
         self,
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ async def start_server(
         addr = server.sockets[0].getsockname()
         port = addr[1]
         port_path = self._port_path(runtime_dir)
-        port_path.write_text(str(port))
+        port_path.write_text(str(port), encoding="utf-8")
         return server
 
     async def connect(self, runtime_dir: Path) -> Tuple[asyncio.StreamReader, asyncio.StreamWriter]:
diff --git a/src/leapflow/daemon/lifecycle.py b/src/leapflow/daemon/lifecycle.py
index 85ce0eb..ca3d04d 100644
--- a/src/leapflow/daemon/lifecycle.py
+++ b/src/leapflow/daemon/lifecycle.py
@@ -159,14 +159,14 @@ def write_pid_file(runtime_dir: Path, pid: Optional[int] = None) -> None:
     """Write the daemon PID file and metadata."""
     runtime_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
     actual_pid = pid or os.getpid()
-    (runtime_dir / "leapd.pid").write_text(str(actual_pid))
+    (runtime_dir / "leapd.pid").write_text(str(actual_pid), encoding="utf-8")
 
     meta = {
         "pid": actual_pid,
         "start_time": time.time(),
         "version": "1",
     }
-    (runtime_dir / "leapd.json").write_text(json.dumps(meta))
+    (runtime_dir / "leapd.json").write_text(json.dumps(meta), encoding="utf-8")
     logger.info("daemon: wrote pid=%d to %s", actual_pid, runtime_dir / "leapd.pid")
 
 
@@ -202,6 +202,8 @@ def send_signal(runtime_dir: Path, sig: DaemonSignal = DaemonSignal.SIGTERM) ->
         return False
     try:
         os.kill(pid, sig.value)
+        if sys.platform == "win32":
+            _wait_process_exit(pid, timeout_ms=5000)
         return True
     except OSError:
         return False
@@ -291,6 +293,8 @@ def spawn_daemon(settings: object, *, mock_host: bool = False) -> subprocess.Pop
     if mock_host:
         command.append("--mock-host")
     command.extend(["daemon", "serve", "--internal"])
+    env = os.environ.copy()
+    env.setdefault("PYTHONIOENCODING", "utf-8")
     log_file = open(log_path, "ab")
     try:
         if sys.platform == "win32":  # pragma: no cover - platform specific
@@ -304,6 +308,7 @@ def spawn_daemon(settings: object, *, mock_host: bool = False) -> subprocess.Pop
                 stderr=subprocess.STDOUT,
                 start_new_session=False,
                 creationflags=creationflags,
+                env=env,
             )
         else:
             proc = subprocess.Popen(
@@ -313,6 +318,7 @@ def spawn_daemon(settings: object, *, mock_host: bool = False) -> subprocess.Pop
                 stderr=subprocess.STDOUT,
                 start_new_session=True,
                 close_fds=True,
+                env=env,
             )
     finally:
         log_file.close()
@@ -345,7 +351,7 @@ def _wait_until_stopped(runtime_dir: Path, *, deadline: float, interval_s: float
 def _read_pid(path: Path) -> Optional[int]:
     """Read PID from file, returning None if missing/invalid."""
     try:
-        return int(path.read_text().strip())
+        return int(path.read_text(encoding="utf-8").strip())
     except (OSError, ValueError):
         return None
 
@@ -353,11 +359,31 @@ def _read_pid(path: Path) -> Optional[int]:
 def _read_meta(path: Path) -> Optional[dict]:
     """Read daemon metadata JSON."""
     try:
-        return json.loads(path.read_text())
+        return json.loads(path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
     except (OSError, json.JSONDecodeError, ValueError):
         return None
 
 
+def _wait_process_exit(pid: int, timeout_ms: int = 5000) -> None:
+    """Block until the process fully exits (Windows only). Best-effort."""
+    if sys.platform != "win32":
+        return
+    try:
+        import ctypes
+
+        kernel32 = ctypes.WinDLL("kernel32", use_last_error=True)
+        SYNCHRONIZE = 0x00100000
+        handle = kernel32.OpenProcess(SYNCHRONIZE, False, pid)
+        if not handle:
+            return
+        try:
+            kernel32.WaitForSingleObject(handle, timeout_ms)
+        finally:
+            kernel32.CloseHandle(handle)
+    except (OSError, AttributeError):
+        pass
+
+
 # Windows kernel32 constants for the exit-code liveness probe below.
 _PROCESS_QUERY_LIMITED_INFORMATION = 0x1000
 _STILL_ACTIVE = 259
diff --git a/src/leapflow/skills/index.py b/src/leapflow/skills/index.py
index 0408951..9b0f435 100644
--- a/src/leapflow/skills/index.py
+++ b/src/leapflow/skills/index.py
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ def _load_from_snapshot(self) -> Optional[List[SkillEntry]]:
         if not self._snapshot_path.exists():
             return None
         try:
-            data = json.loads(self._snapshot_path.read_text())
+            data = json.loads(self._snapshot_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
             # Convert list[str] back to tuple for frozen dataclass
             entries: List[SkillEntry] = []
             for raw in data:
@@ -225,7 +225,7 @@ def _save_snapshot(self, entries: List[SkillEntry]) -> None:
         try:
             self._skills_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
             data = [dataclasses.asdict(e) for e in entries]
-            self._snapshot_path.write_text(json.dumps(data, ensure_ascii=False))
+            self._snapshot_path.write_text(json.dumps(data, ensure_ascii=False), encoding="utf-8")
         except Exception:
             pass  # Non-critical — next scan will rebuild
 
diff --git a/src/leapflow/storage/duckdb_connect.py b/src/leapflow/storage/duckdb_connect.py
index 2127c97..3d34a46 100644
--- a/src/leapflow/storage/duckdb_connect.py
+++ b/src/leapflow/storage/duckdb_connect.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 
 import logging
 import os
+import sys
 import time
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Optional
@@ -25,8 +26,8 @@
 
 LOCK_KEYWORDS = frozenset({"lock", "locked", "exclusive", "cannot set lock"})
 
-_CONNECT_RETRIES = int(os.getenv("LEAPFLOW_DB_CONNECT_RETRIES", "3"))
-_CONNECT_BACKOFF_S = float(os.getenv("LEAPFLOW_DB_CONNECT_BACKOFF_S", "0.5"))
+_CONNECT_RETRIES = int(os.getenv("LEAPFLOW_DB_CONNECT_RETRIES", "5" if sys.platform == "win32" else "3"))
+_CONNECT_BACKOFF_S = float(os.getenv("LEAPFLOW_DB_CONNECT_BACKOFF_S", "1.0" if sys.platform == "win32" else "0.5"))
 
 
 class DatabaseLockedError(RuntimeError):
diff --git a/src/leapflow/version.py b/src/leapflow/version.py
index 929f491..e677663 100644
--- a/src/leapflow/version.py
+++ b/src/leapflow/version.py
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 """Version information for leapflow."""
 
-__version__ = "0.0.7+main"
+__version__ = "0.0.8+main"