diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 7d8d6940..41136b5a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,197 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+## v0.8.0 — Bytes-native output
+
+**Release date:** 2026-09-19
+
+This release changes stdout and stderr from strings to raw bytes across every
+layer of the stack. Python code can emit arbitrary binary data and it will
+arrive intact — no more silent UTF-8 replacement at the sandbox boundary.
+Convenience helpers make the common "just give me text" path a one-line change.
+
+This release also adds `SandboxPool` to the Python bindings, giving you bounded
+concurrent execution with automatic lease lifecycle management.
+
+### Highlights
+
+- **stdout/stderr are now bytes** ([#448](https://github.com/eryx-org/eryx/pull/448)) —
+  `ExecuteResult.stdout` and `.stderr` carry raw bytes everywhere: `Vec<u8>` in
+  Rust, `bytes` in Python, `bytes` in the gRPC proto, and `Uint8Array` at the
+  WIT boundary. The JS wrapper still decodes to `string` for you.
+- **SandboxPool** ([#456](https://github.com/eryx-org/eryx/pull/456)) —
+  factory-backed pool with bounded concurrency, automatic warm-up, per-request
+  callbacks/limits, and context-manager lease lifecycle. Available in Rust and
+  Python.
+- **`NetRequest` is `#[non_exhaustive]`** ([#447](https://github.com/eryx-org/eryx/pull/447)) —
+  future fields won't be breaking.
+- **Explicit connection cleanup** ([#446](https://github.com/eryx-org/eryx/pull/446)) —
+  reused sessions now release outbound connections between executions.
+
+### Migration guide — Rust (`eryx` crate)
+
+**`ExecuteResult.stdout` / `.stderr`: `String` → `Vec<u8>`**
+
+```rust
+// Before (0.7.x)
+println!("{}", result.stdout);
+if result.stderr.contains("Warning") { /* ... */ }
+
+// After (0.8.0) — quick migration
+println!("{}", result.stdout_text());
+if result.stderr_text().contains("Warning") { /* ... */ }
+
+// After (0.8.0) — strict UTF-8
+let output = result.stdout_utf8()?;
+```
+
+**`OutputHandler` trait: `&str` → `&[u8]`**
+
+```rust
+// Before
+async fn on_output(&self, chunk: &str) { /* ... */ }
+async fn on_stderr(&self, chunk: &str) { /* ... */ }
+
+// After
+async fn on_output(&self, chunk: &[u8]) {
+    let text = std::str::from_utf8(chunk).unwrap_or("�");
+    // ...
+}
+async fn on_stderr(&self, chunk: &[u8]) { /* ... */ }
+```
+
+**`NetRequest` is `#[non_exhaustive]`** — add a `..` rest pattern if you
+construct it directly:
+
+```rust
+// Before
+let req = NetRequest { url, method, headers, body };
+
+// After
+let req = NetRequest { url, method, headers, body, ..Default::default() };
+```
+
+**`TraceEventKind` is `#[non_exhaustive]`** — add a wildcard arm to exhaustive
+matches:
+
+```rust
+match event.kind {
+    TraceEventKind::Line => { /* ... */ }
+    TraceEventKind::Call { .. } => { /* ... */ }
+    TraceEventKind::Return { .. } => { /* ... */ }
+    _ => { /* future variants */ }
+}
+```
+
+### Migration guide — Python (`pyeryx`)
+
+**`ExecuteResult.stdout` / `.stderr`: `str` → `bytes`**
+
+```python
+# Before (0.7.x)
+print(result.stdout)
+if "error" in result.stderr:
+    ...
+
+# After (0.8.0) — quick migration (UTF-8 with replacement)
+print(result.stdout_text)
+if "error" in result.stderr_text:
+    ...
+
+# After (0.8.0) — raw bytes
+sys.stdout.buffer.write(result.stdout)
+```
+
+**Streaming callbacks: `str` → `bytes`**
+
+```python
+# Before
+def on_stdout(chunk: str) -> None:
+    sys.stdout.write(chunk)
+
+# After
+def on_stdout(chunk: bytes) -> None:
+    sys.stdout.buffer.write(chunk)
+```
+
+### Migration guide — JavaScript (`@bsull/eryx`)
+
+**No breaking changes for most consumers.** The JS wrapper decodes
+`Uint8Array` from the WASM boundary to `string` internally, so
+`result.stdout` and `result.stderr` remain strings.
+
+If you use the **streaming `outputHandler`**, the callback signature is
+unchanged — it still receives `(stream: number, data: string)`. The decoding
+now happens inside the shim via `TextDecoder` with proper multi-byte sequence
+handling across chunks.
+
+**If you access the raw WASM bindings directly** (bypassing the wrapper), the
+WIT-level `report-output` import changed from `string` to `list<u8>`, and
+`execute-output.stdout` / `.stderr` changed similarly.
+
+### Migration guide — gRPC (`eryx.v1`)
+
+**`ExecuteResult` and `OutputEvent` fields changed from `string` to `bytes`:**
+
+```diff
+ message OutputEvent {
+   OutputStream stream = 1;
+-  string data = 2;
++  bytes data = 2;
+ }
+
+ message ExecuteResult {
+   bool success = 1;
+-  string stdout = 2;
+-  string stderr = 3;
++  bytes stdout = 2;
++  bytes stderr = 3;
+   ...
+ }
+```
+
+In most languages the generated types change from `string` to `bytes`/`[]byte`/
+`ByteString`. For Go clients:
+
+```go
+// Before
+fmt.Println(result.Stdout)
+
+// After
+fmt.Println(string(result.Stdout))
+```
+
+The wire format is backwards-compatible (protobuf `string` and `bytes` share
+the same encoding), but **recompiling your client against the new proto is
+required** to get the correct generated types.
+
+---
+
+## `eryx-precompile` - [0.8.0](https://github.com/eryx-org/eryx/compare/eryx-precompile-v0.7.2...eryx-precompile-v0.8.0) - 2026-09-19
+
+### Added
+- [**breaking**] change stdout/stderr from string to bytes across the full stack ([#448](https://github.com/eryx-org/eryx/pull/448))
+
+## `eryx` - [0.8.0](https://github.com/eryx-org/eryx/compare/eryx-v0.7.2...eryx-v0.8.0) - 2026-09-19
+
+### Added
+- *(python)* expose factory-backed SandboxPool with safe lease lifecycle ([#456](https://github.com/eryx-org/eryx/pull/456))
+- [**breaking**] change stdout/stderr from string to bytes across the full stack ([#448](https://github.com/eryx-org/eryx/pull/448))
+- *(net)* add explicit connection cleanup for reused sessions ([#446](https://github.com/eryx-org/eryx/pull/446))
+
+### Other
+- *(net)* make NetRequest non-exhaustive ([#447](https://github.com/eryx-org/eryx/pull/447))
+
+## `eryx-vfs` - [0.8.0](https://github.com/eryx-org/eryx/compare/eryx-vfs-v0.7.2...eryx-vfs-v0.8.0) - 2026-09-19
+
+### Other
+- *(vfs)* replace cap-std with cap-primitives ([#436](https://github.com/eryx-org/eryx/pull/436))
+
+## `eryx-runtime` - [0.8.0](https://github.com/eryx-org/eryx/compare/eryx-runtime-v0.7.2...eryx-runtime-v0.8.0) - 2026-09-19
+
+### Added
+- [**breaking**] change stdout/stderr from string to bytes across the full stack ([#448](https://github.com/eryx-org/eryx/pull/448))
+
 ## `eryx-precompile` - [0.7.2](https://github.com/eryx-org/eryx/compare/eryx-precompile-v0.7.1...eryx-precompile-v0.7.2) - 2026-09-11
 
 ### Other
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index a879ec40..7374f58a 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1125,7 +1125,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "eryx"
-version = "0.7.2"
+version = "0.8.0"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "async-trait",
@@ -1164,7 +1164,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "eryx-linker-wasm"
-version = "0.7.2"
+version = "0.8.0"
 dependencies = [
  "wasm-bindgen",
  "wit-component 0.259.0",
@@ -1172,7 +1172,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "eryx-macros"
-version = "0.7.2"
+version = "0.8.0"
 dependencies = [
  "eryx",
  "proc-macro2",
@@ -1185,7 +1185,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "eryx-precompile"
-version = "0.7.2"
+version = "0.8.0"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "clap",
@@ -1202,7 +1202,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "eryx-python"
-version = "0.7.2"
+version = "0.8.0"
 dependencies = [
  "async-trait",
  "eryx",
@@ -1220,7 +1220,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "eryx-runtime"
-version = "0.7.2"
+version = "0.8.0"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "futures",
@@ -1241,7 +1241,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "eryx-server"
-version = "0.7.2"
+version = "0.8.0"
 dependencies = [
  "async-trait",
  "clap",
@@ -1275,7 +1275,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "eryx-vfs"
-version = "0.7.2"
+version = "0.8.0"
 dependencies = [
  "ambient-authority",
  "anyhow",
@@ -1296,7 +1296,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "eryx-wasm-runtime"
-version = "0.7.2"
+version = "0.8.0"
 dependencies = [
  "pyo3",
  "tokio",
@@ -5255,7 +5255,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "wit-dylib-ffi"
-version = "0.7.2"
+version = "0.8.0"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "wit-parser"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 1b52dacf..0c2e7e7f 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ members = ["crates/*"]
 # - cargo-nextest: Fast test runner (`cargo nextest run`)
 
 [workspace.package]
-version = "0.7.2"
+version = "0.8.0"
 edition = "2024"
 rust-version = "1.98.1"
 license = "MIT OR Apache-2.0"
@@ -26,10 +26,10 @@ clap = { version = "^4.6.6", features = ["derive", "env"] } #unified
 criterion = { version = "0.8", features = ["async_tokio"] } # benchmarking
 crossterm = "0.29"                                          # terminal control
 dashmap = "6"                                               # concurrent maps
-eryx = { path = "crates/eryx", version = "^0.7.2" }
-eryx-macros = { path = "crates/eryx-macros", version = "^0.7.2" }
-eryx-runtime = { path = "crates/eryx-runtime", version = "^0.7.2" } #unified
-eryx-vfs = { path = "crates/eryx-vfs", version = "^0.7.2" } #unified
+eryx = { path = "crates/eryx", version = "^0.8.0" }
+eryx-macros = { path = "crates/eryx-macros", version = "^0.8.0" }
+eryx-runtime = { path = "crates/eryx-runtime", version = "^0.8.0" } #unified
+eryx-vfs = { path = "crates/eryx-vfs", version = "^0.8.0" } #unified
 flate2 = "1.0"
 futures = "0.3"
 futures-concurrency = "7.6"