Join the founding community

Z.E.N. isn't open to the public yet. We're starting with a cohort of about ten users so every install ends with a working setup and we get honest feedback from people who actually use it. That's it: ten people building alongside Zain before it ships wider.

Request a spot

Open the form →

Once you're in

Your invite email arrives with an activation token like zeni_…. One command sets everything up:

curl -fsSL https://zen-api.merchantry.systems/install.sh | bash -s -- zeni_your_token_here

That script:

• redeems the token against zen-api.merchantry.systems for a device key,
• creates ~/.zen/cli-runtime/ with the binary, a stub package.json, and a wrapper at ~/.local/bin/zen so the launcher always runs from the right working directory,
• downloads the latest signed binary for your platform from R2 over the device-key-gated proxy (no presigned URLs to leak), verifies sha256,
• writes credentials to ~/.zen/credentials with mode 0600.

Confirm it landed:

zen version

Updates later — same wrapper, no token needed:

zen update

Want to know exactly what the CLI does and doesn't phone home? See Privacy & telemetry.

What you get if you're in

• The CLI, hands-on, the moment the binary drops. Activation token arrives in your inbox; one command and you're set up.
• A direct line to Zain for feature requests, extensions, and integrations you wish existed. The next round of work in this cohort comes from what you ask for.
• The chance to shape the product before it ships wider. No support tickets; you talk to the person building it.

Who the cohort is for

You probably already spend two hours a day in Claude, ChatGPT, Hermes, OpenClaw, or Claude Code. You ship words, research, decks, campaigns, content. You know which model handles which task. You'd rather save the work you keep doing by hand as a workflow than evangelize "AI for productivity" to anyone else.

If that's you, send the form.

While you wait

• What Z.E.N. is: the two-minute pitch.
• Concepts: six ideas, plain English.
• How it works: a single run from start to finish.
• Use cases: three patterns most users start with.