System Updates
OpenAVC checks for updates automatically and can install them from the Programmer IDE. This guide covers how updates work, how to install them, and what to do if something goes wrong.
How Updates Are Discovered
OpenAVC checks for new releases once a day by querying GitHub Releases. No cloud connection is needed. The interval is configurable in system.json under updates.auto_check_interval_hours if you want it more or less often. If a newer version is found, you’ll see:
- An update indicator in the Programmer IDE sidebar (an upward arrow icon above the connection dot)
- An update card on the Dashboard: “OpenAVC vX.Y.Z available”
Both link to the Update view where you can see details and install.
Checking Manually
Open the Programmer IDE and navigate to the Updates view (click the sidebar indicator, or click the dashboard card). Click Check for Updates to query GitHub immediately instead of waiting for the next automatic check.
Installing an Update
From the Updates view, click Install vX.Y.Z. A progress dialog walks through each step:
- Creating backup of your projects, drivers, and configuration
- Downloading the update from GitHub (with a progress bar)
- Verifying the download’s SHA256 checksum
- Applying the update to your system
- Restarting the server
Verification is mandatory. If a download cannot be checked against a published SHA256 checksum, the update is refused and nothing is applied, leaving your current version untouched.
On Linux, the Raspberry Pi appliance, and macOS, updates are also cryptographically signed. Each release artifact carries a detached signature, and a privileged pre-start step verifies that signature against a trusted key shipped with your installation before extracting anything. A tampered or unsigned artifact is refused, so a compromised download or release asset cannot be applied. This is what makes the automatic-update path safe to run unattended.
Do not close the browser or power off the system during this process. After the restart, the Programmer IDE reconnects automatically and shows a confirmation toast.
What Gets Updated
Only the application code is updated. Your data is never touched:
- Projects and scripts are preserved
- Installed drivers are preserved
- System configuration (system.json) is preserved
- Cloud pairing credentials are preserved
A backup zip is created before every update, stored in your data directory under backups/. The five most recent backups are kept automatically.
Deployment Types
How updates are applied depends on how OpenAVC was installed:
| Deployment | Can self-update? | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Windows Installer | Yes | Downloads and runs the new installer silently |
| macOS Installer (.pkg) | Yes | Downloads the archive, restarts. The launchd wrapper swaps the app bundle on startup. |
| Linux (install.sh) | Yes | Downloads the archive, restarts the service. A helper script applies the update on startup. |
| Docker | No | Shows instructions: docker compose pull && docker compose up -d |
| Git (development) | No | Shows a notification to pull the latest code |
Docker and Git deployments still check for updates and show notifications, but you apply them manually using your normal workflow.
Rollback
If an update causes problems, you can roll back to the previous version.
Automatic Rollback
If the server crashes immediately after an update (fails to start twice in a row), it automatically restores the previous version. Your project data is restored from the backup taken just before the update, so code and data go back together. The project files from the failed update are kept in a projects.pre-rollback folder next to your projects in case you need anything from them. No action needed.
Manual Rollback
From the Updates view, scroll to the Rollback section and click Rollback to vX.Y.Z. This restores the previous application code and restarts the server. Your projects, drivers, and configuration are preserved as they are — manual rollback does not rewind your project data.
Update Channels
OpenAVC supports two update channels:
- Stable (default): only sees final releases like v1.0.0
- Beta: also sees pre-releases like v1.0.0-beta.1
The channel is set in system.json under updates.channel, or via the environment variable OPENAVC_UPDATE_CHANNEL.
Cloud-Managed Updates
If your system is connected to OpenAVC Cloud, your integrator may manage updates remotely:
- They can see your system’s current version in the cloud portal
- They can trigger updates from the portal without needing local access
- They can stage an update without restarting: it appears in the Programmer IDE’s Updates view as “staged from the cloud”, ready to install whenever it suits the space
- They can set an update policy for your organization: manual, notify-only, or auto-update during a maintenance window
Even with cloud management, you can always check for and install updates locally from the Programmer IDE.
Disabling Automatic Checks
To disable the background update check (the system will never check GitHub on its own):
Set updates.check_enabled to false in system.json, or set the environment variable OPENAVC_UPDATE_CHECK=false.
You can still check manually from the Programmer IDE at any time.
See Also
- Deployment Guide. Production deployment and system configuration
- Getting Started. Installation methods