Desktop updates
Recover from a stuck download or restart and understand supported update paths.
HydroBot checks for updates in the background and offers the download in a card at the bottom of the window. How the download is applied depends on what you installed.
| Build | What the button does |
|---|---|
| macOS, Windows, Linux AppImage | Restart to update — the app replaces itself and reopens. An AppImage is always rewritten at the path you launch, so your launcher, symlink or dock pin keeps working. |
Ubuntu .deb (and rpm/pacman) | Install — HydroBot downloads and verifies the package, copies the install command, and opens a terminal for you to paste it into. The app never installs a system package itself, so it never asks for your administrator password. |
Ubuntu packages are installed from the releases repository by hand, so the app hands you the exact line rather than guessing at a package handler:
sudo apt-get install -y '/home/you/.cache/hydrobot-updater/pending/HydroBot-<version>-amd64.deb'Reopen HydroBot once it finishes to be running the new version.
Updates are required
Being current is a condition of running, not an offer: when a newer version exists the window is replaced by a screen that only finishes the update, and there is nothing to dismiss or postpone. The same screen appears when HydroBot cannot check for updates, because a build that cannot show it is current does not run.
Restart to update (or Install, for a .deb) is the way through. If the
check keeps failing, install the latest release from the
official download page; your conversations
and settings live outside the application bundle and survive replacing the app.
On macOS the app cannot replace itself while its builds are unsigned, so a Mac
that is out of date installs the new .dmg from the download page by hand. The
screen stays until it is running the current version.
The download keeps spinning
Leave the app open long enough for one complete attempt, then quit and reopen it. A failed differential update should fall back to the full package. If the same release remains stuck, download the current installer from the official download page and install it over the existing copy.
On macOS, Preparing update is a separate step after the download finishes. macOS must stage the update before Restart to update becomes available. A completed download does not mean this preparation is finished.
If an update fails, its error stays visible instead of being replaced by a background update check. If a restart is taking longer than expected, quit the app completely before trying again; repeatedly clicking Restart cannot speed it up.
Restart to update does nothing
Quit HydroBot completely and launch it again. If the version did not change, install the latest release manually. Your conversations and settings live outside the application bundle and are not removed by replacing the app.
The installed version runs the updater, not the version being downloaded. If you are upgrading from an older build with a stuck updater, you may need to install the new version manually once to receive the fix. Do not delete your HydroBot data directory.
On Windows an update runs an installer that replaces the program folder in place while the app, its local server and its helper processes are still running out of it. When one of those keeps a file open the replacement stops, and because the update runs without a window there is nothing to show you. Current builds stop themselves before the installer starts, and the installer clears anything an older build left behind, so one manual install from the official download page is what moves an affected computer onto the build that updates by itself again.
Report an update failure
Open App settings → General → Diagnostics → Export Diagnostics…. Include your operating system, the currently installed version, the target version, and whether the failure happened during download, preparation, or restart. Newer builds include a bounded, redacted updater log alongside the server and desktop logs. Review the exported file before sharing it privately with support.
No terminal opened
The install command is on your clipboard either way. Open a terminal yourself and paste it. If the clipboard was overwritten, the package is already downloaded and you can run:
sudo apt-get install -y ~/.cache/hydrobot-updater/pending/HydroBot-*-amd64.debUse apt-get, not dpkg -i — only apt-get resolves dependencies, and on Ubuntu 24.04 ours are satisfied through virtual packages that dpkg alone will not follow.
Verify the installed version
Open App settings and check the displayed version. A commit merged to main is not in the desktop app until a release workflow publishes a new version.
Use official artifacts
Do not install update files forwarded through chat or uploaded to an unrelated repository. Use the official download page and the checksums published beside each package there.