Updates

The installed app keeps itself up to date from the project’s releases on GitHub. It never restarts without asking and never interrupts your work.

What happens

1. A check. A little after Zorvik starts, and then every six hours, it reads one file from GitHub: latest.json in the project’s releases. The file says which version is newest.
2. A download in the background. When there is a newer version, Zorvik downloads it and checks its signature against the project’s update key, which is built into the app. A download that doesn’t match is thrown away.
3. A small notice. “Zorvik 0.2.0 is ready”, with What’s new, Restart now and a close button. A dot on the settings button stays until you update.
4. Install on quit. If you close the notice, the update installs the next time you quit Zorvik, so your next start is the new version.

Restart now first tells you what a restart would stop: running servers, a load test, a Bootcamp lab, unsaved tabs or a connected AI agent. Nothing restarts until you agree.

What is sent

The update check is the only connection Zorvik makes by itself, and it only goes to GitHub:

• It asks for latest.json from github.com/LibreGuild/zorvik, then downloads the new version from the same place.
• No account, no ID, nothing about you, this computer, your settings or your work is sent. No other server is involved, and nothing is collected.
• The requests go through the proxy you set in Settings → Proxy.

As with any download, GitHub counts how many times a release file was downloaded. That count is all the project sees.

Settings

Settings → Updates:

Setting	Choices	What it does
Updates	Automatic (default)	Checks, downloads in the background, installs when you restart or quit.
	Tell me, don’t download	Checks, and shows a notice with Download when a new version is out.
	Off	Never checks. Check for updates still works when you click it.
Channel	Stable releases (default)	Versioned releases.
	Nightly builds	A build of the newest code, once a day when there are changes. Less tested.

The section also shows this version, where the update stands, and Check for updates. In settings.json these are updates.mode (automatic, notify, off) and updates.channel (stable, nightly).

Switching back from nightly

Moving from the nightly channel back to stable doesn’t downgrade you: you stay on your nightly until the next stable release, which then updates you.

Which downloads update themselves

Download	Updates
Windows installer	Itself. The installer runs with a small progress window and needs no administrator rights.
macOS app	Itself, when it is in a folder you can write to (for example /Applications). A copy running from the disk image, or in a folder you can’t write to, tells you when a new version is out.
Linux AppImage	Itself.
Windows portable zip, .deb, .rpm	They tell you when a new version is out, with a link to the download. .deb and .rpm belong to your package manager; install the new package the same way as the first one.
The standalone command line	Doesn’t check. Download the new archive from the latest release (in CI, the latest/download/ links always give the newest).

The zorvik command line inside the app updates with the app.

If an update can’t install itself

Sometimes Zorvik can’t update itself: the download was interrupted, a network filter changed the file on the way (its signature then doesn’t match, so it is never installed), or the app’s folder can’t be written to. Zorvik doesn’t show an error for that. The notice says the new version is out, with Open downloads, which opens its release page on GitHub: download and install it the same way as the first time.

• “Could not reach GitHub” (after Check for updates): you are offline, or a proxy or firewall blocks github.com. Set the proxy in Settings → Proxy, or download the new version by hand.
• “GitHub didn’t answer in time”: the connection is very slow, or none of GitHub’s download servers answered. Zorvik tries each of their addresses for a few seconds, so one unreachable server doesn’t hold the check up; try again later, or download by hand. The app’s log has the details.
• On macOS, keep Zorvik in /Applications: a copy opened from the disk image can’t replace itself.
• The reason is in the log file.

Your workspaces and the app data folder are never touched by an update.