20. Check for Updates and Version
This section describes how the packaged desktop app gets new versions. Development mode (
npm run dev) does not support online updates.
20.1 How to Check for Updates
- Open the menu Help → Check for Updates...
- The dialog checks the latest public version from
Lantide-Data/lantidedata-installer. - The version number shown on screen is the App version. The frontend, backend, and Electron shell update together.
20.2 Dialog States
| State (English UI) | Meaning |
|---|---|
| You're up to date | You are already on the latest version |
| Update available | A newer version exists; review the release notes and click Download now |
| Downloading update... | Downloading the complete verified app package (closing the dialog does not interrupt it) |
| Update ready | The update has finished downloading; click Restart and update to apply, or Restart later |
| Update failed | Network, metadata, checksum, or signature verification failed; Retry or close and try again later |
20.3 Common Cases
- Network interruption: A failed download does not corrupt the currently installed version; once the network is fixed, just Check for Updates again.
- Restart later: Keep using the current version. The downloaded update installs when you truly quit the app; on Windows, closing the window does not count if the app is configured to stay in the background.
- Still shows the old version after updating: Confirm that you clicked Restart and update and waited for the app to fully restart.
- Update unavailable: Download the current full installer from the product release page. Do not bypass checksum or signature warnings.
20.4 Release Baseline
Version 0.3.0 is the first release using the standard Electron whole-app updater. Older hot-update proof-of-concept builds cannot upgrade themselves to this baseline and should install the current package manually once.
For release operations, see the internal desktop release SOP.
Per-version feature lists are on /changelog, including the current 0.3.0 release; the in-app Check for Updates dialog also shows the English / Traditional Chinese summary for each update.
For the packaged app, if the official documentation URL has been configured, some Help documentation links in the app open the corresponding public documentation page in the browser (when not configured, the built-in Docs are still used).