Updates

Happier ships different components with different update paths.

Update channels

Most artifacts are published into channels:

• stable (production)
• preview (pre-release / early access)

Integrity verification (binaries + bundles)

Self-host and relay runtime downloads are verified before install:

• SHA256: downloaded archive matches the published checksums file.
• minisign: the checksums file is verified with the embedded Happier minisign public key.

Hosted web app / SaaS server

• Hosted web UI updates are delivered by normal deploys: users get the latest on refresh.
• The hosted server (our SaaS) is updated via deployment tooling (not via the self-host runtime artifact channel).

Mobile app

• Mobile app updates are delivered through normal app distribution channels.
• Expo OTA can deliver JS/runtime updates where configured.

Desktop app (Tauri)

• Desktop update checks and banners are supported.
• Stable/preview feeds are managed by release channel and signing configuration.

You can generally think of desktop updates as: “the app periodically checks an update feed, downloads a signed update, and applies it.”

CLI / stack tooling

Common commands:

happier self-update
hstack self update
hstack self-host rollback --to <version>

Use rollback for controlled recovery when validating new releases in self-hosted environments.

Installer-driven updates

If you installed via an installer script, rerunning that installer is a valid way to update.

Preview installs are always explicit:

HAPPIER_CHANNEL=preview happier self-update
HAPPIER_CHANNEL=preview hstack self update

Self-host server runtime

The self-host runtime is installed and managed by hstack:

hstack self-host install --channel=preview
hstack self-host status --channel=preview
hstack self-host update --channel=preview
hstack self-host rollback --channel=preview --to <version>

What self-host update updates

When enabled, hstack self-host update pulls and installs:

• the server runtime binary (from a rolling GitHub release tag, based on channel)
• the UI web bundle (separate rolling GitHub release tag), if UI is enabled

The UI web bundle is installed into a versioned directory and switched via an atomic ui-web/current pointer.

Auto-update (opt-in)

Auto-update is disabled by default. You can enable it at install time:

hstack self-host install --channel=preview --auto-update --auto-update-interval=60

Or run updates daily at a specific time (local time on the host):

hstack self-host install --channel=preview --auto-update --auto-update-at=03:15

Or via env:

• HAPPIER_SELF_HOST_AUTO_UPDATE=1
• HAPPIER_SELF_HOST_AUTO_UPDATE_INTERVAL_MINUTES=60
• HAPPIER_SELF_HOST_AUTO_UPDATE_AT=03:15 (daily schedule; overrides interval scheduling)

Implementation is platform-native and runs hstack self-host update on an interval:

• Linux: systemd timer (user or system mode)
• macOS: launchd StartInterval
• Windows: schtasks scheduled task

hstack self-host status reports both:

• configured auto-update intent (enabled + interval)
• job state (whether the timer/task is installed/enabled/active)

Updating the schedule after install

Use hstack self-host config to inspect and update the local self-host installation:

hstack self-host config view

Set the daily window and apply the platform-native scheduler changes:

hstack self-host config set --auto-update --auto-update-at=03:15

To only update the stored config (and not touch systemd/launchd/schtasks), pass:

hstack self-host config set --auto-update-at=03:15 --no-apply

Relay server runner (self-hostable entrypoint)

The relay runner can also pull and cache runtime artifacts by rolling tag:

• downloads/verifies server runtime (and optionally UI web)
• caches extracted artifacts in the platform cache directory
• sets HAPPIER_SERVER_UI_DIR automatically when UI is enabled

This is useful when you want a single “run the server” entrypoint that tracks a channel, without installing a system service.

Release channels

Behavior can differ between preview and production lanes (for example update feeds and promotion timing).

For artifact-level release details, see Release artifacts.