Enable Auto-Updates

Configures automatic update checking for your Electron application. Updates are distributed via GitHub Releases, S3 buckets, or generic HTTP servers.

Usage

enable_auto_updates(
  appdir,
  provider = c("github", "s3", "generic"),
  owner = NULL,
  repo = NULL,
  check_on_startup = TRUE,
  auto_download = FALSE,
  auto_install = FALSE,
  verbose = TRUE
)

Arguments

appdir

Character path to app directory containing _shinyelectron.yml

provider

Character update provider: "github" (default), "s3", or "generic"

owner

Character GitHub username or organization (required for github provider)

repo

Character GitHub repository name (required for github provider)

check_on_startup

Logical whether to check for updates when app starts. Default TRUE.

auto_download

Logical whether to download updates automatically. Default FALSE.

auto_install

Logical whether to install updates automatically on quit. Default FALSE.

verbose

Logical whether to show progress messages. Default TRUE.

Value

Invisibly returns the path to the updated config file.

Details

Auto-updates require:

1. A published application (e.g., to GitHub Releases)

2. Proper code signing for macOS and Windows (recommended)

3. The electron-updater package (automatically included in build)

Update Providers

GitHub Releases (recommended for open source):

• Automatically detects new releases by comparing semver tags

• Requires owner and repo parameters

• Private repos require GH_TOKEN environment variable

S3 Bucket:

• For self-hosted updates behind a CDN

• Configure bucket, region, and path in _shinyelectron.yml

• Bucket must allow public reads or use CloudFront signed URLs

• Required bucket structure: /{path}/latest-mac.yml, latest-linux.yml, latest.yml

Generic HTTP Server:

• For any HTTP server hosting update files

• Configure base URL in _shinyelectron.yml

• Server must host latest-mac.yml, latest-linux.yml, latest.yml at the URL root

Publishing Updates (GitHub Releases)

After enabling auto-updates, follow this workflow to publish updates:

1. Bump version in _shinyelectron.yml (e.g., version: "1.1.0")

2. Rebuild with export(appdir, destdir, build = TRUE)

3. Create a GitHub Release with a semver tag matching the version:

   • Tag: v1.1.0 (the v prefix is required)

   • Upload the built artifacts from destdir/electron-app/dist/:

     • macOS: .dmg and latest-mac.yml

     • Windows: .exe installer and latest.yml

     • Linux: .AppImage and latest-linux.yml

4. The app checks for updates on startup (if check_on_startup = TRUE) and notifies the user when a new version is available

Code Signing Requirement

macOS and Windows require code-signed builds for auto-updates to work. Unsigned apps will fail the update verification step. Set signing: sign: true in your config and provide credentials via environment variables (see ?validate_signing_config).

See also

init_config() for creating initial configuration

Examples

if (FALSE) { # \dontrun{
# Enable GitHub-based updates
enable_auto_updates(
  "path/to/app",
  provider = "github",
  owner = "myusername",
  repo = "myapp"
)

# Enable with automatic download
enable_auto_updates(
  "path/to/app",
  provider = "github",
  owner = "myorg",
  repo = "dashboard",
  auto_download = TRUE
)
} # }