watchfire update

Self-update Watchfire by downloading the latest release from GitHub.

Usage

watchfire update

Description

watchfire update checks for and installs the latest version of Watchfire. It queries the GitHub Releases API, downloads architecture-specific binaries, and replaces the current installation.

What It Does

1. Queries the GitHub Releases API for the latest version
2. Downloads architecture-specific binaries (CLI and daemon)
3. Stops the daemon if it's currently running
4. Atomically replaces the CLI (watchfire) and daemon (watchfired) binaries
5. Restarts the daemon

Notes

• Requires network access to reach GitHub Releases
• The daemon is automatically stopped and restarted during the update
• Both the CLI and daemon binaries are updated together
• The GUI application updates separately via its built-in electron-updater

Examples

Update to the latest release

watchfire update

Stops the daemon if it's running, atomically swaps both the watchfire CLI and watchfired daemon binaries, then restarts the daemon. The GUI updates separately via its built-in electron-updater.

Verify the version after updating

watchfire version

Run before and after watchfire update to confirm the new release was actually applied. If the version is unchanged, fall through to watchfire update failure.

Common pitfalls

• Permission denied on binary swap — the update fails on a path the current process can't overwrite (typically /usr/local/bin/). Fix: re-run with the right permissions, or fall back to a source install — see Installation → Build from Source.
• Daemon does not restart cleanly — the CLI is updated but watchfire daemon status reports the daemon is down. Fix: run watchfire daemon start manually, or rm ~/.watchfire/daemon.yaml if a stale connection-info file is in the way.
• GUI still shows the old version — watchfire update only updates the CLI/daemon. Fix: the Watchfire.app bundle has its own auto-updater; install the latest .dmg/.AppImage from GitHub Releases if it hasn't picked up the update yet.