Pulse/docs/AUTO_UPDATE.md

Automatic Updates

Pulse 5.0 introduces one-click updates for supported deployment types, making it easy to keep your monitoring system up to date.

Supported Deployment Types

Deployment	Auto-Update	Method
ProxmoxVE LXC	✅ Yes	In-app update button
Systemd Service	✅ Yes	In-app update button
Docker	❌ Manual	Pull new image
Source Build	❌ Manual	Git pull + rebuild

Using One-Click Updates

When an Update is Available

1. Navigate to Settings → System → Updates
2. If an update is available, you'll see an "Install Update" button
3. Click the button to open the confirmation dialog
4. Review the update details:
   • Current version → New version
   • Estimated time
   • Changelog highlights
5. Click "Install Update" to begin

Update Process

1. Download: New version is downloaded
2. Backup: Current installation is backed up
3. Apply: Files are updated
4. Restart: Service restarts automatically
5. Verify: Health check confirms success

Progress Tracking

A real-time progress modal shows:

• Current step
• Download progress
• Any warnings or errors
• Automatic page reload on success

Configuration

Update Preferences

In Settings → System → Updates:

Setting	Description
Update Channel	Stable (recommended) or Release Candidate
Auto-Check	Background update check interval (hours); 0 disables

Stored Settings (system.json)

Auto-update preferences are stored in system.json and edited via the UI.

{
  "autoUpdateEnabled": false,
  "updateChannel": "stable",
  "autoUpdateCheckInterval": 24,
  "autoUpdateTime": "03:00"
}

Note: autoUpdateTime is stored for UI reference. The systemd timer still runs on its own schedule (02:00 + jitter). Background update checks follow autoUpdateCheckInterval.

Manual Update Methods

Docker

# Pull latest image
docker pull rcourtman/pulse:latest

# Restart container
docker compose down && docker compose up -d

If you use the legacy docker-compose binary, replace docker compose with docker-compose.

ProxmoxVE LXC (Manual)

curl -fsSL https://github.com/rcourtman/Pulse/releases/latest/download/install.sh | bash

This script installs/updates the Pulse server. Agent updates use the /install.sh command generated in Settings → Agents → Installation commands.

Systemd Service (Manual)

curl -fsSL https://github.com/rcourtman/Pulse/releases/latest/download/install.sh | bash

This script installs/updates the Pulse server. Agent updates use the /install.sh command generated in Settings → Agents → Installation commands.

Source Build

cd /path/to/pulse
git pull
make build
sudo systemctl restart pulse

Rollback

If an update causes issues:

Automatic Rollback

Pulse creates a backup before updating. If the update fails:

1. The previous version is automatically restored
2. Service restarts with the old version
3. Error details are logged

Manual Rollback

Backups created by in-app updates are stored as backup-<timestamp>/ folders inside the Pulse data directory (/etc/pulse or /data). If that directory is not writable, Pulse falls back to /tmp/pulse-backup-<timestamp>. There is no rollback UI. To revert, stop Pulse, restore the backup contents to /opt/pulse, then restart.

Example (systemd/LXC):

sudo systemctl stop pulse
sudo cp -a /etc/pulse/backup-<timestamp>/pulse /opt/pulse/pulse
sudo cp -a /etc/pulse/backup-<timestamp>/VERSION /opt/pulse/VERSION
sudo rm -rf /opt/pulse/data /opt/pulse/config
sudo cp -a /etc/pulse/backup-<timestamp>/data /opt/pulse/data
sudo cp -a /etc/pulse/backup-<timestamp>/config /opt/pulse/config
sudo cp -a /etc/pulse/backup-<timestamp>/.env /opt/pulse/.env
sudo systemctl start pulse

Update History

History entries are stored in update-history.jsonl under the Pulse data directory (/etc/pulse or /data), and exposed via GET /api/updates/history (admin auth required).

Systemd/LXC update runs write detailed logs to /var/log/pulse/update-<timestamp>.log.

Troubleshooting

Update button not showing

1. Check if your deployment supports auto-update
2. Verify an update is actually available
3. Ensure you have the latest frontend loaded (hard refresh)

Update failed

1. Check the error message in the progress modal
2. Review logs: journalctl -u pulse -n 100 or /var/log/pulse/update-<timestamp>.log
3. Verify disk space is available
4. Check network connectivity to GitHub

Service won't restart after update

1. Check systemd status: systemctl status pulse
2. View recent logs: journalctl -u pulse -f
3. Manually restore from backup if needed