Updating Nexus

Nexus checks for new releases in the background every four hours, and immediately when you press "Check for updates" in the dashboard's "Menu". Releases are published on GitHub, and the update window links there ("View releases on GitHub") if you want to read release notes before anything happens.

On Windows, Nexus installs updates itself. On macOS and Linux there is no in-place installer yet: update by downloading the new build from the download page and installing it the same way you installed the first time.

Update behavior (Windows)

In Settings, under "General" and then "Software updates", the "Update behavior" setting has three options. Quoting the app's own description: "Always keep updated installs new versions automatically. Download and notify downloads in the background and asks before installing. Only notify tells you when one is available."

In practice:

• "Always keep updated" (the default): a detected update is downloaded and verified in the background, then applied the next time the service starts. Nexus never restarts itself mid-session to update.
• "Download and notify": the update is downloaded and verified, then the "Install update" badge waits for you. Nothing installs until you press it.
• "Only notify": Nexus only tells you an update exists ("Update available"); nothing is downloaded until you open the update window and choose "Download & install".

Every update is integrity-checked before it installs: the installer's SHA-256 hash is verified against the SHA256SUMS file published with the release. Background staging refuses any release that does not carry that file. After an update, the dashboard reconnects on the new version and shows the release notes ("What's new").

The Beta channel

The "Update channel" setting in the same section has two options, described in-app as: "Production is the stable release. Beta gives you the latest features early, if you're feeling brave."

• "Production" (the default) only ever offers stable releases.
• "Beta" offers whichever release is newest, beta or stable. Beta versions carry a -beta.N suffix (for example v3.1.0-beta.1). When the matching stable release ships, it counts as newer than its betas, so a beta user is offered the stable automatically; you drift back to stable without touching anything.

Leaving the Beta channel is the same single setting: switch back to "Production" and Nexus offers the next stable release. If you install a beta build directly, Nexus sets your channel to "Beta" on its own so you keep receiving beta updates.

Updating on macOS and Linux

• macOS: download the new Nexus.dmg and install it over the old app.
• Linux: download the new Nexus-Linux-x64.tar.gz, extract, and run ./install.sh again.

Your settings and profiles survive an update on every platform; updates never touch your data.