Auto Update

IRFlow Timeline now supports in-app macOS updates with electron-updater.

User flow

• First install still happens from the DMG
• Packaged builds check for updates automatically a few seconds after launch
• Users can also trigger Help → Check for Updates… from the in-app menu bar
• Downloaded updates install on restart

Check for Updates

The manual check lives under Help in the menu bar:

Selecting Check for Updates… opens an in-app status popup that reports whether you are up to date, shows download progress when an update is available, and prompts you to restart when the package is ready to install.

Generic HTTPS Feed

Builds now use electron-builder.config.cjs, which adds a generic publish provider only when an environment variable is present.

Required environment variables for a release build:

• IRFLOW_UPDATE_BASE_URL=https://downloads.example.com/irflow-timeline
• Optional: IRFLOW_UPDATE_CHANNEL=latest

Example:

export IRFLOW_UPDATE_BASE_URL="https://downloads.example.com/irflow-timeline"
export IRFLOW_UPDATE_CHANNEL="latest"
npm run dist:release

That build produces updater metadata inside the app bundle and release artifacts in release/.

Build Modes

Use these two commands for different goals:

• npm run dist:release Real release build. This is the one you use for production DMGs and in-app updates. It should run in an environment where code signing and notarization are available.
• npm run dist:smoke Local packaging smoke test. This intentionally disables code signing discovery and skips notarization. Use it only to confirm the app packages and generates .dmg, .zip, and latest-mac.yml.

For a real local release build with the updater feed embedded:

export IRFLOW_UPDATE_BASE_URL="https://downloads.example.com/irflow-timeline"
export IRFLOW_UPDATE_CHANNEL="latest"
npm run dist:release

What To Upload

For each macOS release, upload these files to the HTTPS/CDN path referenced by IRFLOW_UPDATE_BASE_URL:

• The .zip artifact
• The .dmg artifact
• latest-mac.yml for the default channel, or <channel>-mac.yml for a custom channel

Requirements:

• The app must be signed and notarized
• The hosted files must be reachable over HTTPS
• The .zip and latest-mac.yml must stay together at the same feed root

Release Automation

The repo now includes a tag-driven GitHub Actions workflow at .github/workflows/release-macos.yml.

After one-time setup, your normal release flow becomes:

1. Commit your code changes
2. Bump package.json to the new app version
3. Create a matching git tag such as v1.2.3
4. Push the branch and tag
5. GitHub Actions builds the signed/notarized macOS release, uploads the .dmg, .zip, and update metadata to both GitHub Releases and your generic HTTPS feed
6. Users receive the update in-app

Important:

• The git tag must match package.json, for example package.json: 1.2.3 requires tag v1.2.3
• Uploading only a new DMG is not enough for in-app updates
• The workflow publishes the .zip and latest-mac.yml that electron-updater actually uses

One-Time GitHub Setup

Repository variables:

• IRFLOW_UPDATE_BASE_URL
• IRFLOW_UPDATE_BUCKET
• IRFLOW_UPDATE_PREFIX
• AWS_REGION
• Optional: IRFLOW_UPDATE_CHANNEL
• Optional: AWS_ENDPOINT_URL_S3

Repository secrets:

• AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID
• AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
• CSC_LINK
• CSC_KEY_PASSWORD
• APPLE_ID
• APPLE_APP_SPECIFIC_PASSWORD
• APPLE_TEAM_ID

Notes:

• CSC_LINK should point to your macOS signing certificate in a format supported by electron-builder
• AWS_ENDPOINT_URL_S3 allows the same workflow to target S3-compatible storage such as Cloudflare R2
• IRFLOW_UPDATE_BASE_URL must match the public HTTPS path that serves the files uploaded to IRFLOW_UPDATE_BUCKET and IRFLOW_UPDATE_PREFIX

Example Release

# after committing changes
npm version patch
git push
git push --follow-tags

That tag push triggers the macOS release workflow automatically.

Local Testing

To test updater behavior in development, create dev-app-update.yml in the project root:

provider: generic
url: https://downloads.example.com/irflow-timeline
channel: latest
updaterCacheDirName: irflow-timeline-updater

Then run a packaged build against a real hosted feed and verify:

• Startup update detection
• Manual Help → Check for Updates… (see screenshots above)
• Popup progress during download and restart install prompt