Pulse Server Automatic Updates

July 28, 2026 · View on GitHub

Pulse supports one-click server updates for supported deployment types. This document describes the Pulse server runtime, not installed Pulse Agents.

Eligible v6 agents update asynchronously through their own update client. A server update changes their target version but does not prove fleet convergence. For v5, PVE, disabled, or failed agent updates, use Agent Doctor at /settings/infrastructure?agentDoctor=1 or the installer in Settings → Infrastructure → Install on a host. See Unified Agent.

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

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

Update Process

Download: New version is downloaded, its signature and checksum are verified
Validate: The new binary is executed with --version to prove it runs on this host and reports the expected version, before anything is touched
Backup: Current installation is backed up
Apply: Files are updated
Restart: Service restarts automatically
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 for production) or Pre-release (opt-in preview)
Auto-Check	Enable or disable automatic updates

Stored Settings (system.json)

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

{
  "autoUpdateEnabled": false,
  "updateChannel": "stable"
}

Note: The update schedule itself lives in the systemd timer (daily at 02:00 plus up to 4 hours of random delay), not in system.json. The legacy autoUpdateCheckInterval and autoUpdateTime fields were never consumed by anything and are ignored if present in older files.

Channel policy note: stable is the default and only recommended channel for paid or production environments. rc remains the internal channel key, but the user-facing meaning is an explicit pre-release preview path. In v6, unattended systemd auto-updates remain stable-only even if updateChannel is set to rc.

Manual Update Methods

Docker

# Pull latest image
docker pull rcourtman/pulse:vX.Y.Z

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

This command uses the public Community image. Private Pro runtime installs must use the private image and credentials supplied by the private download/update path; replacing a Pro image with rcourtman/pulse changes the runtime edition.

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

ProxmoxVE LXC (Manual)

sudo /bin/update

/bin/update is installed by the supported Pulse server installer and preserves the signed-installer trust chain. If your host does not have it yet, use the signed server-installer flow in INSTALL.md. Agent updates still use the /install.sh command generated in Settings → Infrastructure → Install on a host.

Systemd Service (Manual)

sudo /bin/update

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:

The previous version is automatically restored
Service restarts with the old version
Error details are logged

Manual Rollback

Update backups created by in-app updates are stored as backup-<timestamp>/ folders inside the Pulse data directory (/etc/pulse or /data). If that directory does not have enough free space, Pulse falls back to /tmp/pulse-backup-<timestamp>. Pulse keeps the most recent three in-app rollback snapshots and prunes older ones from retention. 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

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

Update failed

Check the error message in the progress modal
Review logs: journalctl -u pulse -n 100 or /var/log/pulse/update-<timestamp>.log
Verify disk space is available for both the extracted release payload and a rollback snapshot of your current install
Check network connectivity to GitHub

Service won't restart after update

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