Updates

Slipway includes built-in update detection and one-click updates from the dashboard.

How It Works

Slipway checks for new versions by querying the GitHub Releases API for the latest release. Checks are cached for 1 hour to respect rate limits. No data is sent to external servers — Slipway only reads the public release metadata.

When a new version is available, a banner appears at the top of your dashboard with a link to the update page.

Automatic Update (Dashboard)

The recommended way to update Slipway:

1. When a new version is available, click Update in the notification banner
2. On the update page, review the version comparison
3. Click Update Now

Slipway will:

1. Pull the latest Docker image from ghcr.io/sailscastshq/slipway
2. Inspect your current container's configuration (env vars, volumes, network, labels)
3. Spawn the bosun — a temporary sidecar container (slipway-bosun) that swaps the old container for the new one
4. The dashboard goes offline briefly (~5 seconds) while the container restarts
5. The page automatically reloads when the new version is ready

Data Persistence

Your data is stored on Docker volumes (slipway-db) and is preserved across updates. Your secrets at /etc/slipway/.env are also untouched.

Manual Update (SSH)

If the dashboard update doesn't work or you prefer command-line updates, SSH into your server and re-run the install script:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sailscastshq/slipway/main/install.sh | bash

The script detects your existing installation (via /etc/slipway/.env), reuses your secrets (SESSION_SECRET and DATA_ENCRYPTION_KEY), pulls the latest image, and restarts the container with the same configuration.

You'll see:

Existing installation detected — reusing secrets
Pulling latest Slipway image...
Starting Slipway dashboard...

========================================================
  Slipway updated successfully!
========================================================

Version Checking Configuration

Update notifications are configured in config/slipway.js:

module.exports.slipway = {
  // Show update banner in dashboard (default: true)
  showUpdateNotifications: true,

  // How often to check (default: 1 hour)
  updateCheckInterval: 60 * 60 * 1000
}

Rollback

If an update causes issues, you can roll back by running the install script with a specific version, or by pulling and running a previous image:

docker pull ghcr.io/sailscastshq/slipway:0.1.0

Then re-run the install script — it will use the image already pulled locally.

Alternatively, check the container logs to diagnose the issue:

docker logs slipway

The --restart unless-stopped policy means Docker will keep retrying if the container crashes on startup.

Troubleshooting

Update Check Shows "Unable to Check"

• Network: Ensure your server can reach api.github.com over HTTPS
• Rate limiting: GitHub allows 60 requests/hour for unauthenticated requests. Slipway caches results for 1 hour to stay within limits

Dashboard Update Fails

If the one-click update fails:

1. Check the browser console for error details
2. Fall back to the manual update method
3. If the dashboard is unreachable, SSH into your server and check docker logs slipway

Container Won't Start After Update

1. Check logs: docker logs slipway
2. Verify volumes exist: docker volume ls | grep slipway
3. Check the release notes for breaking changes or new required environment variables