Beta channel

The beta channel ships signed pre-release builds from main, before they’re rolled up into a tagged release. Use it if you want fixes faster and don’t mind the occasional regression. Stable users are unaffected — they stay on tagged releases.

Enable it

1. Open Settings → Updates.
2. Switch the channel to Beta (experimental).
3. Hit Check for updates in the main menu. If a beta is available, it downloads and installs like any other update.

The active channel is shown in Help → About next to the version and build date, so you can verify at a glance.

What you’re opting into

• Beta builds are signed with the same key as stable, and the updater verifies the signature before installing. They are not unsigned dev builds.
• Versions follow the form <next-patch>-beta.<timestamp>+<sha> — e.g. while stable is on 1.0.18, betas ship as 1.0.19-beta.20260520.... The next-patch base is deliberate: SemVer says a pre-release suffix sorts lower than the same normal version (1.0.18-beta.X < 1.0.18), so if we tagged betas with the current stable version, opted-in users would never receive them. Pushing the base forward keeps 1.0.18 < 1.0.19-beta.X < 1.0.19.
• Once you’re on the beta channel, the updater only checks beta.json. A new stable release does not automatically pull you back — you’ll keep getting betas until you either receive a newer beta or manually revert (see below).
• Beta builds can contain bugs that never ship to stable. We may build a beta, get feedback, and abandon the change.
• There’s no published changelog for the beta channel today. The commit log on main is the source of truth for what’s in a beta build.

Reporting issues from a beta build

Use Help → Report an issue as usual. The reporter now includes the channel and exact version in the environment block, which is what we need to triage.

If you’re seeing something that smells like a regression, please include:

• The exact beta version (1.0.X-beta.YYYYMMDDhhmmss+sha) from the About dialog.
• The last stable version where the behavior worked, if known.
• Whether disabling the channel and reinstalling stable makes it go away.

Frequently asked

Will I get a beta when I’m not opted in? No. Stable channel only sees tagged releases.

Does opting in affect existing data? No. The vault, settings, history, and saved queries are all stored on disk independently of the binary; both channels read the same files.

How often are betas published? Today, only when someone manually triggers the beta build workflow in CI. We may move to scheduled or push-triggered builds later — that decision lives in #105.