Releasing

How Auto-Update Works

The app uses electron-updater with GitHub Releases. On launch (production only), it checks the latest-mac.yml / latest-linux.yml / latest.yml files from the latest GitHub Release and compares the version field against app.getVersion() using semver. If the release version is greater, a toast notification prompts the user to download and install.

Steps

1. Bump the version

# Patch: 1.0.0 -> 1.0.1
npm version patch

# Minor: 1.0.0 -> 1.1.0
npm version minor

# Major: 1.0.0 -> 2.0.0
npm version major

Or edit version in package.json manually and commit.

2. Push the tag

git push origin main --tags

This triggers the release workflow automatically.

What the CI Does

The release workflow (.github/workflows/release.yml) triggers on tag push matching v*.*.* and runs three parallel jobs:

Job	Runner	Builds
release-mac	macos-latest	DMG for Intel (x64) and Apple Silicon (arm64)
release-windows	windows-latest	NSIS installer (x64)
release-linux	ubuntu-latest	AppImage (x64 + arm64)

Each job:

1. Installs dependencies (npm ci).
2. Runs typecheck and unit tests (macOS only).
3. Builds the app (npm run build).
4. Packages and publishes to GitHub Releases (electron-builder --publish always).

Release Assets

File	Platform
Zequel-X.X.X.dmg	macOS Intel
Zequel-X.X.X-arm64.dmg	macOS Apple Silicon
Zequel-Setup-X.X.X.exe	Windows x64
Zequel-X.X.X.AppImage	Linux x64
latest-mac.yml	macOS auto-update metadata
latest-linux.yml	Linux auto-update metadata
latest.yml	Windows auto-update metadata

Code Signing

• macOS: Requires CSC_LINK (base64 .p12 certificate) and CSC_KEY_PASSWORD secrets in GitHub.
• Windows: Requires WIN_CSC_LINK and WIN_CSC_KEY_PASSWORD secrets (optional).

What Users See

1. App opens and checks for updates.
2. Update found: a toast appears with a "Download" button.
3. User clicks Download: silent background download.
4. Download complete: a toast appears with a "Restart" button.
5. User clicks Restart: the app restarts on the new version.
6. If ignored: the update installs automatically on next quit.

Users can also check manually via Zequel > Check for Updates... (macOS) or File > Check for Updates... (Windows/Linux).