The app you use and the server running your agents can be on different machines. When a server is behind your web or desktop app, the update button at the bottom of the sidebar and Settings → Environments offer to update it.
The update button at the bottom of the sidebar updates every connected machine in one step. It updates outdated providers, then servers that are behind, then the desktop app you are using. Servers move to the version your desktop app is installing, or to your web app's version. A remote desktop app installs the latest nightly. Hover the button to see what it will update.
While it runs, the button widens to show progress. It names a machine that is taking longer than usual, and offers Retry for a server that failed. Click it to see every machine. The desktop app restarts once each server has started its own restart, after a short countdown. Choose Later to keep working and restart from the update button when you are ready. A server still restarting finishes on its own, and the button keeps showing it after the desktop app restarts.
Each server checks that it can install the release before it restarts. If the release is not available to a server yet, its update fails, the server keeps running, and you can retry. The confirmation lists each machine it skips and why, such as a machine that is offline or needs a manual update. Use Settings → Environments for those.
If a desktop app restarts on its old version, Ada tells you the update did not apply. It does not install that version again on its own, even when another device asks. Use the update button on that machine to retry.
The confirmation counts the running threads that the restarts will interrupt, and how many can resume afterwards. See Continue threads after restarts below.
Every Ada release is a nightly, published on GitHub Releases. There is no stable track to switch to. Do not update with T3 Code's installers or its npm package: they replace Ada's server with T3 Code's.
Server updates restart the connection and can interrupt active agents and terminal commands. Saved threads, settings, and project files remain.
Settings → Maintenance → Continue threads after restarts is on by default. It resumes supported active threads after an update, crash, or machine restart. Changes are saved to connected environments that support this setting; update older servers first. If a supported environment was offline or has a different value, use Apply to all in Settings after it connects. Ada must start again on that machine; the setting does not enable automatic startup. Terminal commands may still be interrupted, and threads without saved provider resume state need a new message. A thread that finished its turn to wait on a subagent, a background task, or a command or monitor the agent said it was waiting on is woken and told that this work stopped. Other background shells and monitors, such as a dev server and its watchdog, do not wake it; the thread learns about them with your next message. A thread is not resumed while it waits for your approval, answer, or secret, or while it is archived, snoozed, or settled. After three automatic resumes in a row, the thread waits for your next message.
Updates from the previous orchestration system preserve conversation transcripts but cannot carry every kind of runtime history forward. Read Threads from older Ada versions before continuing an important older thread.
A client and server must speak the same orchestration protocol. If they do not, the connection is refused rather than running half-upgraded:
- An app newer than the server is blocked before connecting, with a notice telling you to update Ada on the machine named in the notice.
- A server newer than your app refuses the connection with an update message.
Update the side the notice names, then reconnect.
The offered action depends on how the server runs:
| Action | What to do |
|---|---|
| Update server | Keep the client open while it installs and reconnects. Supported background services update remotely. For a desktop-hosted server, this also closes and relaunches the desktop app on the host. |
| Update the desktop app | Update the desktop app on the machine running the server, then reopen it if needed. |
| Copy update command | Run the copied command on the server's host. It is t3 update <version>, which works on any version, or t3-headless-update install <version> on the AppImage headless unit. |
On the host, run:
ada update <client-version>Replace <client-version> with the version shown in the notice. The command
asks before restarting the background service; if you decline, run
ada service restart when you are ready. For a server you started by hand,
stop it and start it again afterwards with your usual options such as --host
or --tailscale-serve. ada update with no version moves to the newest release.
For a host running the AppImage-based systemd unit, run
t3-headless-update install <version> instead; see
Headless Linux host.
If you decline the restart for a background service installed by an older
release, the service can stay down after a crash or reboot until you run
ada service restart.
Keep the client open until it reconnects or reports a failure. A failed service update can roll back to the previous version. If the update still fails:
- Retry the offered action once.
- Check that you updated the server's machine, not only the device you are using.
- For a command-line server, run
ada update <version>with the exact version shown in the notice, then start it again.
Only one server can use a Ada home directory at a time. If startup reports that another server owns it, stop that server before retrying, or use a separate home directory and pair with the running server.
Updating an older T3 Code (Alpha) installation can replace it with T3 Code (Beta) without reopening the app. Open T3 Code (Beta) from Applications, or run:
open "/Applications/T3 Code (Beta).app"If an old Dock shortcut no longer opens the app, remove it and add the Beta app from Applications again.
If the desktop app's server keeps failing at startup, Ada shows a "Ada could not start" window instead of the app. If a newer version is available, choose Update to install it. If not, the window links to the last version that started on your computer. Download and install it to go back. Use Copy details to include the error in a bug report.
Each server checks providers installed with npm through its own npm, so the checks use npm's configured registry, authentication, and proxy settings. Providers installed with Homebrew or pnpm check through those tools. Configure npm on the server's machine. If that registry cannot be reached, the provider update shows as unavailable; Ada does not try the public registry instead. Machines without npm check the public npm registry directly.
To download Ada releases through a mirror of
GitHub Releases, set
T3CODE_RELEASE_BASE_URL for the installer and in the server's environment.
Settings → Providers shows provider updates for the selected environment. Update all updates every outdated provider on every connected environment at once. Hover it to see which providers it will update. A provider is left out when any of its enabled, outdated instances offers only a manual update command, or when its instances use different update commands, such as two instances that run different CLI installs. Update those by hand, or point every instance of the provider at the same CLI.
After a successful provider CLI update, Ada refreshes model discovery for every enabled instance of that provider using its own configuration. Connected clients receive the refreshed catalogs automatically. Provider update checks must be enabled to download the latest Ada model catalog.
Provider updates do not restart running chats. An existing session can keep using the previous CLI until it ends. If discovery fails, check the provider status and refresh it again.
To update an environment from your phone, open Settings → Environments and select it. Check for updates finds the latest nightly for that environment. Keep the app open while the environment updates and reconnects. Hosts that cannot update remotely show instructions for updating on the machine instead.
The same page lets you refresh provider status and update supported providers. These controls require a connected environment and permission to operate it. Provider update checks and restart continuation preferences are in Settings → Maintenance. If provider update checks are disabled, enable them there before refreshing to find newer versions. The same setting controls whether Ada downloads model catalog updates, so with it off new models may not appear until you enable it and refresh provider status.
Ada's mobile app is not in the App Store or Google Play yet, so install test builds as described in Mobile app. The mobile app can also download updates in the background and apply them when you next leave the app. It saves drafts and queued messages before restarting. If you keep the app open for a long time, it may ask to install immediately; choosing Later leaves the update queued for the next suitable moment.