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Upgrade the BB-Eco app — stable and beta channels

BB-Eco ships its own auto-updater. Once installed, it checks for new releases on a schedule, downloads them in the background, and applies them on next launch. You can pick whether to track the stable channel (production-ready releases) or the beta channel (pre-release builds, faster cadence, occasionally rough edges).

This guide covers how to switch channels, force an update check, and verify the version you're running.

Where the channel switch lives​

Open BB-Eco and click the Settings (≡) icon in the left sidebar, then the About tab.

BB-Eco Settings → About tab. Shows the App version (0.2.0 stable), Sidecar version and status, an App Updates panel with a Channel dropdown set to Stable, a Status row, and a Check for Updates button. Below that, a Latest Firmware panel showing cached firmware coverage for ED (22 of 22 models) and ES (39 of 39 models). Links to the Brainboxes website and documentation appear at the bottom.

The App Updates panel has three controls:

  • Channel dropdown — Stable or Beta. The text next to it spells out which path you're on (Production-ready vs Early releases).
  • Status — last update check result (Idle, Checking…, Up to date, Update available — downloading…, Update downloaded — restart to install, Error).
  • Check for Updates button — runs an immediate check, regardless of the schedule.

Switching channels​

If you want…Pick this channel
Production stability, slower cadence, every release notarised + signedStable
Earliest access to new features, faster cadence, occasionally rough edges, helpful for testing fixes the team's working onBeta

Switching:

  1. Settings → About → Channel — pick the new channel from the dropdown.
  2. BB-Eco clears its update cache (so you don't see a stale "no update available" answer based on the old channel).
  3. The next update check uses the new channel's manifest. Click Check for Updates if you don't want to wait for the scheduled poll.
Downgrading from beta to stable

If you're on a beta build (e.g. 1.1.0-beta.3) and switch to Stable, the auto-updater will only offer you the latest stable. If that latest stable is older than your installed beta version, the auto-updater won't downgrade you automatically — you'd need to uninstall the beta and install the stable build manually from update.brainboxes.com/bb.eco/stable/.

Where updates come from​

ChannelManifest URL
Stablehttps://update.brainboxes.com/bb.eco/stable/latest.yml
Betahttps://update.brainboxes.com/bb.eco/beta/beta.yml

The update server is HTTPS-only and the released artefacts are signed and (on macOS) notarised. If your network blocks update.brainboxes.com, the auto-updater will fail silently — the Status row will show Error and BB-Eco will continue to run with the version you have. Either ask your network team to allow the host or download the installer manually and apply it.

Force a check​

Click Check for Updates in Settings → About. The button polls the channel's manifest immediately and reports the result in the Status row. If a newer version is available, BB-Eco downloads it in the background; you'll be prompted to restart when the download completes.

Verify the version you're running​

The App Version row at the top of the About tab shows the running build, with the channel in parentheses — e.g. 0.2.0 (stable) or 1.1.0-beta.3 (beta). The Sidecar Version row beneath it confirms that the bundled .NET sidecar is the matching build.

From the command line:

bb-eco --version

prints the same value.

Air-gapped sites​

If your machine has no path to update.brainboxes.com, the auto-updater can't reach the manifest. Two options:

  • Run BB-Eco as-is. It'll keep working with the version you have. The Status row will show Error after each scheduled check; that's expected.
  • Manual updates. On a machine that does have internet access, download the installer for your platform from the appropriate channel URL above. Copy it across to the air-gapped machine and run it like a fresh install — your local config, device cache, and template cache are preserved.

For broader guidance on running BB-Eco offline, see Run BB-Eco without internet access.

Roll back to a specific version​

The auto-updater always offers you the latest version on your chosen channel. To install a specific older version (e.g. to reproduce a bug or stay on a known-good release while a regression is fixed):

  1. Browse the channel's release directory: update.brainboxes.com/bb.eco/stable/ or update.brainboxes.com/bb.eco/beta/.
  2. Download the installer for your OS (.exe, .dmg, .deb, or .AppImage) at the version you want.
  3. Run it like a fresh install — your config and caches are preserved.

To stop the auto-updater pushing you back to the latest, switch to the Stable channel even if you're running an older stable build; the updater won't downgrade you.

More resources​

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