Self-Update

The bare yerd update command (no subcommand) checks for, and optionally installs, a newer version of Yerd itself. yerd update php is a different command that updates an installed PHP version - see PHP.

Command	Description
yerd update	Check for a newer Yerd on your configured channel and report it. Installs nothing.
yerd update --yes	Check, then download, verify, and install the update, and restart the daemon.
yerd update --edge / --stable	Check (or, with --yes, apply) against the edge or stable channel for this run.
yerd update --edge --yes / --stable --yes	Also persist the given channel as your saved default.
yerd update --yes --force	Allow a downgrade (e.g. moving from a newer pre-release back to stable).

yerd update                    # check only, using your saved channel
yerd update --edge              # check against edge, without changing your saved channel
yerd update --yes               # check and install on your saved channel
yerd update --edge --yes        # switch to (and install from) the edge channel

Channels

Yerd ships two release channels, persisted as update_channel in yerd.toml ("stable" by default):

• stable - the highest released version that isn't a pre-release.
• edge - the highest released version including pre-releases / release candidates.

--edge/--stable override the saved channel for this invocation only. Add --yes and the override also becomes the new saved default - a check-only run (no --yes) never touches your saved preference, but prints a reminder that it's showing a channel other than the one it will use next time.

The stable channel never installs a downgrade: if you're running a pre-release that is already newer than the latest stable, yerd update --yes (without --edge) reports you're ahead of stable and stays put. --force (which requires --yes) is the escape hatch for that case, though an automated downgrade isn't implemented yet - it currently just says so.

What --yes does

1. Persists the channel override, if --edge/--stable was given.
2. Asks the daemon to check the channel (yerd_ipc::Request::CheckUpdate). If nothing is available, it reports and exits 0 - no download happens.
3. Otherwise asks the daemon to download and verify the target release's artifact (Request::StageUpdate): the daemon fetches the platform-specific asset (macOS .app.tar.gz, Linux .deb/.pkg.tar.zst/.rpm), checks its SHA-256 against the release's SHA256SUMS manifest, and verifies a detached minisign signature (the <artifact>.minisig asset, with a legacy <artifact>.sig accepted as a fallback) against an embedded public key.
4. Re-verifies the signature a second time locally (closing the window between the daemon's verify and the install), then installs the artifact and restarts the daemon so it comes back up on the new version.

--yes is not compatible with --json - the apply path is interactive progress output, not a single structured response.

Where Yerd must live

On macOS, self-update only works when Yerd is installed at /Applications/Yerd.app and that location is writable by you. Installs elsewhere (e.g. a dev build) are rejected with a clear error rather than silently failing.

Platform support

Platform	Install mechanism
macOS (Apple Silicon)	Extracts the .app.tar.gz, swaps it into /Applications, restarts the daemon via launchctl kickstart -k.
Linux (.deb build)	Reinstalls via dpkg -i, elevated with pkexec if needed; restarts the daemon via systemctl --user restart (or a stop/start fallback with no systemd user instance).
Linux (Arch .pkg.tar.zst build)	Reinstalls via pacman -U, same elevation and restart path as the .deb build.
Linux (Fedora .rpm build)	Reinstalls via rpm -U --oldpackage, same elevation and restart path as the .deb build.
Intel macOS, other platforms	No self-update artifact is published; yerd update reports nothing available.

See also

• PHP - the unrelated yerd update php [VERSION] command.
• Configuration Reference - the persisted update_channel key.
• yerd-update - the channel-resolution and artifact-selection/verification logic.
• yerd-service-ctl - the daemon restart step of the applier.
• Daemon control - the separate yerd restart daemon command.