Upgrade

Bossanova checks for new releases automatically and shows an in-app prompt when one is available. You can also upgrade at any time from the command line.

Via Homebrew (recommended)

If you installed with Homebrew, upgrade with the fully qualified tap formula:

brew upgrade bossanova-dev/tap/bossanova

No separate brew tap step is required. Restart the daemon so it picks up the new bossd binary:

Chat

No equivalent — this command runs locally

CLI

boss daemon restart

MCP

No equivalent — this command runs locally

Then quit and relaunch boss so the TUI uses the new binary. If you use the standalone HTTP MCP server, refresh its service to use the new boss-mcp binary:

Chat

No equivalent — this command runs locally

CLI

boss mcp install --force

MCP

No equivalent — this command runs locally

Upgrade commands act on the local install — the daemon service, the MCP service file, and the binary on disk — so none of them has an MCP tool. The Chat and MCP tabs say so explicitly rather than leaving the gap implicit.

From the TUI (in-app upgrade)

When you open boss, it checks for a newer release in the background (results are cached for 24 hours). If an upgrade is available, the home screen shows:

Upgrade available: boss v1.2.3 -> v1.3.0. [u]pgrade [d]ismiss

• Press u to download and install the new version.
• Press d to dismiss the prompt for this release.

After the upgrade installs, the banner changes to:

Upgrade installed. Quit boss after restart to use the new binary. [r]estart [esc] later

Press r to restart the daemon, then quit boss (q) and relaunch it to run the new binary.

The in-app upgrade fetches public GitHub release assets and does not require a GitHub login. (A gh auth login is still required for the PR and CI features Bossanova uses day to day — see Installation.)

Via the boss upgrade CLI

Check whether a newer release is available without installing:

Chat

No equivalent — this command runs locally

CLI

boss upgrade --check

MCP

No equivalent — this command runs locally

Install the latest release. --yes is required: without it the command refuses and exits rather than prompting.

Chat

No equivalent — this command runs locally

CLI

boss upgrade --yes

MCP

No equivalent — this command runs locally

Useful flags:

Flag	What it does
--check	Check for an upgrade without installing.
--yes	Required to install; without it the command refuses.
--version <tag>	Install a specific stable release tag (no prereleases).
--no-restart	Do not restart the daemon after upgrading.

Upgrade checks require a stable release build; development builds report that a stable version is required. Homebrew installs upgrade through the tap, so exact --version installs are not supported there — run brew upgrade bossanova-dev/tap/bossanova instead.

Manual re-install via curl

Re-running the install script pulls the latest release binaries:

curl -fsSL https://bossanova.dev/install.sh | sh

Verify the upgrade

Print the running version:

Chat

No equivalent — this command runs locally

CLI

boss version

MCP

No equivalent — this command runs locally

Confirm the daemon and agent plugins are healthy after the upgrade:

Chat

"run the repair doctor"

CLI

boss repair doctor

MCP

repair_doctor

boss version reports the binary you are actually running; boss repair doctor is the one check on this page an agent can run for you, so it carries a real Chat and MCP tab.