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Getting Started

What you need​

  • Go 1.25 or newer
  • a Wails v3 project
  • your normal Wails build tools and signing setup

Install​

go install github.com/Eriyc/wailsrel/cmd/wailsrel@latest

Create the config​

wailsrel init --name "MyApp" --identifier "com.example.myapp"

This creates a wailsrel.yaml file. Edit it to tell wailsrel:

  • how to build your app
  • which output files to pick up
  • where updates should be served from

Simple config example​

schema: 2

app:
  name: "MyApp"
  identifier: "com.example.myapp"

version:
  source: git
  tag_prefix: "v"

targets:
  - id: linux-amd64
    os: linux
    arch: amd64
    build:
      argv: ["task", "-t", "build/linux/Taskfile.yml", "create:appimage"]
      requires: ["task", "wails3"]
    artifacts:
      - format: appimage
        glob: "bin/*.AppImage"
      - format: deb
        glob: "bin/*.deb"

delta:
  enabled: true
  old_artifacts:
    source: github-release
    repository: "acme/myapp"

update:
  manifest_url: "https://releases.example.com/manifest"

release:
  provider: github
  github:
    repository: "acme/myapp"

This example says:

  • build a Linux release
  • look for the generated package files in bin/
  • create update metadata
  • publish the release to GitHub

If you do not want to read versions from Git tags, use version.source: file instead.

How the app gets updates​

Your app needs a manifest URL. The updater runtime reads that URL, checks for a newer version, and downloads the right file for the current platform.

Use wailsupdate.NewRuntime(...) in the app:

runtime, err := wailsupdate.NewRuntime(wailsupdate.RuntimeOptions{
    AppID:          "com.example.myapp",
    CurrentVersion: appVersion,
    Channel:        "stable",
    NativeCompat:   nativeCompat,
    Source: wailsupdate.RuntimeSource{
        BaseURL: "https://releases.example.com",
    },
    Frontend: wailsupdate.RuntimeFrontend{
        CatalogPublicKey: os.Getenv("FRONTEND_CATALOG_PUBLIC_KEY"),
    },
})
if err != nil {
    return err
}

That gives the app a simple way to check for updates.

Check your setup​

wailsrel status
wailsrel doctor

doctor checks that the tools required by your config are installed.

Build and release​

wailsrel build
wailsrel release
  • build runs your configured build commands and collects the output files
  • release runs the full pipeline and publishes the result

If delta updates are enabled, wailsrel creates patch files during the release flow.

If you use your own server​

If you do not want GitHub Releases as the public update endpoint, point wailsrel at your own server:

update:
  manifest_url: "https://releases.example.com/manifest"

release:
  provider: http
  http:
    base_url: "https://releases.example.com"
    manifest_path: "/manifest"
    delta_manifest_path: "/delta/manifest"
    download_path_prefix: "/download"

Your server should expose:

  • GET /manifest
  • GET /delta/manifest
  • GET /frontend/catalog
  • GET /download/{tag}/{asset_name}

Use Server Contract for the exact rules, Client and Hosting for hosting options, and Frontend Runtime if you also want frontend bundle updates.