# Updating the engine

Updating replaces the engine software with a newer version. The websites you host keep running the whole time and are not rebuilt or changed.

Use the same command as Install. If Engine is already on this VPS, that command updates it. If not, it installs.

Update when PanelAlpha releases a fix. If a deploy failed for a reason PanelAlpha has since fixed, updating is how that fix reaches your VPS.

The update restarts the engine, so a connected assistant will disconnect for under a minute and then reconnect.

# From the server

# 1. Note your current version

pae system:version

Write it down. If anything goes wrong, this is the version you ask PanelAlpha to put you back on.

# 2. Run the update

curl --proto '=https' -fsSL https://get.panelalpha.com/engine | sh

It runs on its own for a few minutes and finishes with:

PanelAlpha engine has been successfully updated!

While it runs, your AI assistant loses its connection for under a minute and reconnects on its own. The websites you host stay up throughout.

# 3. Check it worked

pae system:version

The number should be higher than the one you noted in step 1. Then open one of your websites in a browser to confirm nothing was disturbed.

# Troubleshooting

Support asked me to install a specific version. Name it after sh -s --. Check your spelling before pressing Enter: a typo in the version flag quietly installs something other than the version you meant.

curl --proto '=https' -fsSL https://get.panelalpha.com/engine | sh -s -- --version 2.0.1

"Another instance is already running." An update is already in progress; only one can run at a time. Wait for it to finish.

The version number did not change. The update failed or you already had the newest version. The log is in /opt/panelalpha/log/engine-updates/. If you start updates from your assistant, the engine information it reads reports a run that never finished as failed, with the reason and the last lines of the updater's output, instead of leaving it looking as if it is still running.

The update stopped with Failed to fetch, followed by an address. The updater downloads only over https and stops if it cannot, including after a redirect to a plain http address. The engine on this VPS was not replaced. Check that the VPS can reach get.panelalpha.com over HTTPS, then run the update again.

The update stopped while downloading the new version. You will see Could not clone, followed by the address it tried. The engine on this VPS was not replaced. Run the update again. If it stops at the same point, contact PanelAlpha at manage.panelalpha.com/contact (opens new window).

My AI assistant lost its connection. Expected while the engine restarts. Most reconnect on their own within a minute; if yours does not, restart it. Your token still works and does not need recreating.

A website broke straight after the update. Updates do not touch running websites, so these are usually unrelated. Ask your assistant: "This site stopped working. Read its deploy log and tell me what the site is serving."

I need to go back to the previous version. There is no automatic way back, because the update also changed the engine's own database. Contact PanelAlpha with your old version number and your current one.