Updating the-brain (Archived)
Historical the-brain update notes
DEPRECATED — PROJECT ARCHIVED. There is no supported update channel or maintained release path. The procedures below are retained as historical reference only.
Historical Source Update Flow
The recommended method for developers working from source:
cd the-brain
git pull origin main
bun install
./install.shThis rebuilds the CLI binary, updates LaunchAgents, rebuilds the menu bar app (macOS), and restarts the daemon.
Historical Release Flow
The former public installer and release flow are no longer available.
Verifying the Update
# Check version
the-brain --version
# Verify daemon health
the-brain health
# Check plugin status
the-brain plugins listRebuilding After Code Changes
# Rebuild CLI + launch daemon
cd the-brain && ./install.sh
# Rebuild documentation
cd apps/docs && bun run build
# Restart daemon (if running)
the-brain daemon stop
the-brain daemon startDatabase Migrations
The-brain handles schema changes automatically when the daemon starts. No manual SQL migration steps are required. New tables (such as users and auth_tokens from team mode) are created on first use via CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS.
After major updates (especially renames like my-brain → the-brain), run consolidation with --reprocess to score any backlog of instant memories through the SPM curator:
the-brain consolidate --now --global --reprocessmacOS-Specific
After updating, reload the LaunchAgents to pick up binary changes:
launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.thebrain.daemon.plist
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.thebrain.daemon.plist
launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.thebrain.bar.plist
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.thebrain.bar.plistOr simply run ./install.sh which handles this automatically.
Rolling Back
cd the-brain
git log --oneline -5 # Find the commit before the update
git checkout <previous-commit> # Switch to it
bun install && ./install.shCommon Update Issues
"missing required module 'SwiftShims'"
The Swift package manager caches module paths. If you renamed the project directory or moved it:
cd apps/menu-bar
swift package clean
swift build -c release"command not found: the-brain"
The binary symlink may be broken. Re-run install.sh:
cd the-brain && ./install.shDaemon won't start after update
Check the logs:
tail -50 ~/.the-brain/logs/daemon.logMost common cause: config validation errors from new required fields. Compare your ~/.the-brain/config.json with the default config.
Breaking Changes
Check the GitHub Releases page and package changelogs for migration notes. Breaking changes are documented in ### Breaking Changes sections of each package's CHANGELOG.md.