documentation/content/en/admin/upgrading.md

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Upgrading to a new release	docs weight parent 70 admin

{{< hint style="info" >}} When a new version of Mastodon comes out, it appears on the GitHub releases page. Please mind that running unreleased code from the master branch, while possible, is not recommended. {{< /hint >}}

Mastodon releases correspond to git tags. First, switch to the mastodon user:

su - mastodon

And navigate to the Mastodon root directory:

Download the releases’s code, assuming that the version is called v2.5.0:

git fetch --tags
git checkout v2.5.0

The release page contains a changelog, and below it, upgrade instructions. This is where you would execute them, for example, if the release mentions that you need to re-compile assets, you would execute:

RAILS_ENV=production bundle exec rails assets:precompile

After you have executed all special release-specific instructions, the last thing remaining is restarting Mastodon. Usually the streaming API is not updated, and therefore does not require a restart. Restarting the streaming API can lead to an unusually high load on the server, so it is advised to avoid it if possible.

Switch back to root:

exit

You would restart Sidekiq:

systemctl restart mastodon-sidekiq

And you would reload the web process to avoid downtime:

systemctl reload mastodon-web

That’s all! You’re running the new version of Mastodon now.