Apply a new release

When a new release lands, you typically don't need to re-edit .env — the saved copy in the parent directory works for the new deployment too. The PostgreSQL data volume from the previous install is reused, so user accounts and data carry over without a migration step on your side.

Procedure

1. Extract the new package

tar -xzvf <new-package>.tgz
cd <new-directory>

2. Load the new Docker image

docker load -i docker-images/<new-image>.tgz

3. Restore the saved .env

cp ../.env .env

(Command Prompt: copy ..\.env .env.)

Pulls in the same configuration you used last time — same PostgreSQL password, same SECRET_KEY_BASE, same port.

4. Start the new stack

docker compose up -d
docker compose ps   # confirm healthy

Browser sanity-check at http://localhost:3000.

Notes

  • If the new release ships schema migrations, they run automatically on first boot.
  • If the saved .env is missing a value the new release expects, the release notes will call it out. Open the new package's .env.example, copy any new keys into your saved .env, and edit the values to match.
  • The previous release's containers are gone after docker compose down, but its image is still in the local Docker store. To reclaim disk space once the new release is healthy:
  docker image prune