Upgrading

IvaraBase

IvaraBase upgrades itself on start. Its metadata database has numbered migrations that run once, in order, and each project’s auth, storage, realtime and webhook schemas are brought up to date automatically. Downgrading isn’t supported, so take a backup before upgrading.

Docker

docker compose pull && docker compose up -d

Native (systemd or launchd)

make linux        # or download a release binary
sudo install -m 0755 bin/ivarabase-linux-amd64 /usr/local/bin/ivarabase
sudo ivarabase service restart

If a release bumps PostgREST or Deno (see CHANGELOG.md), re-run sudo bash scripts/install-deps-ubuntu.sh (with scripts/deps.env next to it) before restarting.

After upgrading, check Dashboard → Health, or run ivarabase doctor.

PostgreSQL

Minor versions (18.1 → 18.6) arrive with system updates (apt upgrade, a new Docker image) and need only a restart.

Major versions (18 → 19) change the data format. IvaraBase refuses to start an old data directory with new binaries and tells you why. Move through backups, which restore into newer versions:

1. Back up every project with verification, and keep the bundles off the server (off-site S3, or copy the backups folder).
2. Install the new Postgres major (or switch to the -pg19 image) with a fresh data directory or volume.
3. Before the first start, run ivarabase dr restore --from <folder or S3> --recovery-key ... (see Backups).
4. Start IvaraBase and check the projects.

Keep the old data directory until you’re happy with the result.

From 0.1 to 0.2

Nothing to do by hand. On first start, 0.2:

• adds the extensions schema to every project and puts it on the REST API’s search path;
• adds the MFA tables and phone columns to each project’s auth schema;
• sets up realtime and webhook support in each project;
• writes Postgres tuning based on available memory. If you had tuned Postgres by editing postgresql.conf, move those settings to postgres.settings or IVARA_PG_*. IvaraBase’s own ivarabase.conf is included last, so it wins over postgresql.conf.

scripts/install-deps-ubuntu.sh now reads scripts/deps.env, so copy both files to the server, and it also installs pgvector.