Updating the deployed app

How you update depends on how you installed Songbird.

Install method	Update path
Deployment script	Run songbird-deploy and choose Update Songbird (handles backup, pull, rebuild, restart).
Docker	git pull + docker compose up -d --build.
Manual (systemd)	git pull + rebuild client/server + restart service.

WARNING

Backup your database before updating:

cd /opt/songbird/server
npm run db:backup
# Or use this for Docker:
docker compose exec songbird npm --prefix /app/server run db:backup

TIP

The Deployment Script can update your app for you and will offer to back up your database first.

Docker + Compose

cd /opt/songbird
git pull origin main
docker compose -f docker-compose.yaml up -d --build
sudo systemctl reload nginx

Manual (systemd)

cd /opt/songbird
git pull origin main
cd client
npm install
npm run build
cd ../server
npm install
sudo systemctl restart songbird
sudo systemctl reload nginx

INFO

For zero-downtime deployments on larger projects, consider blue-green deployment or PM2, but for most updates the restart approach above is simple and sufficient.