Update, back up and move Denframe

Follow these steps in your own Denframe. This website never connects to your household, your accounts or your devices, and never asks for your credentials.

1. 1

   Hear when an update is out

   In Studio, open Screens & rotation, then Keep displays up to date. Under Denframe on this computer, turn on Tell me when a beta update is out.

   Once a day Denframe reads the public list of desktop releases and, when a newer build is out, says so on Home. The request carries nothing about your home, and nothing is downloaded or installed for you.

   Only the desktop app checks. Home Assistant shows its own update on the app's page in Home Assistant.

2. 2

   Make a backup

   Quit Denframe from its icon's menu with Quit Denframe, then run its backup command with a folder to write into:

   /Applications/Denframe.app/Contents/MacOS/Denframe maintenance backup /path/to/backups

   (Start-Process -Wait -PassThru -FilePath "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\Denframe\Denframe.exe" -ArgumentList 'maintenance','backup','C:\path\to\backups').ExitCode

   On a Mac the command prints the new backup's folder. On Windows Denframe prints nothing: the command waits for it and shows its exit code, 0 when it worked, and the backup is the newest denframe-backup-… folder there.

   Each backup is a new folder with a manifest naming the Denframe version that made it. Check one the same way with verify and the backup's folder in place of backup and the folder to write into.

   • It keeps your dashboards, screens, sources, household lists, the photos and media you added to Denframe, and the password and sign-in keys.
   • Albums that read a folder on this computer or a network drive stay in that folder: back the folder up yourself.
   • It leaves out the saved passwords and tokens of connected services such as calendars and Home Assistant: you connect those again after a restore.

   Keep each backup with the installer that made it. A backup restores only into the same version of Denframe.

3. 3

   Install the update

   With Denframe quit and a fresh backup made, download the new installer from Downloads, install it over the old one and open Denframe again.

   The first time a new build starts on older data it upgrades it, keeping a copy of the database in the data folder's pre-upgrade folder first. That copy is a safety net, not a backup. Data from 0.1.0-pilot.14 or later is upgraded; older pilot data is refused, so set up again or keep the older build with its data.

   Paired screens, playlists and schedules carry over. Wall displays update separately, from Keep displays up to date; see Keep a screen looking right.

4. 4

   Restore a backup

   Install the Denframe version the backup's manifest names, quit it, and run maintenance restore with the backup's folder, the same way as the backup command above.

   The restore checks every file before it changes anything, and keeps the data it replaced beside the new one in case you need it back.

   After a restore, for safety:

   • Everyone signs in again, and phones, tablets and wall displays are paired again from Access.
   • Connected services are connected again on their Sources pages, and approved home controls are approved again.
   • Sharing with Home Assistant stays off under Restored installation until you approve it again, and an MQTT broker connection comes back off.
   • Denframe's own Apple Home bridge, if you used it, is added to Apple Home again.

   To move to a newer build afterwards, restore with the matching build first, then install the newer one.

5. 5

   Move Denframe to another computer

   Make a backup on the old computer and copy its folder across. On the new computer, install the same Denframe version, restore the backup there, then update to the newest build.

   Allow LAN receiver access on the new computer, as the install guide does. Chromecasts and Google TVs are found again on their own. An Android wall panel or a TV's web browser is pointed at the new computer's address and paired again. Quit Denframe on the old computer, or uninstall it, so only one Denframe answers your screens.

6. 6

   On Home Assistant

   Home Assistant's own backups include the Denframe app: it is stopped while its data is copied, so the copy is consistent. Make one before you update the app.

   Update Denframe where you installed it, on its page in Home Assistant. Restoring a Home Assistant backup brings Denframe back with the same safety steps as above: sign in again, pair screens again and reconnect services. Its own Home Assistant connection reconnects by itself.

7. 7

   Check it worked

   Open Denframe. Home lists your screens and dashboards as before, and verify on your newest backup succeeds: on a Mac it says so, on Windows its exit code is 0.

   After a restore or a move, cast a dashboard to one screen to confirm the screens reach Denframe.