WebProCMS ships with a built-in update system. Your install checks for new versions every few hours on its own, tells you when one is available, and applies it with a single click — or fully automatically, if you prefer hands-off updates.
How you'll know an update is available
- Automatic check. The CMS polls for new releases every 6 hours in the background. No setup required.
- Dashboard banner. When a newer version exists, an amber "CMS update available" banner appears at the top of the dashboard homepage for admins. One click takes you to the update card.
- The CMS Update card. On Dashboard → Tools, the CMS Update card shows your installed version, the new version, and the release notes describing what changed.
Applying an update
On the CMS Update card, click Update Now. The update runs in the background — you can keep using the dashboard — and the card refreshes its status every few seconds while it works. When it finishes, the full log of what happened is available on the card, including on the rare occasion something fails.
An update brings everything current in one pass: the application code, the database structure, any new design library rows and default pages, and your site's rebuilt stylesheets and caches.
Updates are atomic
The update mechanism is designed so it either applies completely or not at all — your site is never left in a half-updated state, which is a real failure mode of CMSes that update by unpacking an archive over the top of your files. Two other practical benefits:
- Tiny downloads. Only the changes are transferred, not the whole CMS. A small bug fix is a small download.
- Recoverable. Every version is preserved, so a previous release can be restored if ever needed.
Two ways to run updates
Pick the mode that fits how you run your site — both use the same update pipeline; the only difference is who pulls the trigger.
Review & install (the default)
You see the banner, read the release notes, optionally take a backup first, and click Update Now on your own schedule.
Auto-install
Flip the Auto-install updates toggle on the CMS Update card and the daily check applies new versions automatically as soon as they're detected. The dashboard still shows what changed — no click required. This is the right choice for sites you'd rather not babysit; security and bug fixes land within a day of release.
Optional features have their own updates
The core CMS and its built-in premium features update together through the flow above. Website-specific custom modules — bespoke features built just for your install — update separately, from Dashboard → Settings → Features, on the Website-Specific Features tab. Each module card there shows its installed version, an "Update available" badge when its publisher releases a new version, an Update now button, and its own auto-update setting:
- Manual updates — you click Update now.
- Automatic minor — small updates install automatically; major-version upgrades wait for your click.
- Automatic major — everything installs automatically.
A Check for updates button on that tab checks every module on demand. If you have no custom modules, you can ignore this entirely.
Good habits
- Back up before big updates if you review release notes and see major changes — backups live under Manage → Backups.
- Don't fall far behind. Small, frequent updates are safer and easier to reason about than a giant jump.
- If an update ever reports a failure, the log on the card shows exactly which step failed — useful to share with whoever supports your hosting.
For a refresher on the rest of your post-install setup, see First Steps After Installing. The full technical background lives in the CMS Updates feature article.