Scratch

Updates

Scratch updates itself. There is no separate updater app, no installer to re-run.

How checks happen

  • About 30 seconds after launch, Scratch asks GitHub Releases whether a newer version is available.
  • After that, it checks every four hours while the app is running.
  • You can force a check from Help → Check for updates… in the menu bar.

Dev builds (running from source) skip update checks entirely.

What you see

If a new version is available, a non-modal banner appears at the top of the window:

A new version of Scratch is available.

While you keep working, the new version downloads in the background. When the download finishes, the banner changes to:

Update ready. Restart Scratch to install.

Click the banner to restart immediately, or quit Scratch normally — the update installs the next time you quit. Your buffers, settings, license, and window state all carry over.

What’s in a release

Each release ships:

  • A signed, notarized macOS build.
  • Release buffers on the changelog page.
  • A matching tag and downloadable build on GitHub Releases.

Stopping update checks

Turn off Settings → General → Check for updates to stop background checks. The Help menu’s Check for updates… still works on demand. To make Scratch fully quiet, also leave both Settings → Privacy toggles off.