feat(agent): agent self update and scheduled updates by vnikonov-devolutions · Pull Request #1726 · Devolutions/devolutions-gateway

Vladyslav Nikonov (vnikonov-devolutions) · 2026-03-24T15:08:53Z

This PR includes the following:

Devolutions Agent self-update using shim executable.
Scheduled updates
/jet/update endpoint improvements (moved params to request body, deprecated query param
new /jet/update/schedule endpoint for controlling on-machine update scheduling
new GET endpoints both for /jet/update and /jet/update/schedule. Agent now provides new update_status.json for querying product update and schedule status.

Issue: ARC-447

github-actions · 2026-03-24T15:09:18Z

Let maintainers know that an action is required on their side

Add the label release-required Please cut a new release (Devolutions Gateway, Devolutions Agent, Jetsocat, PowerShell module) when you request a maintainer to cut a new release (Devolutions Gateway, Devolutions Agent, Jetsocat, PowerShell module)
Add the label release-blocker Follow-up is required before cutting a new release if a follow-up is required before cutting a new release
Add the label publish-required Please publish libraries (`Devolutions.Gateway.Utils`, OpenAPI clients, etc) when you request a maintainer to publish libraries (Devolutions.Gateway.Utils, OpenAPI clients, etc.)
Add the label publish-blocker Follow-up is required before publishing libraries if a follow-up is required before publishing libraries

Copilot

Pull request overview

Adds “Agent auto update” support across the Windows Agent MSI, the Agent updater runtime, and Gateway’s API surface so that the Agent can self-update (manually triggered and on a maintenance-window schedule).

Changes:

Introduces an updater shim executable (devolutions-agent-updater.exe) and packages it into the Windows Agent MSI + CI artifacts.
Adds Gateway API endpoints to trigger an Agent update and to read/write Agent auto-update configuration.
Extends the Agent updater to support Agent as an updateable product and implements periodic self-update checks using interval + maintenance window settings.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 30 out of 33 changed files in this pull request and generated 7 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
package/AgentWindowsManaged/Resources/Strings_en-US.json	Adds Service Configuration dialog strings for auto-update.
package/AgentWindowsManaged/Resources/Strings.g.cs	Regenerates strongly-typed string IDs for new resources.
package/AgentWindowsManaged/Resources/DevolutionsAgent_fr-fr.wxl	Adds French localized strings + updates feature name/description for updater feature.
package/AgentWindowsManaged/Resources/DevolutionsAgent_en-us.wxl	Adds English localized strings + updates feature name/description for updater feature.
package/AgentWindowsManaged/Properties/AgentProperties.g.tt	Formatting-only updates to the T4 template.
package/AgentWindowsManaged/Properties/AgentProperties.g.cs	Formatting-only updates to generated properties.
package/AgentWindowsManaged/Program.cs	Adds updater shim file into MSI layout under an updater feature folder.
package/AgentWindowsManaged/Dialogs/Wizard.cs	Minor formatting change.
package/AgentWindowsManaged/DevolutionsAgent.csproj	Adds `WixSharp.wix.bin` reference (WiX toolset payload).
package/AgentWindowsManaged/Actions/CustomActions.cs	Adds MSI custom action to write `Updater.AgentAutoUpdate.Enabled` into `agent.json`.
package/AgentWindowsManaged/Actions/AgentActions.cs	Schedules new auto-update configuration custom action in execute sequence.
devolutions-gateway/src/api/update_agent.rs	New Gateway endpoints: trigger agent update + get/set agent auto-update config.
devolutions-gateway/src/api/update.rs	Extends update manifest payload to include `agent: None`.
devolutions-gateway/src/api/mod.rs	Wires new update-agent routes into the main router.
devolutions-agent/src/updater/productinfo/mod.rs	Adds productinfo ID constant for Agent.
devolutions-agent/src/updater/product_actions.rs	Adds Agent-specific update actions (self-update path) and guards unreachable branches.
devolutions-agent/src/updater/product.rs	Adds `Product::Agent` and integrates with `UpdateJson`/productinfo mapping.
devolutions-agent/src/updater/package.rs	Implements Agent self-update install via detached shim; skips in-process uninstall for Agent.
devolutions-agent/src/updater/mod.rs	Adds periodic polling for auto-update, interval parsing, maintenance window logic + tests, and version gating.
devolutions-agent/src/updater/error.rs	Adds updater shim specific error variants.
devolutions-agent/src/updater/detect.rs	Adds registry detection for installed Agent version/product-code.
devolutions-agent/src/config.rs	Adds `updater.agent_auto_update` config field (documented) to agent config DTO.
devolutions-agent/src/agent-updater.rs	New Windows-only shim executable that runs `msiexec` for uninstall/install silently.
devolutions-agent/Cargo.toml	Adds second binary target + Windows-only deps for interval/window logic.
crates/devolutions-agent-shared/src/update_json.rs	Extends `UpdateJson` schema with optional `Agent` section.
crates/devolutions-agent-shared/src/lib.rs	Exposes new agent auto-update module + re-exports config type.
crates/devolutions-agent-shared/src/agent_auto_update.rs	New helpers to read/write `Updater.AgentAutoUpdate` in `agent.json`.
crates/devolutions-agent-shared/Cargo.toml	Adds `serde_json` dependency for new config helpers.
ci/tlk.ps1	Adds Windows build packaging for the new updater shim binary.
ci/package-agent-windows.ps1	Threads updater exe through MSI packaging script and env vars.
Cargo.lock	Locks new Rust dependencies (`humantime`, `time`).
.github/workflows/package.yml	Includes shim in agent artifacts and wires `DAGENT_UPDATER_EXECUTABLE`.
.github/workflows/ci.yml	Exposes/upstreams the shim executable path into Windows packaging steps.

💡 Add Copilot custom instructions for smarter, more guided reviews. Learn how to get started.

devolutions-gateway/src/api/update_agent.rs

ci/package-agent-windows.ps1

package/AgentWindowsManaged/Actions/CustomActions.cs

Copilot · 2026-03-25T01:09:20Z

devolutions-agent/src/updater/mod.rs

+    // The first agent version with self-update support is 2026.2 (anything built after
+    // 2026.1.x lacks the updater shim and would permanently disable auto-update).
+    const AGENT_MIN_SELF_UPDATE_VERSION: DateVersion = DateVersion {
+        year: 2026,
+        month: 1,
+        day: 0,
+        revision: 0,
+    };


The comment says the first version supporting self-update is 2026.2, but the constant is set to 2026.1.0.0. With the current <= checks, versions like 2026.1.5.0 would be treated as self-update capable (because they are > 2026.1.0.0), which could trigger an update to a build that lacks the updater shim and break future auto-updates. Consider setting the threshold to 2026.2.0.0 (or otherwise excluding all 2026.1.*) and using a < min_supported style comparison; also the comment likely meant “built before 2026.2”.

devolutions-agent/src/config.rs

devolutions-gateway/src/api/update_agent.rs

Benoît Cortier (CBenoit)

Thank you!

I roughly reviewed the API side and left a few questions to guide the design.

We’ll have to perform a dry run of the workflows to ensure everything is packaged as expected 💡

Benoît Cortier (CBenoit) · 2026-03-25T03:34:33Z

devolutions-gateway/src/api/update_agent.rs

I see the /jet/update route is already used to update the Devolutions Gateway itself and the Hub service. This PR writes to the same update.json file that /jet/update already writes to, but through a completely separate endpoint with a different API shape. That means we now have two routes that mutate the same file, with potentially different authorization, different parameter styles, and no coordination between them. Why not extend the existing endpoint instead?

The questions I have to direct the direction:

Could we extend the existing /jet/update instead? (In a clean way)

Is the Agent the only program we’ll ever want to auto-update?

If we do add a separate endpoint, what prevents a proliferation of update endpoints as more products are added?

If a separate endpoint is chosen, should it at least live under /jet/update/agent to signal the relationship, rather than an orthogonal path?

Who should be authorized to trigger an Agent update? Same gateway.update scope, or a new one? This affects both approaches.

What happens if the Agent is asked to update itself while it's mid-way through processing another update (e.g.: Gateway)?

The current /jet/update uses query params for version, should we take this opportunity to move version into the request body instead, for consistency and extensibility (e.g.: specifying multiple product versions in one call)?

Extended /jet/update, deprecated query param, added new body request params, supporting multiple products update

Added new separate endpoint /jet/update/schedule to control new functionality - scheduled update

Decided to keep scope gateway.update for all /jet/update* endpoints. I think its fair to think that if gateway update triggering is allowed for this scope, then agent/update scheduling should be implied IMHO

Added mechanism to reject any concurrent updates if there is already update in progress.

Benoît Cortier (CBenoit) · 2026-03-25T03:51:26Z

devolutions-gateway/src/api/update_agent.rs

+    let update_json = UpdateJson {
+        agent: Some(ProductUpdateInfo { target_version }),
+        gateway: None,
+        hub_service: None,
+    };
+
+    let update_json = serde_json::to_string(&update_json).map_err(
+        HttpError::internal()
+            .with_msg("failed to serialize the update manifest")
+            .err(),
+    )?;
+
+    std::fs::write(updater_file_path, update_json).map_err(
+        HttpError::internal()
+            .with_msg("failed to write the new `update.json` manifest on disk")
+            .err(),
+    )?;


note: Here we handle the json serialization and filesystem write in Devolutions Gateway itself.

Benoît Cortier (CBenoit) · 2026-03-25T03:54:01Z

crates/devolutions-agent-shared/src/agent_auto_update.rs

thought: And now in this module we use serde_json directly, and perform I/O with the filesystem. Just thought it was worth pointing out the difference, although I see the nature of the operations is materially different.

Benoît Cortier (CBenoit) · 2026-03-25T03:57:50Z

devolutions-agent/Cargo.toml


 [target.'cfg(windows)'.dependencies]
 aws-lc-rs = "1.15"
+humantime = "2"


issue: I would rather avoid humantime since this is purely machine-to-machine communication. We don’t need to add parsing overhead I think.

Well, I think it still worth to use for more clean agent.json representation, so it could be edited manually on the machine; It is still possible to set interval as seconds without unit suffixes.

Okay! Just confirming: is it something we really expect users to modify? I am under the impression we’ll only document the DVLS-path with UI. If you think it’s really worth it, you can leave humantime.

removed dependency

Benoît Cortier (CBenoit) · 2026-03-25T04:05:07Z

devolutions-agent/Cargo.toml

+[[bin]]
+name = "devolutions-agent"
+path = "src/main.rs"
+
+[[bin]]
+name = "devolutions-agent-updater"
+path = "src/agent-updater.rs"
+


issue: Adding a second binary to this crate has the benefit of simplicity, but the agent crate pulls in ironrdp, devolutions-pedm, win-api-wrappers with heavy Windows API features, rand, rustls, and more. The updater binary needs almost none of that, yet both [[bin]] targets link against the same lib.rs, so we’re paying for all of it in compile time and binary size.

Same-crate is fine as a starting point with a note to extract later, but we should not ship it as-is.

Benoît Cortier (CBenoit) · 2026-03-25T04:05:38Z

Also, please link a Jira ticket! Thanks 🙂

Vladyslav Nikonov (vnikonov-devolutions) · 2026-03-30T23:23:30Z

Implementation notes

`update.json` V2 manifest format (`devolutions-agent-shared`)

Introduced a structured V2 manifest (UpdateManifestV2) alongside the legacy flat V1 (UpdateJson). V2 adds a versioned envelope (VersionMajor: 2), a keyed Products map supporting arbitrary product names, and an optional Schedule field, providing means to read/control auto update scheduling via gateway.

Gateway `POST /jet/update` rework

The endpoint now accepts an optional JSON body with a Products map for multi-product updates. The legacy ?version= query parameter is kept for backward compatibility (gateway-only, deprecated). Both forms cannot be used simultaneously (HTTP 400). When the on-disk manifest is V1 (older agent installed), only Gateway and HubService are accepted — requesting Agent or unknown products returns a descriptive 400 pointing to the need to upgrade the agent first.

New `GET/POST /jet/update/schedule` endpoints

Gateway can now read and write the Schedule field in update.json directly. The agent watches this file via notify-debouncer-mini; when it detects a schedule change written by the gateway, it persists the new schedule to agent.json and picks it up live without a restart. At agent startup, init_update_json seeds update.json with the current schedule from agent.json so GET /jet/update/schedule returns meaningful data immediately on the first poll.

Agent updater scheduling

Major rework of devolutions-agent/src/updater/mod.rs. Added a maintenance-window scheduler (next_poll_delay) that supports a configurable UpdateWindowStart/UpdateWindowEnd (seconds past midnight, wrapping across midnight correctly), a repeating interval within the window, and a single daily check when interval == 0. The updater loop now processes all products from the Products map rather than only Gateway.

`devolutions-agent-updater` shim

New standalone Windows binary that runs the MSI installer as a detached child process. This allows the agent service to survive its own service-stop/restart cycle during a self-update — the shim remains alive after the service is killed and completes the MSI installation independently.

Vladyslav Nikonov (vnikonov-devolutions) · 2026-03-31T12:11:03Z

Additional changes: new GET endpoints both for /jet/update and /jet/update/schedule. Agent now provides new update_status.json for querying product update and schedule status.

Vladyslav Nikonov (vnikonov-devolutions) · 2026-03-31T12:11:49Z

devolutions-gateway/src/token.rs

    RecordingsRead,
    #[serde(rename = "gateway.update")]
    Update,
+    #[serde(rename = "gateway.update.read")]


new scope for read-only update operations

Vladyslav Nikonov (vnikonov-devolutions) · 2026-03-31T12:12:24Z

devolutions-gateway/openapi/gateway-api.yaml

  license:
    name: MIT/Apache-2.0
-  version: 2025.3.2
+  version: 2026.1.0


note to self: this API version most likely should be updated too before gateway repo release cutting

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 29 out of 30 changed files in this pull request and generated 8 comments.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

devolutions-agent/src/updater/mod.rs:819

init_update_json unconditionally overwrites update.json on every agent start. This can wipe pending update requests written by the Gateway (and any existing Products/Schedule state) before the file watcher loop processes them. Consider only creating the file when it does not exist, or reading the existing manifest and updating just the Schedule field while preserving Products/other fields.

async fn init_update_json(initial_schedule: Option<&UpdaterSchedule>) -> anyhow::Result<Utf8PathBuf> {
    let update_file_path = get_updater_file_path();

    // Write the current schedule from agent.json into update.json so the gateway can
    // read it immediately via GET /jet/update/schedule without waiting for a poll cycle.
    let v2 = UpdateManifestV2 {
        schedule: initial_schedule.map(|s| UpdateSchedule::from(s.clone())),
        ..Default::default()
    };

    let initial_manifest = UpdateManifest::ManifestV2(v2);
    let default_update_json =
        serde_json::to_string_pretty(&initial_manifest).context("failed to serialize default update.json")?;

    fs::write(&update_file_path, default_update_json)
        .await
        .context("failed to write default update.json file")?;

💡 Add Copilot custom instructions for smarter, more guided reviews. Learn how to get started.

Copilot · 2026-03-31T12:20:29Z

devolutions-agent/src/updater/mod.rs

+            if product == Product::Agent && version <= AGENT_MIN_SELF_UPDATE_VERSION {
+                warn!(
+                    %product,
+                    %version,
+                    min_version = %AGENT_MIN_SELF_UPDATE_VERSION,
+                    "Target version does not support agent self-update; skipping to avoid breaking auto-update"
+                );
+                return Ok(None);
+            }


The min-version guard for Agent self-update is inconsistent: the Latest branch allows remote_version == AGENT_MIN_SELF_UPDATE_VERSION, but the Specific branch rejects version == AGENT_MIN_SELF_UPDATE_VERSION via <=. If 2026.2.0.0 is the first supported version, this should likely be a strict < check so the minimum supported version is allowed.

devolutions-agent/src/updater/package.rs

devolutions-gateway/src/api/update.rs

devolutions-gateway/openapi/gateway-api.yaml

devolutions-gateway/src/api/update.rs

crates/devolutions-agent-shared/src/lib.rs

Vladyslav Nikonov (vnikonov-devolutions) · 2026-03-31T13:50:25Z

Copilot Please read all not resolved copilot comments and prepare PR with fixes

Copilot · 2026-03-31T13:50:35Z

Vladyslav Nikonov (@vnikonov-devolutions) I've opened a new pull request, #1732, to work on those changes. Once the pull request is ready, I'll request review from you.

Benoît Cortier (CBenoit) · 2026-04-01T09:27:08Z

Poke me again when you are satisfied with the result!

…1732) Fixes five bugs/inconsistencies identified in code review of the agent self-update and scheduled updates feature. ## Changes - **Min-version guard consistency** (`updater/mod.rs`): `Specific` branch used `<=` (incorrectly blocking `AGENT_MIN_SELF_UPDATE_VERSION` itself); changed to `<` to match the `Latest` branch. - **Shim log path** (`updater/package.rs`): Log path was derived from `shim_path`, but the shim writes its log relative to `msi_path` (`{msi_path}.shim.log`). Fixed to match actual file location. - **`POST /jet/update` empty products** (`api/update.rs`): Calling the endpoint with no query param and no body silently overwrote `update.json` with an empty `Products` map, clearing any pending update requests. Now returns `400 Bad Request`. - **`GET /jet/update/schedule` doc mismatch** (`api/update.rs`): Doc comment said the handler reads `update.json`; it actually reads `agent_status.json`. Comment corrected. - **`UpdateProduct` OpenAPI schema** (`api/update.rs`, `gateway-api.yaml`): Derived `ToSchema` generated an incorrect `oneOf` with an object variant for `Other`, mismatching the flat-string serde encoding. Replaced with a manual `ToSchema` impl emitting `type: string`. YAML regenerated. --------- Co-authored-by: copilot-swe-agent[bot] <198982749+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> Co-authored-by: vnikonov-devolutions <246051166+vnikonov-devolutions@users.noreply.github.com>

Benoît Cortier (CBenoit) requested a review from Copilot March 25, 2026 01:04

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of Benoît Cortier (CBenoit) March 25, 2026 01:04 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Mar 25, 2026

View reviewed changes

Benoît Cortier (CBenoit) reviewed Mar 25, 2026

View reviewed changes

Vladyslav Nikonov (vnikonov-devolutions) force-pushed the feat/agent-auto-update branch from e84e4ae to f52d4f5 Compare March 30, 2026 22:45

Vladyslav Nikonov (vnikonov-devolutions) changed the title ~~WIP: Agent auto update~~ feat(agent): agent self update and scheduled updates Mar 30, 2026

Vladyslav Nikonov (vnikonov-devolutions) commented Mar 31, 2026

View reviewed changes

Vladyslav Nikonov (vnikonov-devolutions) requested review from Benoît Cortier (CBenoit) and Copilot March 31, 2026 12:13

Vladyslav Nikonov (vnikonov-devolutions) marked this pull request as ready for review March 31, 2026 12:13

Vladyslav Nikonov (vnikonov-devolutions) requested review from a team as code owners March 31, 2026 12:13

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of Vladyslav Nikonov (vnikonov-devolutions) March 31, 2026 12:13 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Mar 31, 2026

View reviewed changes

feat(agent): agent self update and scheduled updates

1a19165

Vladyslav Nikonov (vnikonov-devolutions) force-pushed the feat/agent-auto-update branch from 4431b67 to 1a19165 Compare March 31, 2026 13:01

Minor refactoring

d65cec1

Copilot AI mentioned this pull request Mar 31, 2026

fix(agent): address unresolved review comments from self-update PR #1732

Merged

Conversation

Vladyslav Nikonov (vnikonov-devolutions) commented Mar 24, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

github-actions bot commented Mar 24, 2026

Let maintainers know that an action is required on their side

Uh oh!

Copilot AI left a comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Pull request overview

Reviewed changes

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Copilot AI Mar 25, 2026

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Benoît Cortier (CBenoit) left a comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Benoît Cortier (CBenoit) Mar 25, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Benoît Cortier (CBenoit) commented Mar 25, 2026

Uh oh!

Vladyslav Nikonov (vnikonov-devolutions) commented Mar 30, 2026

Implementation notes

update.json V2 manifest format (devolutions-agent-shared)

Gateway POST /jet/update rework

New GET/POST /jet/update/schedule endpoints

Agent updater scheduling

devolutions-agent-updater shim

Uh oh!

Vladyslav Nikonov (vnikonov-devolutions) commented Mar 31, 2026

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Vladyslav Nikonov (vnikonov-devolutions) Mar 31, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Copilot AI left a comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Pull request overview

Uh oh!

Copilot AI Mar 31, 2026

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Vladyslav Nikonov (vnikonov-devolutions) commented Mar 31, 2026

Uh oh!

Copilot AI commented Mar 31, 2026

Uh oh!

Vladyslav Nikonov (vnikonov-devolutions) commented Mar 24, 2026 •

edited

Loading

Benoît Cortier (CBenoit) Mar 25, 2026 •

edited

Loading

`update.json` V2 manifest format (`devolutions-agent-shared`)

Gateway `POST /jet/update` rework

New `GET/POST /jet/update/schedule` endpoints

`devolutions-agent-updater` shim

Vladyslav Nikonov (vnikonov-devolutions) Mar 31, 2026 •

edited

Loading