How to Update

These steps update a manual installation on Debian or Ubuntu to the latest release. They do not apply to the nightly version, which you update with git pull.

Read the release notes of every version you skip first. Since 2.3, PLANKA needs Node.js 24 or newer; check with node -v.

1. Stop PLANKA

   sudo systemctl stop planka

   If you use PM2, run pm2 stop planka as the planka user instead.

2. Back Up the Database

   cd /tmp
   sudo -u postgres pg_dump planka > ~/planka_backup_$(date +%Y%m%d).sql

3. Move the Current Version Aside

   sudo mv /var/www/planka /var/www/planka-old
   sudo mkdir -p /var/www/planka
   sudo chown -R planka:planka /var/www/planka

4. Download the New Version

   sudo -i -u planka
   cd /var/www/planka
   curl -fsSL -O https://github.com/plankanban/planka/releases/latest/download/planka-prebuild.zip
   unzip planka-prebuild.zip -d /var/www/
   rm planka-prebuild.zip

5. Copy Your Configuration and Files

   cp -a /var/www/planka-old/.env /var/www/planka/
   cp -a /var/www/planka-old/data/. /var/www/planka/data/

   If you use custom terms, copy them too:

   cp -a /var/www/planka-old/terms/custom /var/www/planka/terms/

6. Install Dependencies and Migrate the Database

   npm install
   npm run db:init

7. Start PLANKA Again

   exit
   sudo systemctl start planka

   If you use PM2, run pm2 restart planka as the planka user instead.

Once everything works, remove the old version:

sudo rm -rf /var/www/planka-old