feat: Add version check #310

rubiin · 2025-12-08T02:57:28Z

rubiin · 2025-12-08T02:58:17Z

Also, we can add a check to skip this for dev build I guess cause dev build has dev version

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR adds automatic version checking functionality to notify users when a new version of sesh is available. The implementation fetches the latest release information from GitHub's API and compares it with the current version on every CLI invocation.

Key Changes:

Added getLatestVersion() to fetch the latest release tag from GitHub API
Added isUpgradeAvailable() to compare semantic versions
Integrated version check into NewRootCommand() initialization to display update notifications

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Copilot · 2025-12-08T16:17:48Z

seshcli/root_command.go

+func isUpgradeAvailable(current, latest string) bool {
+	c := strings.TrimPrefix(current, "v")
+	l := strings.TrimPrefix(latest, "v")
+	cParts := strings.Split(c, ".")
+	lParts := strings.Split(l, ".")
+	for i := 0; i < len(cParts) && i < len(lParts); i++ {
+		cNum, _ := strconv.Atoi(cParts[i])
+		lNum, _ := strconv.Atoi(lParts[i])
+		if lNum > cNum {
+			return true
+		} else if lNum < cNum {
+			return false
+		}
+	}
+	return len(lParts) > len(cParts)
+}


The version check functions (getLatestVersion and isUpgradeAvailable) lack test coverage. Given that the codebase has comprehensive test coverage for other components (e.g., lister, namer, tmux packages all have corresponding test files), these new functions should also be tested.

Consider adding a test file seshcli/root_command_test.go with tests for:

isUpgradeAvailable with various version formats (e.g., "v1.2.3" vs "v1.2.4", "v2.0.0" vs "v1.9.9", equal versions, etc.)

Edge cases like empty strings, malformed versions, versions with different lengths

That's why I'm recommending we move this to it's own package :)

Copilot · 2025-12-08T16:17:48Z

seshcli/root_command.go

+func getLatestVersion() (string, error) {
+	resp, err := http.Get("https://api.github.com/repos/joshmedeski/sesh/releases/latest")
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	defer resp.Body.Close()
+	var release struct {
+		TagName string `json:"tag_name"`
+	}
+	if err := stdjson.NewDecoder(resp.Body).Decode(&release); err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}


GitHub API has rate limits (60 requests/hour for unauthenticated requests). When users hit this limit, they'll see no update notification and won't know why the check failed. Additionally, if many users run sesh frequently, they could exhaust their rate limit quickly.

Consider:

Adding a User-Agent header to identify the client: req.Header.Set("User-Agent", "sesh/"+version)

Logging rate limit errors to help users understand why updates aren't being checked

Implementing caching to reduce API calls

Suggested change

func getLatestVersion() (string, error) {

resp, err := http.Get("https://api.github.com/repos/joshmedeski/sesh/releases/latest")

if err != nil {

return "", err

}

defer resp.Body.Close()

var release struct {

TagName string `json:"tag_name"`

}

if err := stdjson.NewDecoder(resp.Body).Decode(&release); err != nil {

return "", err

}

// cache for latest version

var latestVersionCache struct {

version string

timestamp int64

}

func getLatestVersion(version string) (string, error) {

// cache for 1 hour

now := runtimewrap.Now().Unix()

if latestVersionCache.version != "" && now-latestVersionCache.timestamp < 3600 {

return latestVersionCache.version, nil

}

req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", "https://api.github.com/repos/joshmedeski/sesh/releases/latest", nil)

if err != nil {

return "", err

}

req.Header.Set("User-Agent", "sesh/"+version)

client := &http.Client{}

resp, err := client.Do(req)

if err != nil {

return "", err

}

defer resp.Body.Close()

if resp.StatusCode == http.StatusForbidden {

slog.Error("GitHub API rate limit exceeded. Update checks are temporarily disabled.")

return "", errors.New("GitHub API rate limit exceeded")

}

if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {

return "", fmt.Errorf("unexpected status code: %d", resp.StatusCode)

}

var release struct {

TagName string `json:"tag_name"`

}

if err := stdjson.NewDecoder(resp.Body).Decode(&release); err != nil {

return "", err

}

latestVersionCache.version = release.TagName

latestVersionCache.timestamp = now

I guess this further supports my suggestion to limit how often we check for this.

Copilot · 2025-12-08T16:17:49Z

seshcli/root_command.go

+func getLatestVersion() (string, error) {
+	resp, err := http.Get("https://api.github.com/repos/joshmedeski/sesh/releases/latest")
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	defer resp.Body.Close()
+	var release struct {
+		TagName string `json:"tag_name"`
+	}
+	if err := stdjson.NewDecoder(resp.Body).Decode(&release); err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	return release.TagName, nil
+}


The HTTP request to GitHub API lacks a timeout, which could cause the CLI to hang indefinitely if the network is slow or GitHub is unresponsive. This blocks the application startup for all users on every invocation.

Consider using an HTTP client with a reasonable timeout (e.g., 2-3 seconds):

client := &http.Client{Timeout: 2 * time.Second} resp, err := client.Get("https://api.github.com/repos/joshmedeski/sesh/releases/latest")

I highly recommend this, since sesh is always meant to be fast.

I think it's less likely users will go out of their way to explicitly check for updates (which is why you built this feature), but I'm thinking 1 second would be the longest we'd want to wait.

@copilot open a new pull request to apply changes based on this feedback

Copilot · 2025-12-08T16:17:49Z

seshcli/root_command.go

+	defer resp.Body.Close()
+	var release struct {
+		TagName string `json:"tag_name"`
+	}
+	if err := stdjson.NewDecoder(resp.Body).Decode(&release); err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	return release.TagName, nil


The HTTP response status code is not checked before attempting to decode the body. A non-200 response (e.g., 404, 403 from rate limiting, or 500) will attempt to decode an error response as a release, leading to silent failures or incorrect behavior.

Add status code validation:

defer resp.Body.Close() if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK { return "", fmt.Errorf("unexpected status code: %d", resp.StatusCode) }

Probably something simple like "Unable to determine if upgrade is available"

Copilot · 2025-12-08T16:17:49Z

seshcli/root_command.go

+		cNum, _ := strconv.Atoi(cParts[i])
+		lNum, _ := strconv.Atoi(lParts[i])


Version comparison silently ignores errors from strconv.Atoi, which means non-numeric version components (e.g., "2.0.0-beta", "1.2.3-rc1") will be treated as 0. This can lead to incorrect version comparison results.

Consider handling the error or using a proper semver library like github.com/Masterminds/semver/v3:

cNum, err := strconv.Atoi(cParts[i]) if err != nil { return false // or handle pre-release versions properly } lNum, err := strconv.Atoi(lParts[i]) if err != nil { return false }

I haven't done pre-release versions before, but if I choose to start doing that I'll make sure to update this area of the code.

Copilot · 2025-12-08T16:17:49Z

seshcli/root_command.go

+	latest, err := getLatestVersion()
+	if err == nil && isUpgradeAvailable(version, latest) {
+		fmt.Printf("A new version of sesh is available: %s (current: %s)\n", latest, version)
+	}


The version check is performed synchronously during CLI initialization, blocking the startup of every command for every user. This adds network latency (potentially 100ms-2000ms+) to all CLI invocations, even when users just want to run quick commands.

Consider one of these approaches:

Run the version check in a goroutine to avoid blocking startup

Cache the result with a TTL (e.g., check once per day)

Only check on specific commands or with a --check-updates flag

Move this to a background service or scheduled task

Example with goroutine (non-blocking):

go func() { latest, err := getLatestVersion() if err == nil && isUpgradeAvailable(version, latest) { fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "A new version of sesh is available: %s (current: %s)\n", latest, version) } }()

Some interesting ideas here, let me know what you think

joshmedeski

Thanks, this is a great idea! I've got some feedback on code organization and functionality.

I think the main one for me is to not have this run every time any sesh command is run. Perhaps there is a more controlled way to present this to the user.

joshmedeski · 2025-12-08T16:15:38Z

seshcli/root_command.go

 )

+func getLatestVersion() (string, error) {
+	resp, err := http.Get("https://api.github.com/repos/joshmedeski/sesh/releases/latest")


Can we use graphql or a query param to only return the tag_name instead of the entire payload?

joshmedeski · 2025-12-08T16:15:53Z

seshcli/root_command.go

+func getLatestVersion() (string, error) {
+	resp, err := http.Get("https://api.github.com/repos/joshmedeski/sesh/releases/latest")
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err


I'm assuming if there's no internet it just silently fails?

joshmedeski · 2025-12-08T16:18:54Z

seshcli/root_command.go

 	"github.com/joshmedeski/sesh/v2/zoxide"
 )

+func getLatestVersion() (string, error) {


I don't want this feature to live in the root_command. Perhaps a "updater" package? Then we can add unit tests to ensure the isUpgradeAvailable has unit tests and mock the http response when testing other functionality

I will try to get this wrapped up in the coming weekend

seshcli/root_command.go

joshmedeski · 2025-12-08T16:24:04Z

seshcli/root_command.go


 	slog.Debug("seshcli/root_command.go: NewRootCommand", "version", version, "config", config)

+	latest, err := getLatestVersion()


It is uncommon to see sesh's output as many commands switch the user to a different session.

What would be a good way to present this to the user? I'm thinking when a user calls sesh without an argument and/or calls the --version flag.

And I agree, during development we'll need a way to skip this all-together.

joshmedeski · 2025-12-08T16:31:34Z

I came up with some more ideas for improving how upgrade notifications are handled, I'll work on these once we get this PR merged.

#311

Co-authored-by: Josh Medeski <[email protected]>

rubiin added 2 commits December 8, 2025 08:39

feat: Add version check and upgrade notification to root command

ae60ef9

fix: Remove debug print statement for version check in root command

854e088

joshmedeski requested review from Copilot and joshmedeski December 8, 2025 16:13

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of joshmedeski December 8, 2025 16:14 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Dec 8, 2025

View reviewed changes

joshmedeski requested changes Dec 8, 2025

View reviewed changes

rubiin and others added 2 commits December 8, 2025 22:39

Merge branch 'main' into main

63265da

Update seshcli/root_command.go

cc905db

Co-authored-by: Josh Medeski <[email protected]>

-func getLatestVersion() (string, error) {
-	resp, err := http.Get("https://api.github.com/repos/joshmedeski/sesh/releases/latest")
-	if err != nil {
-		return "", err
-	}
-	defer resp.Body.Close()
-	var release struct {
-		TagName string `json:"tag_name"`
-	}
-	if err := stdjson.NewDecoder(resp.Body).Decode(&release); err != nil {
-		return "", err
-	}
+// cache for latest version
+var latestVersionCache struct {
+	version string
+	timestamp int64
+}
+func getLatestVersion(version string) (string, error) {
+	// cache for 1 hour
+	now := runtimewrap.Now().Unix()
+	if latestVersionCache.version != "" && now-latestVersionCache.timestamp < 3600 {
+		return latestVersionCache.version, nil
+	}
+	req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", "https://api.github.com/repos/joshmedeski/sesh/releases/latest", nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	req.Header.Set("User-Agent", "sesh/"+version)
+	client := &http.Client{}
+	resp, err := client.Do(req)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	defer resp.Body.Close()
+	if resp.StatusCode == http.StatusForbidden {
+		slog.Error("GitHub API rate limit exceeded. Update checks are temporarily disabled.")
+		return "", errors.New("GitHub API rate limit exceeded")
+	}
+	if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("unexpected status code: %d", resp.StatusCode)
+	}
+	var release struct {
+		TagName string `json:"tag_name"`
+	}
+	if err := stdjson.NewDecoder(resp.Body).Decode(&release); err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	latestVersionCache.version = release.TagName
+	latestVersionCache.timestamp = now

		cNum, _ := strconv.Atoi(cParts[i])
		lNum, _ := strconv.Atoi(lParts[i])


		slog.Debug("seshcli/root_command.go: NewRootCommand", "version", version, "config", config)

		latest, err := getLatestVersion()

feat: Add version check #310

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rubiin commented Dec 8, 2025

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rubiin commented Dec 8, 2025 •

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