feat(updates): persist a Stable / Pre-Release channel selector in Settings > Updates

[gatsby74]

Summary

Adds a Release Channel selector (Stable / Pre-Release) under Settings > Updates so users can opt into release-candidate builds without the hidden Shift-click menu shortcut. The choice persists through the existing updateUI({releaseChannel}) -> 'ui:set' IPC channel and is honored by manual menu checks, the auto 24h background check, focus-resume triggers, and nudge-driven checks. Shift-click stays as a per-click power-user one-shot override.

Today the only way to receive RC builds is Shift-clicking the "Check for Updates" button — undocumented and undiscoverable. Users who want to live on RCs (or want to skip them permanently) had no persisted toggle. This surfaces the option where it belongs, alongside the existing "Check for Updates" row.

Screenshots

Settings > Updates search hit for "updates" now renders the Release Channel row with its Stable / Pre-Release segmented control fully intact — the row is matched at the section-level search catalog as well, so the interactive control no longer disappears from filtered search results.

Changes

• shared/types: PersistedUIState.releaseChannel?: 'stable' | 'prerelease' (optional; defaults to stable on hydration).
• main/updater: setupAutoUpdater accepts a new getReleaseChannel callback. A shouldIncludePrerelease(perClick) helper returns true when perClick === true (Shift-click) OR _getReleaseChannel?.() === 'prerelease'. Wired into checkForUpdatesFromMenu (outer opt-in) and runBackgroundUpdateCheck before pinDefaultReleaseFeed so the right tags are fetched. The in-flight requeue branch still keys off options?.includePrerelease === true only (Shift-click) — when the persisted channel is prerelease the in-flight is already RC, so no fresh queue is needed.
• main/updater (disable path): disableIncludePrerelease() mirrors enableIncludePrerelease(), plus a syncIncludePrereleaseToPersistedChannel() wrapper. Both menu and background checks now enable OR disable the auto-updater's allowPrerelease flag based on the current persisted channel — so a UI revert Pre-Release → Stable takes effect on the very next check instead of waiting for a process restart (this was the gap CodeRabbit flagged in the first review).
• main/window: store.getUI().releaseChannel feeds the new getReleaseChannel callback at the existing setupAutoUpdater call site.
• store/slices/ui: normalizeReleaseChannel coerces undefined/hydrated values to the slice literal type. setReleaseChannel short-circuits unchanged values and persists via window.api.ui.set({ releaseChannel }), mirroring the setSetupGuideSidebarDismissed idiom. Hydrate restores explicit 'prerelease' and falls back to 'stable' for pre-feature installs.
• settings UI: a new SearchableSetting row appended under Updates with a SettingsSegmentedControl (Stable / Pre-Release). Strings go through the standard i18n translate('auto.components.settings.GeneralUpdateSettingsSection.releaseChannel.*') keys (synced into en/es/ja/ko/zh catalogs).
• settings search: the Release Channel row is registered in getGeneralUpdateSearchEntries and the row's inline keywords now include update / updates / channel so filtering "updates" in the Settings search shows the row WITH its segmented control (instead of hiding the content via mismatched section vs row-level keyword filters).
• Shift-click affordance in register-app-menu.ts and the Updates button is preserved unchanged as a per-click override.

Behavior matrix

Persisted channel	Shift-click	Result
stable	no	stable feed
stable	yes	RC feed, one-shot
prerelease	no	RC feed
prerelease	yes	RC feed, one-shot (no-op equivalent)
session was RC, then reverted UI to stable + next menu check	irrelevant	stable feed (disable path resets the sticky RC flag)

Testing checklist

• updater.test.ts — 4 new:
  • Menu check honors persisted prerelease without explicit Shift-click (asserts allowPrerelease === true and the RC feed URL).
  • Startup background check (driven by getLastUpdateCheckAt: () => null) honors persisted prerelease (asserts the RC feed URL and tag fetch count).
  • Persisted stable keeps the stable feed pinned (tag count = 1, allowPrerelease stays false).
  • Revert-to-stable clears a session-sticky RC flag on the next plain menu check (asserts allowPrerelease === false and that the next fetch uses includePrerelease: false).
• ui.test.ts — 2 new:
  • setReleaseChannel('prerelease') called twice writes window.api.ui.set exactly once (idempotent persistence).
  • Hydrate restores explicit prerelease and falls back to stable when missing.
• pnpm typecheck clean.
• pnpm lint clean (incl. switch-exhaustiveness + localization catalog/parity across en/es/ja/ko/zh).
• pnpm vitest run src/main/updater.test.ts src/main/updater-prerelease-feed.test.ts src/main/updater.check-failure.test.ts src/renderer/src/store/slices/ui.test.ts src/renderer/src/components/settings/GeneralPane.test.ts --config config/vitest.config.ts — 224 tests pass.
• Manual smoke test in pnpm dev: the Release Channel row appears (with the Stable/Pre-Release segmented control) both when scrolling to Updates directly, and when filtering on "updates" via the Settings search bar.

AI Review Report

CodeRabbit ran an automated review across the two updated commits (179c2bd → 85b47e7) and afterwards re-ran for the search-index fix (2557a2f). Findings:

• 🟠 Major — Functional Correctness (auto-resolved): enableIncludePrerelease() lacks a disable path, so reverting to Stable is ignored until restart. Fixed by adding disableIncludePrerelease() + syncIncludePrereleaseToPersistedChannel() in commit 85b47e79f — both menu and background checks now mirror the persisted channel onto the auto-updater flag. New regression test clears a session-sticky RC flag when a plain menu check runs after the channel reverts to stable covers the disable path.
• 🚥 Pre-merge warnings (informational):
  • Description check — original description did not match the repo template. This body rewrite adds the required Screenshots, Testing checklist, AI Review Report, Security Audit, and Notes sections.
  • Docstring coverage — 33.33% reported, below the 80% target. All new functions added by this PR carry JSDoc comments (shouldIncludePrerelease, disableIncludePrerelease, syncIncludePrereleaseToPersistedChannel, normalizeReleaseChannel); the residual delta is from pre-existing code in the touched files, not from these additions.

No outstanding actionable threads remain on the PR.

Security Audit

• No new IPC channels or persistence surfaces. The feature reuses the existing Store.updateUI({...}) -> 'ui:set' -> 'ui:stateChanged' pipeline; the persisted releaseChannel value is one of two closed-set literals ('stable' | 'prerelease') and validates to 'stable' on the read path when corrupted or missing.
• No secrets, URLs, or credentials touched. The auto-updater still resolves under stablyai/orca releases only; no new download domains or signature-skip paths introduced.
• No new network surfaces. Prerelease opt-in uses the already-trusted GitHub generic provider manifest probe; no additional HTTP traffic, just a different release tag set eligible for resolution.
• No shell/system-call surface touched by this change.

Cross-platform impact: none — no platform branches touched, no menu accelerators changed, no metaKey/ctrlKey shortcuts added or removed. SSH use case unaffected (the channel selection is a renderer/main-process setting; it governs the host Orca app's own auto-updater, not the SSH session lifecycle).

Side effects / migrations

None. The new field is optional and defaults to stable; pre-feature installs hydrate as stable and behave unchanged. No IPC plumbing additions, no schema migration — Orca's existing updateUI merge + ui:stateChanged re-broadcast handles the new key automatically.

Notes

• The persisted Release Channel is orthogonal to the Shift-click one-shot — the two operate on different layers. Shift-click wins per-click (and stays as-is for power users); the persisted channel wins between clicks (the next background check, including the 24h timer and powerMonitor resume, resets to the persisted choice).
• Three commits land the feature: 179c2bd (feat — UI + persistence + updater honoring), 85b47e7 (fix — CodeRabbit's 🟠 disable path), 2557a2f (fix — Settings search index + row keywords so "updates" search shows the segmented control). All three should land together for a single functional unit.

[coderabbitai]

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

Adds persisted releaseChannel support across shared UI state, the settings screen, and the auto-updater. The UI store now normalizes, hydrates, and persists stable/prerelease selections. The settings page shows a Stable/Pre-Release control with localized strings. The main process reads the stored channel and uses it for menu and background update checks. Tests cover store and updater behavior.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Docstring Coverage	⚠️ Warning	Docstring coverage is 33.33% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%.	Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.

✅ Passed checks (4 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	The title is concise and accurately summarizes the main change: a persisted release-channel selector in Settings > Updates.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Description check	✅ Passed	The PR description follows the repository template and includes the required summary, screenshots, testing, review, security, and notes sections.

_{✏️ Tip: You can configure your own custom pre-merge checks in the settings.}

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[coderabbitai]

Actionable comments posted: 1

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ℹ️ Review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Repository UI

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: db7ef256-c102-41fb-afcb-c4ae0a9a7c78

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between f6ad569 and 179c2bd.

📒 Files selected for processing (12)

• src/main/updater.test.ts
• src/main/updater.ts
• src/main/window/attach-main-window-services.ts
• src/renderer/src/components/settings/GeneralUpdateSettingsSection.tsx
• src/renderer/src/i18n/locales/en.json
• src/renderer/src/i18n/locales/es.json
• src/renderer/src/i18n/locales/ja.json
• src/renderer/src/i18n/locales/ko.json
• src/renderer/src/i18n/locales/zh.json
• src/renderer/src/store/slices/ui.test.ts
• src/renderer/src/store/slices/ui.ts
• src/shared/types.ts

[coderabbitai]

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