keeping solstone up to date

running the current version fixes a surprising number of issues, and it's the first thing worth ruling out.

check your version

journal --version      # or: sol --version

compare it against the latest release. if you're a version or two behind, the update may already contain your fix.

one caveat: source installs report a frozen version

if you installed solstone from a source checkout (pip install -e .) and keep your code current with git pull, the reported version does not move — it's frozen at install time. so --version can show an old number even when your code is current. if that's you, your real version is wherever your checkout sits, not what --version prints. (this trips up diagnostics too, so it's worth flagging when you file a request.)

update a journal host

uv tool install --upgrade --with-executables-from solstone-journal-host 'solstone[journal]' && journal setup

(or pipx install --force --include-deps 'solstone[journal]' && journal setup, or with pip pip install --upgrade 'solstone[journal]' && journal setup.) the journal setup step refreshes runtime artifacts and reconciles the service if anything changed.

the flags matter: the journal and mlx-vlm-server commands live in the solstone-journal-host package that [journal] pulls in, and uv tool / pipx only expose the base package's commands unless you ask for the host's too — a plain uv tool upgrade solstone would leave you without a working journal. (pip exposes them natively.) on NVIDIA, use solstone[journal-cuda] instead of solstone[journal].

update just the thin client

only talking to a journal that runs elsewhere — the sol client, no journal here? then there's no host to refresh:

uv tool upgrade solstone      # or: pipx upgrade solstone

the macos app updates itself

the solstone macos app updates through its built-in updater — accept the update when it prompts and it handles the rest.

after updating

journal doctor

confirms everything came back up cleanly. if something's still off, see when a lot seems broken at once: check convey first, or file a request from the form at https://support.solstone.app/.