feat: show update notification in TUI and footer (#1204)

src/cli/App.tsx

@@ -967,6 +967,7 @@ export default function App({
   showCompactions = false,
   agentProvenance = null,
   releaseNotes = null,
+  updateNotification = null,
   sessionContextReminderEnabled = true,
 }: {
   agentId: string;
@@ -988,6 +989,7 @@ export default function App({
   showCompactions?: boolean;
   agentProvenance?: AgentProvenance | null;
   releaseNotes?: string | null; // Markdown release notes to display above header
+  updateNotification?: string | null; // Latest version when a significant auto-update was applied
   sessionContextReminderEnabled?: boolean;
 }) {
   // Warm the model-access cache in the background so /model is fast on first open.
@@ -1707,6 +1709,31 @@ export default function App({
   // Static items (things that are done rendering and can be frozen)
   const [staticItems, setStaticItems] = useState<StaticItem[]>([]);
 
+  // Show in-transcript notification when auto-update applied a significant new version
+  const [footerUpdateText, setFooterUpdateText] = useState<string | null>(null);
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (!updateNotification) return;
+    setStaticItems((prev) => {
+      if (prev.some((item) => item.id === "update-notification")) return prev;
+      return [
+        ...prev,
+        {
+          kind: "status" as const,
+          id: "update-notification",
+          lines: [
+            `A new version of Letta Code is available (**${updateNotification}**). Restart to update!`,
+          ],
+        },
+      ];
+    });
+    // Also show briefly in the footer placeholder area
+    setFooterUpdateText(
+      `New version available (${updateNotification}). Restart to update!`,
+    );
+    const timer = setTimeout(() => setFooterUpdateText(null), 8000);
+    return () => clearTimeout(timer);
+  }, [updateNotification]);
+
   // Track committed ids to avoid duplicates
   const emittedIdsRef = useRef<Set<string>>(new Set());
 
@@ -12743,6 +12770,7 @@ If using apply_patch, use this exact relative patch path: ${applyPatchRelativePa
                 statusLineRight={statusLine.rightText || undefined}
                 statusLinePadding={statusLine.padding || 0}
                 statusLinePrompt={statusLine.prompt}
+                footerNotification={footerUpdateText}
               />
             </Box>
 

src/cli/components/InputRich.tsx

@@ -234,6 +234,7 @@ const InputFooter = memo(function InputFooter({
   statusLineText,
   statusLineRight,
   statusLinePadding,
+  footerNotification,
 }: {
   ctrlCPressed: boolean;
   escapePressed: boolean;
@@ -252,6 +253,7 @@ const InputFooter = memo(function InputFooter({
   statusLineText?: string;
   statusLineRight?: string;
   statusLinePadding?: number;
+  footerNotification?: string | null;
 }) {
   const hideFooterContent = hideFooter;
   const maxAgentChars = Math.max(10, Math.floor(rightColumnWidth * 0.45));
@@ -328,6 +330,10 @@ const InputFooter = memo(function InputFooter({
               (shift+tab to {showExitHint ? "exit" : "cycle"})
             </Text>
           </Text>
+        ) : footerNotification ? (
+          <Text color={colors.status.processingShimmer}>
+            {footerNotification}
+          </Text>
         ) : (
           <Text dimColor>Press / for commands</Text>
         )}
@@ -621,6 +627,7 @@ export function Input({
   statusLinePadding = 0,
   statusLinePrompt,
   onCycleReasoningEffort,
+  footerNotification,
 }: {
   visible?: boolean;
   streaming: boolean;
@@ -662,6 +669,7 @@ export function Input({
   statusLinePadding?: number;
   statusLinePrompt?: string;
   onCycleReasoningEffort?: () => void;
+  footerNotification?: string | null;
 }) {
   const [value, setValue] = useState("");
   const [escapePressed, setEscapePressed] = useState(false);
@@ -1484,6 +1492,7 @@ export function Input({
                 statusLineText={statusLineText}
                 statusLineRight={statusLineRight}
                 statusLinePadding={statusLinePadding}
+                footerNotification={footerNotification}
               />
             )}
           </Box>
@@ -1530,6 +1539,7 @@ export function Input({
     statusLineText,
     statusLineRight,
     statusLinePadding,
+    footerNotification,
     promptChar,
     promptVisualWidth,
     suppressDividers,

src/index.ts

@@ -365,7 +365,7 @@ async function main(): Promise<void> {
 
   // Check for updates on startup (non-blocking)
   const { checkAndAutoUpdate } = await import("./updater/auto-update");
-  startStartupAutoUpdateCheck(checkAndAutoUpdate);
+  const autoUpdatePromise = startStartupAutoUpdateCheck(checkAndAutoUpdate);
 
   // Clean up old overflow files (non-blocking, 24h retention)
   const { cleanupOldOverflowFiles } = await import("./tools/impl/overflow");
@@ -1032,6 +1032,20 @@ async function main(): Promise<void> {
     // Release notes to display (checked once on mount)
     const [releaseNotes, setReleaseNotes] = useState<string | null>(null);
 
+    // Update notification: set when auto-update applied a significant new version
+    const [updateNotification, setUpdateNotification] = useState<string | null>(
+      null,
+    );
+    useEffect(() => {
+      autoUpdatePromise
+        .then((result) => {
+          if (result?.latestVersion) {
+            setUpdateNotification(result.latestVersion);
+          }
+        })
+        .catch(() => {});
+    }, []);
+
     // Auto-install Shift+Enter keybinding for VS Code/Cursor/Windsurf (silent, no prompt)
     useEffect(() => {
       async function autoInstallKeybinding() {
@@ -2067,6 +2081,7 @@ async function main(): Promise<void> {
       showCompactions: settings.showCompactions,
       agentProvenance,
       releaseNotes,
+      updateNotification,
       sessionContextReminderEnabled: !noSystemInfoReminderFlag,
     });
   }

src/startup-auto-update.ts

@@ -1,11 +1,22 @@
+export interface UpdateNotification {
+  latestVersion: string;
+}
+
 export function startStartupAutoUpdateCheck(
-  checkAndAutoUpdate: () => Promise<{ enotemptyFailed?: boolean } | undefined>,
+  checkAndAutoUpdate: () => Promise<
+    | {
+        enotemptyFailed?: boolean;
+        latestVersion?: string;
+        updateApplied?: boolean;
+      }
+    | undefined
+  >,
   logError: (
     message?: unknown,
     ...optionalParams: unknown[]
   ) => void = console.error,
-): void {
-  checkAndAutoUpdate()
+): Promise<UpdateNotification | undefined> {
+  return checkAndAutoUpdate()
     .then((result) => {
       // Surface ENOTEMPTY failures so users know how to fix
       if (result?.enotemptyFailed) {
@@ -14,8 +25,11 @@ export function startStartupAutoUpdateCheck(
           "Fix: rm -rf $(npm prefix -g)/lib/node_modules/@letta-ai/letta-code && npm i -g @letta-ai/letta-code\n",
         );
       }
+      // Return notification payload for the TUI to consume
+      if (result?.updateApplied && result.latestVersion) {
+        return { latestVersion: result.latestVersion };
+      }
+      return undefined;
     })
-    .catch(() => {
-      // Silently ignore other update failures (network timeouts, etc.)
-    });
+    .catch(() => undefined);
 }

src/updater/auto-update.ts

@@ -357,6 +357,23 @@ async function performUpdate(): Promise<{
 export interface AutoUpdateResult {
   /** Whether an ENOTEMPTY error persisted after cleanup and retry */
   enotemptyFailed?: boolean;
+  /** Latest version available (set when a significant update was applied) */
+  latestVersion?: string;
+  /** True when the binary was updated and the user should restart */
+  updateApplied?: boolean;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Returns true when `latest` is at least one minor version ahead of `current`.
+ * Used to gate the in-app "restart to update" notification — patch-only bumps
+ * are applied silently without interrupting the user.
+ */
+function isSignificantUpdate(current: string, latest: string): boolean {
+  const [cMajor = 0, cMinor = 0] = current.split(".").map(Number);
+  const [lMajor = 0, lMinor = 0] = latest.split(".").map(Number);
+  if (lMajor > cMajor) return true;
+  if (lMajor === cMajor && lMinor > cMinor) return true;
+  return false;
 }
 
 export async function checkAndAutoUpdate(): Promise<
@@ -384,6 +401,13 @@ export async function checkAndAutoUpdate(): Promise<
     if (updateResult.enotemptyFailed) {
       return { enotemptyFailed: true };
     }
+    if (
+      updateResult.success &&
+      result.latestVersion &&
+      isSignificantUpdate(result.currentVersion, result.latestVersion)
+    ) {
+      return { updateApplied: true, latestVersion: result.latestVersion };
+    }
   }
 }
 
@@ -427,8 +451,9 @@ export async function manualUpdate(): Promise<{
     };
   }
 
+  const installCmd = buildInstallCommand(detectPackageManager());
   return {
     success: false,
-    message: `Update failed: ${updateResult.error}`,
+    message: `Update failed: ${updateResult.error}\n\nTo update manually: ${installCmd}`,
   };
 }