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Updating Blog Builder

Follow these steps to safely update to a newer version.

Before Updating​

Back up the following files and store them somewhere safe outside your installation directory:

  • .env — Your configuration and credentials
  • static/ folder — Custom images and static assets
  • uploads/ folder — User-uploaded content

Update Process​

info

Forever and PM2 examples are both shown below. Substitute the commands for whichever process manager you use.
To get your process ID in Forever, run forever list and look for the number inside [ ] before the UID.

  1. Prepare for the update

    Major vs Minor Updates

    For major version updates (e.g., 1.x → 2.x), fully stop the application before continuing:

    Forever: forever stop PROCESSID
    PM2: pm2 stop blogbuilder

    For minor updates, a restart at the end is sufficient.

  2. Delete the following files and folders from your installation directory:

    • package.json
    • build/ folder — Must be completely deleted, not just replaced. Leftover files in build/ can cause subtle errors.

    Do NOT delete your .env, static/, or uploads/ folders.

  3. Download the latest release from shadowdevs.com

    • Read the release notes before proceeding — some releases include specific instructions
    • Download the appropriate version for your license

  4. Copy the new files into your installation directory

    • Extract the downloaded zip
    • Copy all files except .env, static/, and uploads/

  5. Update dependencies (only if the release notes say to)

    • Delete package-lock.json and node_modules/
    • Run npm install

  6. Check for .env changes in the release notes

    • Add any new required environment variables to your .env
    • Keep all existing values

  7. Restart Blog Builder

    Forever:

    • Major update (stopped in step 1): forever start build/index.js
    • Minor update: forever restart PROCESSID

    PM2:

    • Major update (stopped in step 1): pm2 start build/index.js --name blogbuilder
    • Minor update: pm2 restart blogbuilder

    Check the logs for any startup errors.