Updraft

Git Project Updater Control

A standalone updater suite for any GitHub project. Drop it in any folder, point it at a repository, and it handles downloading, extracting, and keeping your project up to date — automatically.

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What it does

Updraft ships as three separate executables, available individually or bundled in simple-updater-win.zip from GitHub Releases:

SimpleUpdater.exe — The standalone version. It lives inside your project folder and reads its configuration from a local updater-info.ini file. No installation required, no external dependencies.

ManagedUpdater.exe — The managed version. It works identically to the standalone version but also registers itself with a central registry in %APPDATA%\SimpleUpdater. This allows the Update Manager to track and manage it.

UpdateManager.exe — A central dashboard for all managed instances. From a single window, you can check for updates, update all projects at once, manage file exclusions, customize project shortcuts, and adjust per-project or global settings.

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Getting started

First run — Install phase

When launched in a folder without an existing configuration, the updater opens a setup wizard:

1. Enter a GitHub repository URL (https://github.com/owner/repo or shorthand owner/repo).
2. Choose an update source:
   • Release Page — select one or more release asset files to download with convenient Select All and Deselect All controls.
   • Source Code — download the latest commit as a zip archive.
3. Set completion options:
   • Open 'main' folder when done.
   • Delete temporary compressed archives.
   • Run script on completion (update-done.bat).
   • Create shortcuts for executables, links, Python scripts, and subfolders:
     • Include shortcuts to subfolders (e.g., saves/, docs/, config/)
     • Configurable subfolder depth:
       • Root level only (main/)
       • Up to 1 level of subfolders (main/*) (Recommended default)
       • Up to 2 levels of subfolders (main/*/*)
       • Up to 3 levels of subfolders (main/*/*/*)
       • All subfolder levels (Unlimited)

The updater then:

• Creates a project folder named after the repository.
• Downloads and extracts files into a main/ subdirectory with no extra nesting.
• Generates a blank update-done.bat for post-update automation.
• Creates Windows shortcuts (.lnk), folder shortcuts, or .bat launchers based on your selected preferences.
• Saves configuration to updater-info.ini.

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Subsequent runs — Update phase

The updater opens directly to the dashboard and displays the current version.

From here:

• Check for Update — queries GitHub for a newer release or commit. Shows a comparison before downloading. Preserves excluded files.
• Exclude-File — browse files in main/, search, filter, and mark files to be protected from updates.
• Setting — toggle post-download options, startup updates, app self-updates, subfolder depth, shortcut customization, and select which release files to download.
• Run bat script — execute update-done.bat in a visible terminal, starting in main/.
• Create Shortcuts — generate or regenerate Windows shortcuts, folder shortcuts, and launcher scripts in the project folder or dedicated Shortcuts/ directory.

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File exclusion manager

Protect local configurations, save files, or custom scripts from being overwritten during updates.

• Real-time search: Search files instantly by filename or relative path with a single-click clear button.
• Multi-criteria filters: Filter by All Files, Excluded Only, Included Only, Updates Available, Executables, Configurations & Data, or Python & Scripts.
• Interactive sorting: Click column headers (Name, Folder, Excluded?, Size) to toggle ascending/descending sort, or pick from the Sort dropdown.
• View modes: Switch between Hierarchical Folder Tree and Flat List view.
• Quick selection and batch operations: One-click actions to Select All [✓], Deselect All [ ], or Invert Selection with keyboard shortcut support (Ctrl+A).
• Individual updates: Update a single protected file from the repository when a newer version is available.

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Shortcut and launcher customizer

Updraft provides an intelligent shortcut engine tailored for each individual project:

• Subfolder shortcuts: Creates Windows folder shortcuts (.lnk) for subdirectories within main/ (e.g., saves/, docs/, config/), letting you jump straight into project directories with one click.
• Python script launchers: Instead of raw shortcuts, Python scripts (.py, .pyw) are wrapped in .bat launchers that automatically detect python or py, change to the script directory, and keep the command prompt open upon error.
• Noise directory filtering: Automatically skips non-essential directories such as .git, __pycache__, venv, node_modules, build, and dist.
• Per-project personalization:
  • Choose layout: place shortcuts directly in the project root or in a dedicated Shortcuts/ subfolder.
  • Set a custom shortcut prefix (e.g., Run or the project name).
  • Open the Customize Shortcuts dialog to selectively toggle any candidate and assign custom display names.

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Central Update Manager

Monitor, check, and update all managed Git installations across your PC from one central window.

• + Create Updater: Deploy a new managed updater into any selected folder directly from the manager dashboard. Built-in conflict detection prevents overwriting existing updaters or configurations. If setup is cancelled or fails, the deployed executable is automatically cleaned up.
• + Add Existing Folder: Quickly register existing folders containing updater-info.ini.
• Update Project Updaters: Distribute the latest updater binaries to all managed projects on startup and on demand.
• Supports one-click Check All Updates and Update All.
• Per-project actions: Check, Update, Exclude Files, Settings, Run Script, Create Shortcuts, or Open Folder.

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Auto-update on machine launch

Updraft can automatically check and update your managed projects in the background whenever your computer starts:

• Non-intrusive: Configured via the standard Windows user registry key (HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run), requiring no administrator privileges.
• Headless background execution: Runs silently with --startup, downloads and installs matched updates without interrupting your workflow, preserves excluded configuration files, and triggers update-done.bat if configured.
• Logging and notifications: Records all startup actions to %APPDATA%\SimpleUpdater\startup_update.log and displays a Windows desktop notification whenever projects are updated.
• How to enable:
  • In UpdateManager.exe, click Global Settings, check Check and update all managed projects on Windows startup, and click Save and Close.
  • Individual projects can opt out of startup updates via their respective Settings dialog.
• Updraft self-update on startup: The background startup runner also checks for Updraft releases. When a new version is detected, it automatically updates all registered ManagedUpdater.exe instances and stages UpdateManager.exe cleanly without disruptive window popups.

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Application self-updating

Updraft executables (SimpleUpdater.exe, ManagedUpdater.exe, and UpdateManager.exe) can update themselves directly:

• Dedicated update button: Click Update Updraft (v1.1.0) in the main updater or manager dashboard toolbar to immediately check for newer releases.
• Update all instances via Update Manager: When updating Updraft through Update Manager, it updates UpdateManager.exe and automatically distributes the new ManagedUpdater.exe binary across all registered project directories on your machine.
• Automatic update on launch: When enabled (default: on), the application checks GitHub in the background upon launch and alerts you if a newer version is available with one-click installation.
• Seamless binary replacement: Since Windows locks running executables, Updraft stages the downloaded binary, coordinates a clean handoff through a detached helper, swaps the executable, and automatically restarts the new version.
• Configurable: Toggle application self-updates on or off in the Settings dialog.

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Smart asset matching

When a new release is published, asset file names often change (e.g., app-win64-v1.0.zip becomes app-win64-v1.1.zip). Updraft resolves this automatically using a three-tier matching algorithm:

1. Exact match — filename is identical.
2. Tag substitution — replaces the old version tag with the new one.
3. Version pattern masking — strips version segments using regex and matches by structure (prefix, suffix, extension).

If no match can be found — for example, when a maintainer completely renames a file — a dialog appears listing the new release assets so you can pick a replacement. Your selection is saved and used for future updates.

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Project structure

updraft/
├── assets/                 # Multi-resolution icons, logo, and header graphics
├── core/
│   ├── asset_matcher.py    # Smart release asset matching algorithm
│   ├── config.py           # updater-info.ini and AppData registry
│   ├── downloader.py       # Download, extraction, exclusion, and shortcut logic
│   ├── git_client.py       # GitHub API client (releases, commits, assets)
│   ├── self_updater.py     # In-place self-update and binary swap orchestration
│   ├── startup.py          # Windows startup registry & silent background runner
│   ├── theme.py            # Windows 7 Aero GUI styling & window icons
│   └── version.py          # Application metadata and version definitions
├── gui/
│   ├── asset_picker_dialog.py  # Fallback asset picker when filenames change
│   ├── exclude_window.py       # File exclusion manager (search, filter, sort)
│   ├── install_wizard.py       # First-run setup wizard
│   ├── manager_window.py       # Update Manager central dashboard
│   ├── settings_window.py      # Settings dialog
│   ├── shortcut_dialog.py      # Shortcut customizer and preview dialog
│   └── updater_window.py       # Main updater dashboard
├── tests/
│   └── test_all.py         # Unit and integration tests (34 tests)
├── build.py                # PyInstaller build script
├── standalone_updater.py   # Entry point: SimpleUpdater.exe
├── managed_updater.py      # Entry point: ManagedUpdater.exe
└── update_manager.py       # Entry point: UpdateManager.exe

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Building from source

Requires Python 3.13+ and PyInstaller.

Install dependencies:

pip install requests pyinstaller pywin32 pillow

Build all three executables:

python build.py

Output goes to dist/:

• dist/SimpleUpdater.exe
• dist/ManagedUpdater.exe
• dist/UpdateManager.exe
• dist/simple-updater-win.zip (bundle containing all three executables)

Run tests:

python -m unittest discover -s tests

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Requirements

• Windows 7 or later (tested on Windows 10 and 11)
• GitHub repository (public or with token for private)
• Internet access for update checks

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Notes

• Antigravity contributed to the development of this app.
• The update-done.bat file is created blank on first install. Edit it to run any post-update commands (rebuild steps, restart scripts, etc.).
• The main/ folder and updater-info.ini are excluded from version control by default. Do not delete updater-info.ini unless you want to re-run the setup wizard.
• Shortcuts: Automatically discovers executables (.exe, .bat, .cmd, .ps1, .vbs, etc.), Python scripts (.py, .pyw), web/document links (.html, .htm, .url), and subfolders (e.g. saves/, docs/, config/) up to the configured folder depth (default: up to 1 level of subfolders). Subfolder shortcuts open directly in Windows Explorer. Python scripts are wrapped in launcher .bat files that auto-detect python/py and pause on errors. Each project can personalize shortcut rules, prefixes, and target folder layout (project root or dedicated Shortcuts/ folder) via the Shortcut Customizer dialog.

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License

MIT