Beta channel for apps

smarinier · June 17, 2026, 2:24pm

The core Nextcloud application allow to define a release channel (beta, stable…). Wouldn’t it be nice to have the same capability for the apps ?
Considering the amount of Nextcloud users, it is very uneasy to evaluate all the uses case (and the bugs) potentially encountered by a new version. Giving the possibility to publish pre-release app version would permit to deliver to-be-tested apps.

I know end-users have the choice to test a new app version on their testing environment. But it’s a binary choice. Giving the opportunity to have a validated app release or a “beta” stamped one, it’s mainly a matter of communication. And you don’t click the same.
The choice is given by Nextcloud. Why not for the apps ?

Chartman123 · June 17, 2026, 2:52pm

This is already possible, the general release channel is also used for app updates

See the description at the Update Channel setting:

Changing the update channel also affects the apps management page. E.g. after switching to the beta channel, beta app updates will be offered to you in the apps management page.

smarinier · June 17, 2026, 2:57pm

Are you sure this doesn’t concern only the “Nextcloud” official apps, linked to the core ? If not, where could be the description on “how can i publish my beta app on Nextcloud app store” ?

SysKeeper · June 17, 2026, 2:58pm

It’s a bit hidden indeed, see App Developer Guide — AppStore 4.11.3 documentation and check the version tag

versions with one or more pre-release identifiers (e.g. -alpha.1) are automatically detected and handled as beta versions (for beta release channels)

smarinier · June 17, 2026, 3:04pm

A bit hidden ?
Using -alpha make it beta. It’s so obvious

Thanks for the tip !

SysKeeper · June 17, 2026, 3:06pm

The same works for beta and I think RC, but I can’t find the code path right now to check

christianlupus · June 17, 2026, 8:32pm

Yeah, there are 3 kinds of app releases:

Regular releases have only 3 integer values for major, minor, and patch version parts. They are installed on any Nextcloud instance.
Unstable releases have any postfix in the version string. For example the -beta1 would be such a postfix. These will only be installed on beta and git installations, not on stable configured ones.
An app developer can declare an app as nightly. These are only installed on development instances by default (aka git stability seeing). This only is present if you installed the Nextcloud server using git by default. You can manually install nevertheless.

I have the approach tested already in the cookbook:

If you want, I can try to find the corresponding code snippets in the server.

Chris

christianlupus · June 17, 2026, 8:35pm

Just found it:

github.com/nextcloud/server

lib/private/App/AppStore/Fetcher/AppFetcher.php

13adaf91f


      
          	 */
          	#[\Override]
          	protected function fetch($ETag, $content, $allowUnstable = false): array {
          		$response = parent::fetch($ETag, $content);
          
          		if (!isset($response['data']) || $response['data'] === null) {
          			$this->logger->warning('Response from appstore is invalid, apps could not be retrieved. Try again later.', ['app' => 'appstoreFetcher']);
          			return [];
          		}
          
          		$allowPreReleases = $allowUnstable || $this->getChannel() === 'beta' || $this->getChannel() === 'daily' || $this->getChannel() === 'git';
          		$allowNightly = $allowUnstable || $this->getChannel() === 'daily' || $this->getChannel() === 'git';
          
          		foreach ($response['data'] as $dataKey => $app) {
          			/** @var list<AppStoreFetcherAppReleasesEntry> $releases */
          			$releases = [];
          
          			// Filter all compatible releases
          			foreach ($app['releases'] as $release) {
          				// Exclude all nightly and pre-releases if required
          				if (($allowNightly || $release['isNightly'] === false)