different-ai/openwork · error

Installed version could not be validated for a targeted upda

Error message

Installed version could not be validated for a targeted update.

What it means

Thrown by `targetedStableUpdaterFeed` when `compareVersions(normalizedTarget, currentVersion)` returns null, meaning the currently installed version could not be parsed/compared at all. The updater must know the relationship between installed and target versions to build a safe feed, so an unparseable current version aborts the targeted update.

Source

Thrown at apps/desktop/electron/updater.mjs:172

    if (leftPart !== rightPart) return leftPart < rightPart ? -1 : 1;
  }

  return comparePrereleaseIdentifiers(parsedLeft.prerelease, parsedRight.prerelease);
}

function isVersionNewer(candidate, current) {
  const comparison = compareVersions(candidate, current);
  return comparison === null ? candidate !== current : comparison > 0;
}

export function targetedStableUpdaterFeed(currentVersion, targetVersion, allowOlder = false) {
  const normalizedTarget = normalizeStableTargetVersion(targetVersion);
  if (!normalizedTarget) {
    throw new Error("Target update version must use the stable x.y.z format.");
  }
  const comparison = compareVersions(normalizedTarget, currentVersion);
  if (comparison === null) {
    throw new Error("Installed version could not be validated for a targeted update.");
  }
  if (comparison === 0 || (!allowOlder && comparison < 0)) {
    throw new Error(allowOlder
      ? "Recovery target version must differ from the installed version."
      : "Target update version must be newer than the installed version.");
  }
  return `https://github.com/different-ai/openwork/releases/download/v${normalizedTarget}`;
}

function updaterChannelState(app, channel, targetVersion = null, manifestChannel = "latest") {
  const normalized = normalizeElectronUpdaterChannel(channel, manifestChannel);
  const currentVersion = resolveAppVersion(app);
  return {
    channel: normalized,
    feedUrl: targetVersion
      ? targetedStableUpdaterFeed(currentVersion, targetVersion)
      : electronUpdaterFeedUrl(normalized, manifestChannel),
    currentVersion,

View on GitHub (pinned to 2b7df46e8a)

Solutions

1. Pass a valid x.y.z currentVersion (same normalization rules as the target)
2. In dev, guard targeted-update code paths or supply a synthetic valid version
3. Check where currentVersion originates (app.getVersion()) and why it is malformed

Example fix

// before
targetedStableUpdaterFeed(app.getVersion(), target); // dev version like '0.0.0-dev'
// after
const current = /^\d+\.\d+\.\d+$/.test(app.getVersion())
  ? app.getVersion()
  : '0.0.0';
targetedStableUpdaterFeed(current, target);

function currentVersionComparable(v) {
  return typeof v === 'string' && /^\d+\.\d+\.\d+$/.test(v);
}

try {
  const feed = targetedStableUpdaterFeed(current, target);
} catch (e) {
  if (e.message.startsWith('Installed version could not be validated')) {
    showError('Cannot targeted-update from a dev/unparsed version');
  } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling targetedStableUpdaterFeed with a currentVersion that compareVersions cannot handle — e.g. a dev build string, empty/null currentVersion, or a non-semver version from app.getVersion() in an unpackaged/dev environment.

Common situations: Running a dev or locally-built app whose version string is not stable x.y.z; corrupted app metadata; test harness passing placeholder version values.

Related errors

• Target update version must use the stable x.y.z format.
• Recovery target version must differ from the installed versi
• Agent context diagnostics timeout must be between 1 ms and 3
• invalid_app_version_payload
• Invalid cloud provider sync response.

AI-assisted analysis of different-ai/openwork@2b7df46e8a (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/782f52ec21844a6d. Report an issue: GitHub.