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OTA Release Channels

This document explains how the official repository distinguishes releases by branch, so that development builds never interfere with production OTA updates.

Channel Strategy​

The CI/CD pipeline assigns a release channel based on the branch being built:

BranchChannelGitHub ReleaseDefault Manual OTA Behavior
mainstableNormal releaseDiscoverable by ota update
any other branchdev-{branch-name}PrereleaseIgnored by default ota update

For example:

  • main → channel stable, normal release
  • feat/new-feature → channel dev-feat-new-feature, prerelease

The channel value is recorded in the manifest as a human-readable label. The OTA client does not match it against an expected channel (it only validates the channel string format). Isolation comes entirely from the prerelease mechanism described below.

How It Prevents Interference​

Non-main branch builds are protected from affecting production OTA by their prerelease status on GitHub.

Non-main branch releases are marked as prerelease. A manual ota update without --manifest-url uses the releases/latest API, which only returns the newest non-prerelease release, so the default update path never discovers development builds. The dev-* channel name is just a label that makes the manifest easy to identify; it is not what keeps the build off production devices.

This means you can safely push experimental branches and let CI build them, without any risk to devices running production firmware.

Testing a Development Branch Build​

When you want to flash a development branch build onto a device for testing, fetch its manifest directly by URL. This bypasses the releases/latest lookup, so point the device at the dev release explicitly.

# 1. Find the release tag for your branch build on the Releases page
#    (it will be marked as "Pre-release")
TAG="20260604-120000-abc1234"
REPO="AidenAI-IO/aiden-firmware"

# 2. Update the device using the dev release manifest URL
ota update \
  --manifest-url "https://github.com/$REPO/releases/download/$TAG/manifest.json" \
  --public-key /oem/etc/ota_pubkey.pem

Notes:

  • The official signing key is already trusted on the device at /oem/etc/ota_pubkey.pem, so no extra public key is needed for official-repo builds.
  • Use --dry-run first to download and verify without switching slots or rebooting.

Why Branch Builds Are Safe to Publish​

Because development releases are published as prereleases, they:

  • Do not appear as the latest stable release
  • Do not get selected by the default ota update release lookup
  • Do remain available for manual testing via --manifest-url

This lets individual developers build and debug firmware on their own branches without coordinating with, or disrupting, anyone else.