Guide 12.3
Intermediate, 4 min read. Checked with Scalpel 1.12.8 on .
In short
Open Settings > About, set Channel to Beta (early builds) and click Apply. Scalpel then offers beta versions (named like 1.13.0-beta.1) as well as stable ones, through the same Update ready pill. To go back, set the channel to Stable: you move back onto stable as soon as a stable release passes the beta you are on, or right away with Go back while the stable copy is still kept.
The beta channel gets new versions first. In return you are the first to meet their rough edges. A beta becomes the next stable version once it has run on beta without order, position or price-display problems, so beta testers are the people who make stable safe.
Before you start
| Beta suits you if | Stay on stable if |
|---|---|
| You want new features days or weeks early | You trade LIVE size and want the fewest surprises |
| You test in SIM before you trade LIVE each morning | You do not have time to check a new build before the open |
| You are happy to report a bug with steps and a log | You run Scalpel on one computer with no fallback |
A good habit: run beta on one computer and stable on the other. Your licence covers two (guide 12.1).
Press Ctrl+, (Cmd+, on a Mac) and pick About.
Under Updates, open Channel 1 and choose Beta (early builds). Click Apply.
Click Check for updates. If a beta newer than your version is out, Scalpel downloads it and the status bar shows Update ready: 1.13.0-beta.1. Otherwise Scalpel keeps checking every 30 minutes while it runs, so the next beta reaches you without a restart.
Click the pill, read What's new, and choose Restart and update or Update when I quit. The same trading guard as stable applies: no restart with a position, a working order or a live stop open.
Set Channel to Stable and click Apply. What happens next depends on the version you are on:
| Your situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| You can wait for the final release | Nothing. When the stable version comes out (1.13.0 is newer than any 1.13.0 beta), Scalpel offers it, and from then on you only get stable. |
| You need stable today, and you updated straight from stable to this beta | Settings > About > Go back to 1.12.6. Scalpel restarts on the stable version it kept. |
| You need stable today, and the kept copy is another beta | Download the current stable version from your account page and replace Scalpel with it. Settings, presets and your journal carry over. |
Going back never loses settings: a newer version never changes your settings in a way an older one cannot read.
Post in the Discord with the exact build from Settings > About, what you did, what you expected and what happened, and the log file (%APPDATA%\scalpel\data\logs\scalpel.log on Windows, ~/Library/Application Support/scalpel/logs/scalpel.log on a Mac). A report with steps gets a fix into the next beta.