Manage Atlan Trident Desktop updates

Managing desktop app updates decides who updates Atlan on managed Macs: the app itself, on a cadence you set, or your MDM. Use it when you deploy Atlan to a fleet and need predictable versions. Without a policy, the app checks for a new version when it opens, every hour, and when someone returns to its window, and downloads it in the background. Every check and download needs a network connection to the update hosts in network requirements. If the computer is offline or the network blocks those hosts, that check fails and the next one tries again, so updates resume on their own once the connection is back. Behind a proxy that inspects TLS traffic, checks keep failing until you exempt the hosts or deploy the proxy’s root certificate, as Proxies describes. An update someone starts from the app installs the newest release directly - one download and one restart, even if several releases have shipped since the installed version.

Before you begin

Before you start, make sure you have:

Managed deployment: Atlan deployed through your MDM. See Deploy Atlan Trident Desktop to managed Macs.

Choose who owns updates

Option	How it works	Choose it when
App updates itself on your cadence	The app downloads updates no more often than a deferral you set.	You want current versions with less effort.
MDM owns updates	You push each new `.pkg` on your schedule; it installs over the existing version.	Every version must go through your release process.

The background sync runtime installs into each user’s own folder, needs no administrator rights, and keeps itself current independently. No policy on this page affects it.

Set deferral policy

Deploy this key as a managed preference through your MDM:

Key	Domain	Type	Values
`UpdateDeferralDays`	`com.atlan.dashboard`	Integer	1-30

Common values are 7 (weekly), 21 (every three weeks), and 30 (monthly); without the key, updates are fully automatic. If your MDM owns updates, set 30 so the app’s own updater stays out of the way; when it finds the machine current, it does nothing.While the policy is active, the app makes no update downloads between cadence windows, and its update control is disabled with a note that updates are managed by your organization. The app honors the key only when it arrives through MDM, not when it is set locally.

Security releases are the one exception. If Atlan flags a release as a required security floor, a device inside a deferral window shows a persistent in-app warning naming the required version. The app never blocks or locks itself on a managed device; your MDM can push the update on your own terms.

Let standard users self-update (optional)

An MDM-installed .pkg puts the app in /Applications owned by root, so for standard users the app’s self-update cannot overwrite it and asks for administrator credentials on every attempt. If the app updates itself, run this once per device as root, as a post-install script after a user session exists:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
# Hand ownership of the app bundle to the console user so self-update works
# without administrator rights.
set -euo pipefail

APP="/Applications/Atlan.app"

if [ "$(id -u)" -ne 0 ]; then
  echo "must run as root" >&2
  exit 2
fi
if [ ! -d "$APP" ]; then
  echo "app bundle not found at $APP" >&2
  exit 2
fi

CONSOLE_USER="$(stat -f %Su /dev/console)"
if [ -z "$CONSOLE_USER" ] || [ "$CONSOLE_USER" = "root" ]; then
  echo "no console user logged in - run after a user session exists" >&2
  exit 1
fi

chown -R "$CONSOLE_USER:$(id -gn "$CONSOLE_USER")" "$APP"
echo "OK - $APP now owned by $CONSOLE_USER"

If your MDM owns updates, skip this: the MDM installs as the system, and ownership does not matter.

Verify versions in inventory

Because the app can update itself, exact-version detection drifts: you deploy 1.2.0 and machines are actually on 1.4.1. Read the installed version and compare it as deployed version or newer, with a version-aware check rather than string equality:

installed="$(defaults read /Applications/Atlan.app/Contents/Info.plist CFBundleShortVersionString)"

Troubleshooting

If the app keeps asking for administrator credentials or does not follow your deferral, see Desktop app errors.

Next steps

Atlan Trident Desktop network requirements: Allow the hosts the app and its updater reach.

Set up security and privacy

Set up workspaces

Bring in your team

Deploy to managed devices

Set up models, apps, and billing

Connect automation

Monitor activity

Offboard and retire

Troubleshoot

Manage Atlan Trident Desktop updates

Before you begin

Troubleshooting

Next steps

See also