# Chamber Insiders

Chamber Insiders is the fast-cadence prerelease channel. Builds ship sooner than the public stable releases on GitHub Releases. **This page is invitation-only**: it is not linked from the README or product website. If someone forwarded you the link, that's the invitation.

Insiders ships **Windows only**. macOS Insiders is intentionally not built; the public stable release on GitHub Releases is the macOS channel.

## What you're trusting

Insiders installers come from a private Azure Blob container, are code-signed with the same Azure Trusted Signing certificate as stable releases, and are auto-updated from the same blob. The only differences from stable are:

- Faster cadence (often multiple builds per week vs. weekly stable).
- Less manual QA. Bugs are more likely.
- Prerelease version numbers (`vX.Y.Z-insiders.N`). The base `X.Y.Z`
  previews the **next stable** — so `v0.63.0-insiders.3` is the third
  preview of the upcoming `v0.63.0`. When stable ships, the
  corresponding insider tag and the stable tag point at the same source
  commit.
- Not advertised, not listed on GitHub Releases.

If you would like to be removed from the invite list, tell whoever invited you. The download URL itself is unlisted.

## Install

1. Download the latest Windows installer:

   ```
   https://chamberinsiders.blob.core.windows.net/releases/Chamber-Setup-latest-insiders.exe
   ```

   (Or the exact tagged file shared with you.)

2. Run the installer. SmartScreen should accept it because the file is signed with Chamber's Trusted Signing certificate.

3. Done. Future updates are automatic.

## Updates

Once installed, Chamber Insiders checks the same Azure Blob URL on a regular cadence. When a newer `vX.Y.Z-insiders.N` is published you'll get an in-app prompt to restart and update. There is no separate action required.

You will never see public stable releases on this channel. You also will never accidentally roll back from Insiders to stable: electron-updater refuses to downgrade.

## Switching back to stable

Insiders is a one-way switch by URL. To return to the public stable channel:

1. Download the latest public installer from <https://github.com/ianphil/chamber/releases>.
2. Run it. It installs over your Insiders install.
3. From then on, auto-updates come from GitHub Releases (`latest.yml`), not the Insiders blob.

You will remain on the version you have installed until the public stable channel catches up; electron-updater won't downgrade. That's intentional — feature parity with stable is the gate, not the version string.

## Caveats

- The download URL is unlisted, not access-controlled. Anyone with the URL can fetch.
- Builds are signed but **not notarized for macOS** (because macOS isn't built for this channel at all).
- There is no SLA. Insiders builds may regress, break auto-update, or be pulled without notice.

## Reporting issues

Use the same GitHub issues tracker as everyone else. Please prefix the issue title with `[insiders]` and include the exact `vX.Y.Z-insiders.N` version from `Help → About`.
