Versions & Upgrades

When you deploy new code, Rivet ensures actors are upgraded seamlessly without downtime.

How Versions Work

Each runner has a version number. When you deploy new code with a new version, Rivet handles the transition automatically:

• New actors go to the newest version: When allocating actors, Rivet always prefers runners with the highest version number
• Multiple versions can coexist: Old actors continue running on old versions while new actors are created on the new version
• Drain old actors: When enabled, a runner connecting with a newer version number will gracefully stop old actors to be rescheduled to the new version

Example Scenario

Configuration

Setting the Version

Configure the runner version using an environment variable or programmatically:

RIVET_RUNNER_VERSION=2

const registry = setup({
  actors: { myActor },
  runner: {
    version: 2,
  },
});

We recommend injecting a value at built time that increments every deployment, such as:

• Build timestamp
• Git commit number (git rev-list --count HEAD)
• CI build number (github.run_number)

Drain on Version Upgrade

The drainOnVersionUpgrade option controls whether old actors are stopped when a new version is deployed. This is configured in the Rivet dashboard under your runner configuration.

Related

• Runtime Modes: Serverless vs runner deployment modes
• Lifecycle: Actor lifecycle hooks including onSleep