Find and update your chainctl release version

Chainguard regularly releases updates to chainctl with new security features, performance improvements, and expanded capabilities for container management. This guide explains how to check your current version and update to the latest release.

For a full reference of all commands with details and switches, refer to chainctl reference.

View your chainctl version

To see which chainctl version you have installed, use:

chainctl version

This command tells you more than just a release number.

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chainctl: Chainguard Control

GitVersion:    v0.2.66
GitCommit:     cb0ff7f1806341b20fd72be4769668a1985ed845
GitTreeState:  clean
BuildDate:     2025-04-09T07:49:51Z
GoVersion:     go1.24.1
Compiler:      gc
Platform:      linux/amd64

Update your chainctl install

To update your chainctl installation to the latest release, use:

chainctl update

This will present the following:

Current version         v0.2.66
Latest version          0.2.73

Download URL            https://dl.enforce.dev/chainctl/latest/chainctl_linux_x86_64
chainctl filepath       /usr/local/bin/chainctl
Cache                   /root/.cache/chainctl

Operating System        linux
Architecture            x86_64

Do you want to continue? [Y,n]:

Enter Y to proceed and the upgrade will continue and confirm like this:

   ✔ Download complete!

Backing up current chainctl (/usr/local/bin/chainctl)
Updating chainctl...

   Update complete! ⛓


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  / ___| | | | |    / \    |_ _| | \ | |  / ___| |_   _| | |
 | |     | |_| |   / _ \    | |  |  \| | | |       | |   | |
 | |___  |  _  |  / ___ \   | |  | |\  | | |___    | |   | |___
  \____| |_| |_| /_/   \_\ |___| |_| \_|  \____|   |_|   |_____|
chainctl: Chainguard Control

GitVersion:    v0.2.73
GitCommit:     bd6a3e9901c85801697599d72e2646a862570cde
GitTreeState:  clean
BuildDate:     2025-04-22T17:27:55Z
GoVersion:     go1.24.2
Compiler:      gc
Platform:      linux/amd64

Temporary files may need to be removed manually:
  rm -f /root/.cache/chainctl/chainctl.bak

chainctl update verifies the signature of the downloaded binary in-process before installing it, so you don’t need a separate cosign binary on your PATH. Verification needs network access to dl.enforce.dev and, at least on first use, to the Sigstore trust root at tuf-repo-cdn.sigstore.dev. If verification fails or those hosts are unreachable, the update stops and your current installation is left in place.