--- url: https://chime.m1sk9.dev/docs/features/watches.md --- # Release Watches `[[watches]]` polls a release feed and posts when the version it reads there changes. `source` picks the feed; `source = { kind = "firefox" }` and a `[watches.source]` sub-table mean the same thing. The keys are listed in [Configuration](../configuration#watches). | `kind` | Feed | | --------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `firefox` | Mozilla product-details, `https://product-details.mozilla.org/1.0/firefox_versions.json` | | `chrome` | Chrome [VersionHistory API](https://developer.chrome.com/docs/web-platform/versionhistory/reference), `https://versionhistory.googleapis.com/v1/chrome/platforms/{platform}/channels/{channel}/versions/all/releases` | | `json` | Any https JSON endpoint you name, read through a JSON pointer | Safari is not supported: Apple publishes no machine-readable release feed. ## `firefox` `channel` selects which product-details key is watched, and where the embed links: | `channel` | Key | Link | | ------------------- | --------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------- | | `release` (default) | `LATEST_FIREFOX_VERSION` | `https://www.firefox.com/firefox/{version}/releasenotes/` | | `esr` | `FIREFOX_ESR` | same, with the trailing `esr` dropped (`140.16.0esr` → `140.16.0`) | | `beta` | `LATEST_FIREFOX_RELEASED_DEVEL_VERSION` | same, with `b5` rewritten to `beta` (`157.0b5` → `157.0beta`) | | `devedition` | `FIREFOX_DEVEDITION` | as for `beta` | | `nightly` | `FIREFOX_NIGHTLY` | `https://www.firefox.com/firefox/nightly/notes/` | The feed supports conditional requests, so an unchanged feed costs a `304`. An empty value for the selected channel is a polling failure, not a version. ## `chrome` `platform` and `channel` are inserted into the API path as-is. `rollout` decides which version counts as released: * `started` (default) — the top version being served, as soon as its staged rollout begins, even at 0.5%. A pulled rollout makes the top version go *down*, and that is reported too. * `complete` — only the top version served to 100% of users. A change in rollout fraction alone is not a new release and posts nothing. The VersionHistory API returns no `ETag`, so every poll downloads the response — only the top release is requested, well under a kilobyte — and is counted as `updated` in the [summary](../how-it-works#knowing-the-poller-is-alive). The embed links to the channel's label on the Chrome Releases blog (canary, which is not announced there, links to the blog itself). ## `json` chime does not know the shape of the document: `pointer` ([RFC 6901](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6901)) names the one value that is the version. Segments are separated by `/`, array elements are addressed by index, and `~0` / `~1` escape `~` / `/`. The pointer is used exactly as written — whitespace is part of a key, so `/v ` and `/v` are different pointers. The value must be a string or an integer; a fractional number is refused, because `1.10` would read back as `1.1` — serve such a version as a string. Searching inside an array or combining several fields is not possible. | Feed | `url` | `pointer` | | ------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------- | | Node.js | `https://nodejs.org/dist/index.json` | `/0/version` | | A GitHub repository | `https://api.github.com/repos/{owner}/{repo}/releases/latest` | `/tag_name` | A pointer that does not match the document is not caught at startup: like a status page URL that does not match its `kind`, it fails at the first poll with a `warn` and keeps failing each interval. ## Notification semantics * **The first poll after startup is silent** — it records the current version as a baseline. A restart re-baselines. * A post is sent whenever the version string **differs** from the last one seen, including when it goes down. There is no version ordering: `140.16.0esr`, `157.0b5` and `v24.9.0` do not share one. * The last-seen version is updated **before** the Discord request, so a failed send is not retried. * Polling failures (unreachable feed, non-JSON body, pointer that matches nothing) are logged at `warn` and never posted. * **Watches that read the same URL share one request** — several Firefox channels, or two `json` watches with different pointers on one endpoint. The shared request runs at the shortest `poll_interval_sec` among them, and one watch failing to read the body does not stop the others from reporting. ## What it looks like in Discord Each new version is one embed, attributed to `display_name`, with the feed's host as the footer. The colour is fixed (Discord blurple) — a release has no severity. ``` Firefox 156.0.1 ← links to the release notes Previous: 156.0 Channel: Release Next release: 2026-10-09 ← release channel only Channels: Release 156.0.1 · ESR 140.16.0esr · Beta 157.0b5 · Developer Edition 157.0b5 · Nightly 159.0a1 product-details.mozilla.org ·