Applying App Changes Post Testing

💬 App Building
1

  1. My goal:
    Make changes to a production Retool app safely without losing existing functionality or code

  2. Issue:
    I've been downloading a copy of my app (JSON export), renaming it, making changes in the copy, and then importing it back into the original app to apply the changes.

The first time this worked fine, but subsequent imports are overriding existing code - specifically SQL functions and queries that were working in the original app. After import, I'll discover that old/previous versions of functions are back in production, causing things to fail.

  1. Steps I've taken to troubleshoot:
  • Tried importing a new version of the app with only specific changes, but it's difficult to track what exactly gets overridden
  • Currently having to manually retrace steps to reapply the correct versions
  • No clear visibility into what the import actually changes vs. preserves
  1. Additional info:
  • Self-hosted Retool
  • Working solo, need a repeatable process for making changes safely
  • Functions are also used in the database (PostgreSQL) - when I update functions in Retool, sometimes the old function persists in prod

Specific questions:

  • What's the recommended workflow for testing changes before applying to production apps in self-hosted Retool (on the Teams Plan)?
  • Does the JSON import/export fully replace everything, or is it supposed to be selective?
  • How do others handle staging → production deployments for self-hosted instances?

Thanks!

4

Hi @Jana_Rink,

:thinking: Importing the app should completely replace the existing app json.

The 2 supported options for testing changes are to use Source Control on the Enterprise plan or creating App Release Versions. With Releases, you can make changes without modifying the version of the app that your end users are accessing.

1 Like
5

Would the release version feature work for you (instead of importing/exporting)?