Updating Net Worth Navigator

Net Worth Navigator is actively developed, with new features and fixes released regularly. This page explains how to update your local installation.

Quick Answer

How you installed	How to update
Git clone	git pull (see Using Git below)
ZIP download	Download the latest ZIP and re-apply your scenarios (see ZIP update below)

Before updating: Make a backup of your scenarios/ directory. Your scenario files contain your personal financial data and are not part of the project code.

Using Git

If you cloned the repository with Git, updating is straightforward:

cd /path/to/Net-Worth-Navigator
git pull

This downloads the latest changes from the repository. After pulling, re-install any new dependencies:

.venv/bin/python -m pip install -r requirements.txt
.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m pip install -r requirements.txt

Your personal scenario files (in scenarios/) are preserved — they are not tracked by Git by default, so git pull won’t touch them.

What if Git reports a conflict?

If you have made local changes to files that are also tracked by Git (such as run.py or README.md), git pull may report a conflict. The safest approach is to stash your changes, pull, then re-apply:

git stash
git pull
git stash pop

If the stash pop causes conflicts, review the changes and keep yours or the upstream version as appropriate.

After updating

• Verify the installation:

.venv/bin/python scripts/verify_install.py

• Re-render your scenarios:

.venv/bin/python run.py --offline --scenario myplan

• Check the release notes for any breaking changes to your scenario configuration.

ZIP Download Update

If you originally downloaded the project as a ZIP file:

• Back up your scenarios — copy your entire scenarios/ folder to a safe location
• Download the latest ZIP from the releases page or the main repository page
• Extract it to a new folder (don’t overwrite your existing installation)
• Copy your backed-up scenarios/ folder into the new installation
• Create a fresh virtual environment and install dependencies:

python3 -m venv .venv
.venv/bin/python -m pip install -r requirements.txt
python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m pip install -r requirements.txt

• Verify and re-render as above

Tip: If you find yourself updating frequently, consider cloning with Git instead. It makes updates much simpler.

Checking Your Version

To see which version you have:

.venv/bin/python run.py --version

The version number follows SemVer (MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH). A MAJOR bump means your scenario TOML files may need changes. MINOR and PATCH bumps are backward-compatible.

Release Notes

All releases are documented on the GitHub Releases page. Key things to look for in release notes:

• Breaking changes — TOML schema changes, removed features, or behavior changes that may affect your scenarios
• New features — what was added and how to use it
• Bug fixes — issues that were resolved