# Upgrade Guide: Instar 0.8.17

## What Changed

### Automatic User Notification After Upgrades
Previously, upgrade guides were delivered to your session-start context — meaning they only got processed when a Claude session happened to start for some other reason. If no session started, the guide sat unprocessed and the user was never told about new features.

Now, the server **automatically spawns a short session** after startup to process any pending upgrade guide and message your user. The flow:

1. Auto-update applies and restarts the server
2. On startup, the server detects `pending-upgrade-guide.md`
3. After full initialization (15 second delay), a short Haiku session spawns
4. That session reads the guide, composes a personalized message, sends it via Telegram, and runs `instar upgrade-ack`

**What you should do:**
- No action needed. This happens automatically now.
- If you're reading this guide via the auto-spawned session: compose your message to the user and send it, then run `instar upgrade-ack`.

### Startup Migration Includes Upgrade Guides
The server startup migration now also runs the UpgradeGuideProcessor, not just PostUpdateMigrator. This ensures pending guide files are written even if `instar migrate` wasn't explicitly called (e.g., manual `npm install -g instar@latest`).

**What you should do:**
- No action needed. This is a resilience improvement.

## What to Tell Your User

These are the user-facing highlights. Personalize based on your user's interests:

- **Auto-notification**: "I'll now automatically message you about new features whenever I get updated. No more silent upgrades — you'll know what changed and how it helps you."
- **This is the fix for the gap they saw**: If your user noticed that you reported an upgrade but didn't explain the new features, this is the fix. Acknowledge that and explain it's now working.

## Summary of New Capabilities
| Capability | How to Use |
|-----------|-----------|
| Auto upgrade notification session | Automatic — spawns after server restart when pending guide exists |
| Startup guide processing | Automatic — ensures guides are written even without explicit `instar migrate` |
