Multi-instance releases are now generally available on Retool cloud and self-hosted Retool 3.330 or later, with support for both apps and workflows.

Organizations using Source Control can manage releases of protected apps and workflows across multiple deployment instances. This feature enables you to publish different release versions across instances, making it easy to test newer versions on staging or development instances before promoting to production.

You can now unpublish workflow releases from the Releases tab.

This feature is also available for workflows protected with Source Control. When unpublishing a release on a protected workflow, the latest saved version on the main branch will be live to users.

Enterprise customers can now use Source Control to protect workflow triggers. This prevents changes to a workflow's triggers without review. When you protect a workflow for the first time, triggers are now automatically included.

For workflows that are already protected, you now have the option to protect triggers using a new PR.

Once protected, triggers are versioned and published alongside each release. Information about your triggers is stored in the startTrigger.yml file in your Source Control repository.

Self-hosted organizations using Source Control to protect apps can opt into the public beta of multi-instance releases. This feature enables you to publish different release versions of apps across multiple deployment instances. This is particularly useful if you want to test a newer version of an app on a test instance first.

Retool added support within the IDE for merging changes from your default branch into your feature branch. This feature allows developers to keep their branches aligned with the default branch through guided, in-product flows, eliminating the need to switch to external tools like GitHub or GitLab.

When conflicts arise, Retool walks developers through a conflict resolution process entirely within the IDE, including validation checks to catch errors before completing the operation.

This change also eliminates the need for catch-up commits.

When setting up Source Control with Bitbucket, you can now use a Bitbucket access token instead of an app password. Access tokens provide a more secure authentication method than app passwords.

Authentication using app passwords is still supported, but Retool recommends using access tokens instead.

If you use Source Control to protect a workflow, you can now create and publish releases for that workflow. This allows you to safely test and build changes without disruption. Previously, protected workflows were automatically versioned and published, and you could not publish a specific version.

Once you merge a change into the main branch, navigate to the Releases tab in the left-hand menu. In this tab, you can create, manage, and publish versions of the workflow. Refer to Version and publish workflows for more information.

Retool recently made changes that make it easier to review changes in source control. Retool now separates system-generated updates related to version upgrades into their own migration commit, so your pull requests are cleaner and easier to understand.

This feature is generally available on Retool Cloud. It is available in closed beta to Self-hosted Retool organizations on edge version 3.203.0-edge or later, and will be generally available in an upcoming stable release. Self-hosted Retool organizations can reach out to support to enable this feature.

What's new​

Instead of bundling migration changes with user changes, they now appear in a dedicated commit.

No setup needed—this happens automatically when you make commits.

Improvements to source control on Workflows are now generally available on Self-hosted Retool 3.200.0-edge and in the upcoming stable release. The following features are now supported for all users on Enterprise plans:

Retool made several improvements to the usage of Source Control with Retool Workflows. The following features are now supported on Enterprise plans:

• Branched changes. You can now make changes to workflows using branches. Previously, all Source Control changes on workflows were branchless.
• Multi-element branching. You can make edits to workflows on the same branch as edits to apps, modules, and Query Library queries.
• Collaborative branches. Multiple users can commit changes and merge pull requests on collaborative branches.

If your organization uses Source Control, Retool sometimes creates an automatic commit, called a catch-up commit, which keeps your branches up to date. If you want to ensure that developers in your organization retain complete control of changes within their feature branches, you can now disable catch-up commits using the following steps:

1. Navigate to Settings > Source Control and click the Edit Settings button on the top right.
2. Toggle on the Disable auto catch up commits setting.

To avoid issues with catch-up commits and other merge control mechanisms, refer to Retool's Merge conflict prevention strategies.