# A new release. Your design kept.

> A new release of a PixelGlass theme merges over your own changes. Pick a side where they meet, or let your agent carry your design through.

A theme nobody has edited follows its releases by itself. **Once you change it, an update merges over your edits**, and stops only on the files where the release and your changes meet.

## By hand, in the admin

1. Open **Settings › Design**. A theme with a newer release shows the version available under its row.
2. Press **Update**. The release merges over your edits and goes live once the theme is whole.
3. If it conflicts with your edits, choose **Keep mine** or **Use** the new version for each file, then press **Resolve**. **Use all of** the new version takes the release whole.
4. Press **Cancel** to leave the theme as it was.
5. To take back an update that went live, restore the version before it from **History**.

**Copy for your agent**, beside Update, copies the steps for an agent that carries your design through the release.

## With your agent

> Is there a new release of my theme? Tell me what it brings and where it meets my edits.

> Update Atlas, keep my colours and fonts, and settle any conflicts by hand.

> The update changed my post page. Take it back.

The tools it calls: `list_themes`, `plan_theme_update`, `update_theme`, `resolve_theme_update`, `edit_theme_file`, `render_page`, `theme_history`, `restore_theme_revision`.

## Examples

- **A new hook, an old look.** A newsletter's theme gets a release with a new subscribe form. The agent **carries the form into her own markup**, and the masthead she designed stays.
- **One file, one choice.** An update conflicts with an edited footer. The admin keeps his footer and takes the release for the rest.
- **Untouched, up to date.** A school blog never edited its theme, so every release reached it with nothing to do.

## Questions

### How do I update my theme on PixelGlass?

Open Settings › Design and press Update under the theme that shows a new version. The release merges over your edits and goes live once the theme is whole.

### Do I need to update a theme I never edited?

No. A PixelGlass theme nobody has edited reads the bundled theme as shipped, and every release reaches it by itself.

### What if the update meets my own edits?

The merge waits on those files and stays off the site. Choose Keep mine or the new version for each file, take the release whole, or cancel. An agent can edit each file to keep your design and the release's changes.

### Does a copy of a theme get updates?

Yes. A copy made with create_theme follows the PixelGlass theme it came from, and plan_theme_update and update_theme bring its releases in.

### How does my agent know what a release changes?

Every bundled PixelGlass release ships notes. plan_theme_update reads them and lists the files that will conflict, before anything moves.

## See also

- [Undo a theme change](https://pixelglass.co/guides/undo-a-theme-change): Every change to a PixelGlass theme is kept. Look at any earlier version on your site, then restore it, in Settings › Design or with your agent.
- [Design a theme with your agent](https://pixelglass.co/guides/design-a-theme-with-your-agent): Describe the look you want. Your agent edits the theme's templates and styles, checks each page and sends you the link. Every step can be undone.
- [Change your theme](https://pixelglass.co/guides/change-your-theme): Try any of the 9 themes on your own site, fill in its settings and make it live. Do it in Settings › Design or ask your agent.
- [Themes](https://pixelglass.co/features/themes): Start from 9 themes made for magazines, newsletters, coaches and portfolios. Change the look in Settings, or ask your agent to redesign it.
- [Every guide](https://pixelglass.co/guides)
- [Pricing](https://pixelglass.co/pricing): every feature on every plan, 14 days free
- [Create your site](https://pixelglass.co/signup)