Coverage chart / Claude
How to update Claude on your Mac
Claude is published as the Homebrew cask claude, and the app can also update itself. Below is how to run that update yourself, then how Floodtide does it for you, alongside every other app on the Mac. Homebrew describes Claude as "Anthropic's official Claude AI desktop app".
Update Claude by hand
- Let Claude update itself. Open Claude. It checks for new versions on its own, and if it has not offered one yet, look in the Claude menu, or under Help or its preferences, for Check for Updates, then let it download and relaunch.
- Upgrade the Homebrew cask. If you installed Claude with Homebrew, open Terminal and run
brew upgrade --cask claude. Homebrew downloads the current build, checks it against the checksum it publishes and replaces the app in your Applications folder. - Or download it from claude.com. Otherwise get the current build from claude.com, which is the same download Homebrew points at. Quit Claude, open the download and put the new Claude in Applications in place of the old one: a disk image is dragged across, an installer package runs its own steps. Your settings and documents live outside the app and are kept.
brew upgrade --cask claudeThat is one app. The same walk, through a different menu or page each time, is what every other app on the Mac asks of you, which is where Floodtide comes in.
The shorter route: one click in Floodtide
Floodtide reads the same Homebrew record for Claude that the brew command above does, without needing Homebrew installed, to learn which version is current. When yours is behind, the row appears under Updates with the version it will move to and the download size. Pressing Update, or Update All, does the rest:
- The vendor's own build is downloaded, several apps at a time, with real progress.
- The download is verified against the checksum the catalogue publishes.
- Claude is asked to quit politely if it is open, and never forced.
- The bundle is swapped and the old version kept for seven days, so Undo Last Update always works.
- The replacement's code signature is checked; a build signed worse than the one you had is rolled back automatically.
Every download of Claude is checked against the checksum Homebrew publishes before anything is replaced.
If Claude lives in a folder macOS protects, the swap asks for your administrator password once for the whole batch, exactly as the Finder does when you install anything by hand.
What Floodtide knows about Claude
- Floodtide reads
- the Homebrew cask claude
- Developer
- claude.com
- Version the source named on 18 October 2026
- 2.42304.0
- Downloads come from
- downloads.claude.ai
- Installed by Floodtide
- Yes, in one click, with the rest of your apps.
- Updates itself
- Yes, when you open it. Floodtide covers it anyway, so the Mac is checked whether or not you do.
- Each download is checked against
- the checksum Homebrew publishes
Read from the source on 18 October 2026. The app reads it live.
Questions about Claude
Does Floodtide update Claude?
Yes. Claude also ships its own updater, so it can keep itself current when you launch it. Floodtide covers it anyway, because a self-updating app only updates when you happen to open it, and it tells you nothing about the other apps on the Mac. Floodtide shows Claude beside everything else and updates the whole set in one pass.
How does Floodtide install a new version of Claude?
It downloads the vendor's official build, verifies it against the checksum the catalogue publishes, quits Claude if it is running, swaps the bundle, and keeps the previous version for seven days so the update can be undone.
Will updating Claude lose my settings?
No. Floodtide replaces the application only. Preferences, licences and documents live outside it and are untouched.
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