Stay on the Installed Version

Out of the box, Sidekick keeps itself up to date. Its InDesign know-how lives in a separate file that it downloads from releases.sidekick.eastpole.nl and refreshes when we release an improvement, so nobody has to reinstall anything.

If your organization needs to know exactly what runs, you can pin Sidekick to the version you installed. Sidekick then runs that version and nothing else.

What changes

A pinned Sidekick:

• runs the version you installed. Every install carries a complete copy of Sidekick for its own version, and that copy is what runs.
• makes no requests to releases.sidekick.eastpole.nl at all. It doesn’t check for updates or download anything, and it doesn’t fetch the update reminder either.
• refuses an InDesign plugin it can’t work with (see below), rather than switching to another version of itself.

To change version, install the one you want from the install page, the same way you installed the first one. The pin stays, and Sidekick then stays on the new version.

Pinning can take you back a version. If Sidekick downloaded a newer version after you installed it, the next start after pinning runs the installed one, which is older. To keep the newer one, install it first, then pin.

Pinning doesn’t turn off usage statistics. To switch those off too, ask your AI assistant to “disable Sidekick telemetry”.

How to pin

Ask your AI assistant

Pin Sidekick to the installed version.

The setting applies to every Sidekick on the computer, whichever AI assistant it runs in. Each one reads it when it starts, so quit every AI assistant that uses Sidekick fully and reopen it. On Windows, closing the window leaves an assistant running in the system tray: right-click the tray icon near the clock and choose Quit.

Anyone using the computer can unpin it the same way.

Edit the settings file

The same setting, written by hand: "pinned": true in Sidekick’s config.json.

For a whole organization

Put "pinned": true in the managed settings file. Users then can’t unpin it. See Manage Sidekick Settings for Your Organization.

If you use npx

A pin keeps Sidekick from downloading, but npx itself fetches the newest Sidekick from npm each time it starts. To stay on one version there, name it in your assistant’s MCP configuration, for example "args": ["-y", "[email protected]", "start"], and pin as above.

When the plugin in InDesign updates

The Sidekick plugin in InDesign updates through Creative Cloud, separately from Sidekick. A pinned Sidekick works with any plugin of the same version series and with newer plugins in the same major version. Otherwise the Sidekick panel in InDesign refuses to connect and says why:

• ”… which is older than this plugin needs.” The plugin moved to a new major version. Install a newer Sidekick, or ask your IT team.
• ”… which is newer than this plugin supports.” The plugin is older than this Sidekick. Update the Sidekick plugin from Adobe Exchange, or ask your IT team.

When Sidekick pins itself

If Sidekick’s settings file is there but can’t be read (damaged, empty, or locked), Sidekick can’t tell whether you pinned it, so it pins itself until the file can be read. It says so once in the chat, and sidekick health names the file and what to do. If the file is damaged or empty, asking your AI assistant to change any Sidekick setting repairs it; then quit and reopen every AI assistant that uses Sidekick, and it updates again. If the file is locked or can’t be opened, check its permissions, or ask your IT team.

Check that it worked

Ask your AI assistant to run sidekick health. The update line says Pinned to the installed version, with the version and the reason, and that nothing is downloaded.

Which versions support this

Sidekick 1.0.36 and later. Older versions ignore the setting and keep updating. Under an older version, asking your AI assistant to pin Sidekick gets the answer that this installation can’t be pinned yet.