From 494c4670b4574020e3e47c2d4b48aff2cbfdb50d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: JakeSCahill Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2026 16:13:03 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] Document that rpk plugins do not upgrade with rpk Verified empirically (DOC-2417): upgrading rpk replaces only the rpk binary. Plugins are separate binaries discovered at runtime and stay at their installed version until their own upgrade command runs - a plugin pinned at ai 0.2.30 survived an rpk 26.1.12 to 26.2.1 upgrade untouched, including across invocations, and moved only on rpk ai upgrade. Some plugins self-install the LATEST on first functional use (rpk connect run) but never self-update afterwards. The section sits inside the single-source region, so the cloud-docs rpk-install stub inherits it with no change on that side. --- modules/get-started/pages/rpk-install.adoc | 20 ++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 20 insertions(+) diff --git a/modules/get-started/pages/rpk-install.adoc b/modules/get-started/pages/rpk-install.adoc index da01fa8e53..aede21063e 100644 --- a/modules/get-started/pages/rpk-install.adoc +++ b/modules/get-started/pages/rpk-install.adoc @@ -33,6 +33,26 @@ include::get-started:partial$install-rpk-linux.adoc[] include::get-started:partial$install-rpk-macos.adoc[] +== Upgrade rpk plugins + +Plugins, such as `rpk connect` and `rpk ai`, are separate binaries that `rpk` downloads and runs on your behalf. Upgrading `rpk` does not upgrade its plugins. An installed plugin stays at its version until you upgrade it, even across `rpk` upgrades. + +To see which plugins are installed: + +[,bash] +---- +rpk plugin list --local +---- + +To upgrade a plugin, run its `upgrade` command. For example: + +[,bash] +---- +rpk connect upgrade +---- + +NOTE: Some plugins install themselves the first time you run one of their commands. For example, `rpk connect run` downloads the latest Redpanda Connect if it is not already installed. This happens only on first use. After that, the plugin never updates itself. + == Next steps For the complete list of `rpk` commands and their syntax, see the xref:reference:rpk/index.adoc[rpk reference].