This article describes how to upgrade your Pendo Web SDK to ensure that you have the most up-to-date experience of the Pendo platform. It includes:
- A recap of what the Pendo Web SDK is and how it's pulled into your application.
- How to determine what version of the Pendo Web SDK you have.
- How to upgrade your Pendo Web SDK, either automatically or manually.
- Web SDK compatibility settings.
You don't have to upgrade to the new web SDK, but we only add features and make improvements to web SDK 2.0 and above. If you choose not to upgrade to the newest version, you won't receive automatic security updates, and older versions will become increasingly difficult to support.
There are no special requirements for upgrading your Pendo Web SDK.
The web SDK and install script
The Pendo Web SDK is the JavaScript file (pendo.js) that runs inside of the browser of your web application. A standard Pendo installation loads the Pendo Web SDK securely and asynchronously from our Cloudfront CDN.
The web SDK is pulled into your application by the install script (“snippet”), which is a few lines of code that retrieves and loads the Pendo Web SDK code (pendo.js). You can find the install script by navigating to Settings > Subscription settings > Applications, choosing the relevant application from the Applications list, and opening the Install Settings tab.
For more information about the Pendo Web SDK and install script, see the Developer's guide to installing Pendo.
Identify your web SDK version
You can determine which install script and Pendo Web SDK version you're currently using by entering the following code into your browser's console: pendo.VERSION.
If the console returns 2.0 or higher, you're using the new version of the install script and web SDK. If the console returns 1.x, you're using an old version of the install script and web SDK, and we recommend that you upgrade to the newest version.
Upgrade your web SDK
Previously, all customers shared the same web SDK. When we released new versions of the web SDK, all customers received all changes. Now, each subscription has their own personalized web SDK. This lets your internal teams decide when they want to upgrade Pendo Web SDK versions.
You can either choose to always pull the most recent version of the Pendo Web SDK (recommended) or manually select versions to assist with your testing processes.
To automatically update your web SDK version:
- Go to Settings > Subscription settings.
- Open the Applications tab.
- Find and open the relevant app from your Applications list.
- Open the Web SDK Settings tab at the top of the page. This shows you which web SDK versions your staging and production environments are currently using.
- Select Settings to the right of the Production environment section.
- Choose Stable under Web SDK Version Settings. This is the default and recommended setting for production servers.
- Select Save to continue.
This automatically deploys the newest stable version of the Pendo Web SDK so you can receive the latest updates and critical bug fixes to your web SDK.
The two other options available to you here are:
- Beta, which automatically deploys the newest beta version of the web SDK. For staging servers, this is the default and recommended setting. The Stable version is typically one to two weeks behind the Beta version.
- Manual, which lets you choose a specific version of the Pendo Web SDK. You might choose this setting if you want to test a version on staging and then switch over to the fully tested (Stable) version on production.
If you choose to manually upgrade, the version you select to run in your staging and production environments depends on your comfort level. You might choose the latest version for staging and then manually select the most recently tested version for production.
You can find web SDK release notes and version changes in our web SDK documentation. To get notified when updates are available, subscribe to the RSS feed.
Choose your web SDK compatibility settings
You can change your browser support option at the same time that you choose your web SDK upgrade options.
Currently, the default is Standards. If your product has older browsers, we recommend using JSONP instead. Some of our customers choose not to use the JSONP option due to their security requirements. These customers use our XHR transport for guide content instead.