diff --git a/dev-app-update.yml b/dev-app-update.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8d23a0b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dev-app-update.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+owner: Almenon
+repo: AREPL
+provider: github
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/latest.yml b/latest.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0731bc1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/latest.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+# update version & releaseDate when doing release
+# and make sure path and artifact name matches the windows artifact
+# for now you can ignore the sha, artifact, and path because i am just checking if update availible, not actually downloading
+version: 1.0.0-alpha.3
+releaseDate: '2017-08-28T19:52:36.263Z' 
+githubArtifactName: arepl-win32-x64.zip
+path: arepl win32 x64
+sha512: >-
+  BMLPuM/j+OnjrdefvLdvVRpRNla7zrgLFD2810T9zGncCr1zg0wzY82xY1vb6KpERYWJ3sI9VAOicmLqdxohEw==
+sha2: 82c0d57aca2a2f175a136f7d5444a9fb8633968ec7df01277677cf5cdf03a191
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/electron/main.js b/src/electron/main.js
index e7b76f8..e2ff5b8 100644
--- a/src/electron/main.js
+++ b/src/electron/main.js
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 const {app, Menu, BrowserWindow} = require('electron')
+const { autoUpdater } = require("electron-updater");
 
 const path = require('path')
 const url = require('url')
@@ -7,6 +8,7 @@ const makeMenu = require('./makeMenu')
 // Keep a global reference of the window object, if you don't, the window will
 // be closed automatically when the JavaScript object is garbage collected.
 let mainWindow
+let menuTemplate
 
 //electron-context-menu necessary for menu upon right-click
 require('electron-context-menu')({
@@ -23,7 +25,35 @@ function isDevMode(){
   return isEnvSet ? getFromEnv : (process.defaultApp || /node_modules[\\/]electron[\\/]/.test(process.execPath));
 }
 
+/**
+ * if update-availible event fired handler will append menu item to download latest release
+ * i reccomend doing calling this after menu creation and before checking for update
+ */
+function registerAutoUpdateHandlers(){
+  autoUpdater.on('checking-for-update', () => {
+    console.log('Checking for update...');
+  });
+  autoUpdater.on('update-available', (info) => {
+    const updateAvailibleMenu = {
+      label: "New update availible",
+      submenu: [{
+        label: "release info",
+        click: () => { require('electron').shell.openExternal('https://github.com/Almenon/AREPL/releases') }
+      }]
+    }
+    menuTemplate.push(updateAvailibleMenu);
+    Menu.setApplicationMenu(Menu.buildFromTemplate(menuTemplate));
+  });
+  autoUpdater.on('update-not-available', (info) => {
+    console.log('Update not available.');
+  });
+  autoUpdater.on('error', (err) => {
+    console.error(err);
+  });
+}
+
 function createWindow () {
+
   // Create the browser window.
   mainWindow = new BrowserWindow({
     width: 800, 
@@ -38,7 +68,11 @@ function createWindow () {
     slashes: true
   }));
 
-  makeMenu.makeMenu(mainWindow);
+  menuTemplate = makeMenu.makeMenu(mainWindow);
+
+  registerAutoUpdateHandlers();
+  autoUpdater.autoDownload = false;
+  autoUpdater.checkForUpdates();
 
   if(isDevMode()){
     mainWindow.webContents.openDevTools();
diff --git a/src/electron/makeMenu.js b/src/electron/makeMenu.js
index b33ef3f..0451643 100644
--- a/src/electron/makeMenu.js
+++ b/src/electron/makeMenu.js
@@ -13,10 +13,6 @@ const helpSubmenu = [
     {
       label: 'Search or report a issue',
       click () { require('electron').shell.openExternal('https://github.com/Almenon/AREPL/issues') }
-    },
-    {
-      label: 'Releases',
-      click () { require('electron').shell.openExternal('https://github.com/Almenon/AREPL/releases') }
     }
   ];
 
@@ -46,6 +42,10 @@ const fileMenu = {
   ]
 }
 
+/**
+ * sets Application menu to custom AREPL menu
+ * @returns {object[]} menu template
+ */
 module.exports.makeMenu = function(mainWindow){
   var template = defaultMenu();
   
@@ -63,4 +63,5 @@ module.exports.makeMenu = function(mainWindow){
 
   const menu = Menu.buildFromTemplate(template);
   Menu.setApplicationMenu(menu);
+  return template;
 }
\ No newline at end of file