feat: add HIDE_UPDATE_BANNER environment variable

[joelklabo]

Summary

• Adds HIDE_UPDATE_BANNER env var (default: false) that suppresses the version update banner and "What's New" widget
• Useful for platform operators (e.g. Start9) that provide their own update notification mechanism
• VSS migration banner is still shown when applicable, regardless of this setting

Changes

• config/models.go: Add HideUpdateBanner field to AppConfig
• api/models.go: Add HideUpdateBanner to InfoResponse
• api/api.go: Pass env value through to response
• frontend/src/types.ts: Add hideUpdateBanner to InfoResponse
• frontend/src/hooks/useBanner.tsx: Skip version check when flag is set
• frontend/src/components/home/widgets/WhatsNewWidget.tsx: Hide widget when flag is set

Usage

HIDE_UPDATE_BANNER=true alby-hub

Closes #2048

Summary by CodeRabbit

• New Features

  • Added a configuration option to hide the update banner so admins can disable its display.

• Improvements

  • Banner and "What's New" widget now respect the new hide-setting, preventing the update banner from rendering when disabled.

[coderabbitai]

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

Adds a HideUpdateBanner configuration flag propagated from backend config -> API -> frontend; frontend banner components now suppress rendering when this flag is true. (≤50 words)

Changes

Cohort / File(s)	Summary
Backend Config config/models.go	Added HideUpdateBanner bool to AppConfig with env tag HIDE_UPDATE_BANNER and default false.
Backend API api/models.go, api/api.go	Added HideUpdateBanner bool to InfoResponse and set InfoResponse.HideUpdateBanner = api.cfg.GetEnv().HideUpdateBanner in GetInfo.
Frontend Types frontend/src/types.ts	Added hideUpdateBanner: boolean to InfoResponse interface to match backend payload.
Frontend Banner Logic & Widget frontend/src/hooks/useBanner.tsx, frontend/src/components/home/widgets/WhatsNewWidget.tsx	Early-return guards updated to skip banner/widget rendering when info.hideUpdateBanner is true; minor comment date update in useBanner.tsx.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 2 (Simple) | ⏱️ ~10 minutes

Poem

🐰 I slipped a flag into the stream,
Hide the banner, hush the gleam,
From env to API to view,
Quiet updates, soft and new,
Hops of joy — a stealthy dream 🥕

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Docstring Coverage	⚠️ Warning	Docstring coverage is 0.00% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%.	Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.

✅ Passed checks (4 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title accurately describes the primary change: adding a HIDE_UPDATE_BANNER environment variable to suppress update notifications.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	The PR successfully implements the requirement from #2048 to provide an environment variable allowing operators to hide the version banner.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	All changes are within scope, except for a minor VSS migration TODO date update (2026-01-01 to 2026-08-01) which appears to be a necessary adjustment unrelated to the primary feature.

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✨ Finishing touches

• 📝 Generate docstrings

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Post copyable unit tests in a comment

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[im-adithya]

I changed it so we still show the What's New Widget, also removed the outdated vssMigration check in banner cc @rolznz

[rolznz]

@im-adithya unfortunately not all our subscriptions have moved to VSS yet, so we still should keep this banner.

I think the What's New Widget check might need to be re-added, because there's a CTA which cannot be used to update (this is for Start9 which has their own update and release notes).

[coderabbitai]

Caution

Some comments are outside the diff and can’t be posted inline due to platform limitations.

⚠️ Outside diff range comments (1)

frontend/src/hooks/useBanner.tsx (1)

14-33: ⚠️ Potential issue | 🔴 Critical

Bug: hideUpdateBanner suppresses the VSS migration banner too.

The early return on line 15 bails out before the VSS migration check runs, so showBanner stays false even when VSS migration is required. This directly contradicts the PR objective that the VSS migration banner must remain visible regardless of the flag.

Move the flag into the version-comparison logic instead of the top-level guard.

🐛 Proposed fix

   React.useEffect(() => {
-    if (!info || !albyInfo || info.hideUpdateBanner || isDismissedRef.current) {
+    if (!info || !albyInfo || isDismissedRef.current) {
       return;
     }

     // vss migration (alby cloud only)
     // TODO: remove after 2026-08-01
     const vssMigrationRequired =
       info.oauthRedirect &&
       !!albyMe?.subscription.plan_code.includes("buzz") &&
       info.vssSupported &&
       !info.ldkVssEnabled;

-    const upToDate =
+    const upToDate = info.hideUpdateBanner ||
       Boolean(info.version) &&
       info.version.startsWith("v") &&
       compare(info.version.substring(1), albyInfo.hub.latestVersion, ">=");

     setShowBanner(!upToDate || vssMigrationRequired);
   }, [info, albyInfo, albyMe?.subscription.plan_code]);

Note: with this approach, when hideUpdateBanner is true, upToDate evaluates to true, so the banner only shows if vssMigrationRequired is also true — matching the stated requirement.

[im-adithya]

Fixed! (Updated the date in TODO to 01-08-2026)