diff --git a/root/update.go b/root/update.go
index c402bb1..6438494 100644
--- a/root/update.go
+++ b/root/update.go
@@ -90,14 +90,14 @@ func FetchLatestVersion() (string, error) {
 func IsNewer(current, latest string) bool {
 	c := strings.TrimPrefix(current, "v")
 	l := strings.TrimPrefix(latest, "v")
-
+	channel := config.Get().Updater.Channel
 	// dev builds or empty versions never trigger an update
 	if c == "" || c == "dev" || l == "" || l == "dev" {
 		return false
 	}
 
 	// nightly builds are never shown as stable update targets
-	if config.Get().Updater.Channel != "nightly" && strings.Contains(l, "-nightly.") {
+	if channel != "nightly" && strings.Contains(l, "-nightly.") {
 		return false
 	}
 
@@ -124,6 +124,10 @@ func IsNewer(current, latest string) bool {
 		}
 	}
 
+	if channel == "nightly" && strings.Contains(l, "-nightly.") && c != l {
+		return true
+	}
+
 	// if all parts are equal, the one with more parts is newer (e.g. 1.0.1 > 1.0)
 	return len(lParts) > len(cParts)
 }
@@ -245,9 +249,17 @@ var updateCmd = &cobra.Command{
 
 		// download and replace the binary using the install script
 		installScript := "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/versenilvis/iris/main/scripts/install.sh"
-		fmt.Printf("running: curl -sSL %s | sh\n\n", installScript)
+		command := "curl -sSL " + installScript + " | sh"
+		runningPrefix := ""
+		if config.Get().Updater.Channel == "nightly" {
+			runningPrefix = fmt.Sprintf("IRIS_RELEASE_TAG=%s ", latest)
+		}
+		fmt.Printf("running: %s%s\n\n", runningPrefix, command)
 
-		cmdRun := exec.Command("sh", "-c", "curl -sSL "+installScript+" | sh")
+		cmdRun := exec.Command("sh", "-c", command)
+		if config.Get().Updater.Channel == "nightly" {
+			cmdRun.Env = append(os.Environ(), "IRIS_RELEASE_TAG="+latest)
+		}
 		cmdRun.Stdout = os.Stdout
 		cmdRun.Stderr = os.Stderr
 		cmdRun.Stdin = os.Stdin
diff --git a/root/update_test.go b/root/update_test.go
index 29af684..9e30a36 100644
--- a/root/update_test.go
+++ b/root/update_test.go
@@ -10,27 +10,41 @@ import (
 )
 
 func TestIsNewer(t *testing.T) {
+	originalConfig := config.Get()
+	t.Cleanup(func() {
+		config.Init(originalConfig)
+	})
+
 	tests := []struct {
 		current string
 		latest  string
+		channel string
 		want    bool
 	}{
-		{"v1.0.0", "v1.0.1", true},
-		{"v1.0.1", "v1.0.0", false},
-		{"v1.0.0", "v1.0.0", false},
-		{"v1.2.3", "v1.2.4", true},
-		{"v1.2.0", "v1.1.9", false},
-		{"dev", "v1.0.0", false}, // dev never updates
-		{"v1.0.0", "dev", false},
-		{"", "v1.0.0", false},
-		{"v1.0.0", "v1.1.0-nightly.8cb1f47", false}, // nightly never triggers update
-		{"v1.1.0-nightly.abc", "v1.2.0", true},      // but if you are on nightly, you can update to stable
+		{"v1.0.0", "v1.0.1", "stable", true},
+		{"v1.0.1", "v1.0.0", "stable", false},
+		{"v1.0.0", "v1.0.0", "stable", false},
+		{"v1.2.3", "v1.2.4", "stable", true},
+		{"v1.2.0", "v1.1.9", "stable", false},
+		{"dev", "v1.0.0", "stable", false}, // dev never updates
+		{"v1.0.0", "dev", "stable", false},
+		{"", "v1.0.0", "stable", false},
+		{"v1.0.0", "v1.1.0-nightly.8cb1f47", "stable", false},          // nightly never triggers update
+		{"v1.1.0-nightly.abc", "v1.2.0", "stable", true},               // but if you are on nightly, you can update to stable
+		{"v1.1.0-nightly.abc", "v1.1.0-nightly.def", "nightly", true},  // nightly can update to newer nightly
+		{"v1.1.0-nightly.abc", "v1.1.0-nightly.abc", "nightly", false}, // same nightly is not newer
 	}
 
 	for _, tt := range tests {
-		if got := IsNewer(tt.current, tt.latest); got != tt.want {
-			t.Errorf("IsNewer(%q, %q) = %v; want %v", tt.current, tt.latest, got, tt.want)
-		}
+		t.Run(tt.current+"_"+tt.latest+"_"+tt.channel, func(t *testing.T) {
+			cfg := config.DefaultConfig()
+			cfg.Updater.Channel = tt.channel
+			config.Init(cfg)
+
+			if got := IsNewer(tt.current, tt.latest); got != tt.want {
+				t.Errorf("IsNewer(%q, %q, %q) = %v; want %v", tt.current, tt.latest, tt.channel, got, tt.want)
+			}
+		})
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/scripts/install.sh b/scripts/install.sh
index 77e7689..6caa45e 100755
--- a/scripts/install.sh
+++ b/scripts/install.sh
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ REPO="versenilvis/iris"
 BIN_DIR="${BIN_DIR:-/usr/local/bin}"
 # allow overriding the GitHub API base URL for local testing
 IRIS_API_URL="${IRIS_API_URL:-https://api.github.com}"
+IRIS_RELEASE_TAG="${IRIS_RELEASE_TAG:-}"
 
 main() {
     echo "Installing iris..."
@@ -123,18 +124,22 @@ get_arch() {
 
 get_download_url() {
     arch="$1"
+    release_path="/releases/latest"
+    if [ -n "${IRIS_RELEASE_TAG}" ]; then
+        release_path="/releases/tags/${IRIS_RELEASE_TAG}"
+    fi
 
     if command -v curl >/dev/null 2>&1; then
         http_response=$(curl -sL -w "\n%{http_code}" \
             ${GITHUB_TOKEN:+-H "Authorization: Bearer ${GITHUB_TOKEN}"} \
-            "${IRIS_API_URL}/repos/${REPO}/releases/latest")
+            "${IRIS_API_URL}/repos/${REPO}${release_path}")
         http_code=$(echo "${http_response}" | tail -1)
         releases=$(echo "${http_response}" | sed '$d')
     elif command -v wget >/dev/null 2>&1; then
         tmp_headers=$(mktemp)
         releases=$(wget -S -qO- \
             ${GITHUB_TOKEN:+--header "Authorization: Bearer ${GITHUB_TOKEN}"} \
-            "${IRIS_API_URL}/repos/${REPO}/releases/latest" 2>"$tmp_headers" || true)
+            "${IRIS_API_URL}/repos/${REPO}${release_path}" 2>"$tmp_headers" || true)
         http_code=$(grep "HTTP/" "$tmp_headers" | tail -1 | sed -e 's/^[[:space:]]*//' | cut -d' ' -f2)
         [ -z "${http_code}" ] && http_code="000"
         rm -f "$tmp_headers"