diff --git a/misc/tools.func b/misc/tools.func
index b9394b6f..02ab747c 100644
--- a/misc/tools.func
+++ b/misc/tools.func
@@ -675,22 +675,6 @@ install_mongodb() {
   msg_ok "MongoDB $MONGO_VERSION installed and started"
 }
 
-install_from_gh_release() {
-  local app="$1"
-  local repo="$2"
-  local mode="${3:-source}" # Default: source
-  local version="${4:-}"    # Default: latest
-  local deb_name="${5:-}"   # Default: empty
-
-  APP="$app"
-  INSTALL_DIR="/opt/$app"
-  VERSION="$version"
-  SOURCE_PACKAGE="$deb_name"
-  BUILD_SOURCE=$([[ "$mode" == "binary" ]] && echo 0 || echo 1)
-
-  fetch_and_deploy_gh_release "$repo"
-}
-
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Downloads and deploys latest GitHub release tarball.
 #
@@ -705,22 +689,24 @@ install_from_gh_release() {
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 fetch_and_deploy_gh_release() {
-  local repo="$1"
-  local raw_app="${APP:-$APPLICATION}"
-  local app=$(echo "${raw_app,,}" | tr -d ' ')
-  local api_url="https://api.github.com/repos/$repo/releases/latest"
-  local header=()
-  local attempt=0
-  local max_attempts=3
-  local api_response tag http_code
-  local current_version=""
+  local app="$1"
+  local repo="$2"
+  local mode="${3:-tarball}"     # tarball | source | binary
+  local version="${4:-latest}"   # optional, default "latest"
+  local target="${5:-/opt/$app}" # optional target dir
+
+  local app_lc=$(echo "${app,,}" | tr -d ' ')
+  local version_file="$HOME/.${app_lc}/${app_lc}_version.txt"
   local curl_timeout="--connect-timeout 10 --max-time 30"
-  # Check if the app directory exists and if there's a version file
-  if [[ -f "/opt/${app}_version.txt" ]]; then
-    current_version=$(cat "/opt/${app}_version.txt")
+
+  mkdir -p "$(dirname "$version_file")"
+
+  local current_version=""
+  if [[ -f "$version_file" ]]; then
+    current_version=$(<"$version_file")
     $STD msg_info "Current version: $current_version"
   fi
-  # ensure that jq is installed
+
   if ! command -v jq &>/dev/null; then
     $STD msg_info "Installing jq..."
     $STD apt-get update -qq &>/dev/null
@@ -729,136 +715,97 @@ fetch_and_deploy_gh_release() {
       return 1
     }
   fi
+
+  local api_url="https://api.github.com/repos/$repo/releases"
+  [[ "$version" != "latest" ]] && api_url="$api_url/tags/$version" || api_url="$api_url/latest"
+  local header=()
   [[ -n "${GITHUB_TOKEN:-}" ]] && header=(-H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN")
-  until [[ $attempt -ge $max_attempts ]]; do
-    ((attempt++)) || true
-    $STD msg_info "[$attempt/$max_attempts] Fetching GitHub release for $repo...\n"
-    api_response=$(curl $curl_timeout -fsSL -w "%{http_code}" -o /tmp/gh_resp.json "${header[@]}" "$api_url")
-    http_code="${api_response:(-3)}"
-    if [[ "$http_code" == "404" ]]; then
-      msg_error "Repository $repo has no Release candidate (404)"
-      return 1
-    fi
-    if [[ "$http_code" != "200" ]]; then
-      $STD msg_info "Request failed with HTTP $http_code, retrying...\n"
-      sleep $((attempt * 2))
-      continue
-    fi
-    api_response=$(</tmp/gh_resp.json)
-    if echo "$api_response" | grep -q "API rate limit exceeded"; then
-      msg_error "GitHub API rate limit exceeded."
-      return 1
-    fi
-    if echo "$api_response" | jq -e '.message == "Not Found"' &>/dev/null; then
-      msg_error "Repository not found: $repo"
-      return 1
-    fi
-    tag=$(echo "$api_response" | jq -r '.tag_name // .name // empty')
-    [[ "$tag" =~ ^v[0-9] ]] && tag="${tag:1}"
-    version="${tag#v}"
-    if [[ -z "$tag" ]]; then
-      $STD msg_info "Empty tag received, retrying...\n"
-      sleep $((attempt * 2))
-      continue
-    fi
-    $STD msg_ok "Found release: $tag for $repo"
-    break
-  done
-  if [[ -z "$tag" ]]; then
-    msg_error "Failed to fetch release for $repo after $max_attempts attempts."
-    exit 1
-  fi
-  # Version comparison (if we already have this version, skip)
-  if [[ "$current_version" == "$tag" ]]; then
-    $STD msg_info "Already running the latest version ($tag). Skipping update."
+
+  $STD msg_info "Fetching release metadata for $repo ($version)..."
+  local resp http_code
+  resp=$(curl $curl_timeout -fsSL -w "%{http_code}" -o /tmp/gh_rel.json "${header[@]}" "$api_url")
+  http_code="${resp:(-3)}"
+  [[ "$http_code" != "200" ]] && {
+    msg_error "Failed to fetch release: HTTP $http_code"
+    return 1
+  }
+  local json
+  json=$(</tmp/gh_rel.json)
+  local tag_name
+  tag_name=$(echo "$json" | jq -r '.tag_name // .name // empty')
+  [[ "$tag_name" =~ ^v ]] && version="${tag_name:1}" || version="$tag_name"
+
+  if [[ "$current_version" == "$version" ]]; then
+    $STD msg_info "Already on latest version ($version)"
     return 0
   fi
 
-  local base_url="https://github.com/$repo/releases/download/v$tag"
   local tmpdir
   tmpdir=$(mktemp -d) || return 1
-  # Extract list of assets from the Release API
-  local assets urls
-  assets=$(echo "$api_response" | jq -r '.assets[].browser_download_url') || true
-  # Detect current architecture
-  local arch
-  if command -v dpkg &>/dev/null; then
-    arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture)
-  elif command -v uname &>/dev/null; then
-    case "$(uname -m)" in
-    x86_64) arch="amd64" ;;
-    aarch64) arch="arm64" ;;
-    armv7l) arch="armv7" ;;
-    armv6l) arch="armv6" ;;
-    *) arch="unknown" ;;
-    esac
-  else
-    arch="unknown"
-  fi
-  $STD msg_info "Detected system architecture: $arch"
-  # Try to find a matching asset for our architecture
+  local filename=""
   local url=""
-  for u in $assets; do
-    if [[ "$u" =~ $arch.*\.tar\.gz$ ]]; then
-      url="$u"
-      $STD msg_info "Found matching architecture asset: $url"
-      break
-    fi
-  done
-  # Fallback to other architectures if our specific one isn't found
-  if [[ -z "$url" ]]; then
+
+  if [[ "$mode" == "tarball" || "$mode" == "source" ]]; then
+    url=$(echo "$json" | jq -r '.tarball_url // empty')
+    [[ -z "$url" ]] && url="https://github.com/$repo/archive/refs/tags/v$version.tar.gz"
+    filename="${app_lc}-${version}.tar.gz"
+
+    $STD msg_info "Downloading source tarball: $url"
+    curl $curl_timeout -fsSL -o "$tmpdir/$filename" "$url" || {
+      msg_error "Download failed: $url"
+      rm -rf "$tmpdir"
+      return 1
+    }
+
+    mkdir -p "$target"
+    tar -xzf "$tmpdir/$filename" -C "$tmpdir"
+    local unpack_dir
+    unpack_dir=$(find "$tmpdir" -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -type d | head -n1)
+
+    shopt -s dotglob nullglob
+    cp -r "$unpack_dir"/* "$target/"
+    shopt -u dotglob nullglob
+
+  elif [[ "$mode" == "binary" ]]; then
+    local arch
+    arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture 2>/dev/null || uname -m)
+    [[ "$arch" == "x86_64" ]] && arch="amd64"
+    [[ "$arch" == "aarch64" ]] && arch="arm64"
+
+    local assets url_match
+    assets=$(echo "$json" | jq -r '.assets[].browser_download_url')
     for u in $assets; do
-      if [[ "$u" =~ (x86_64|amd64|arm64|armv7|armv6).*\.tar\.gz$ ]]; then
-        url="$u"
-        $STD msg_info "Architecture-specific asset not found, using: $url"
+      if [[ "$u" =~ $arch.*\.deb$ ]]; then
+        url_match="$u"
         break
       fi
     done
-  fi
-  # Fallback to any tar.gz
-  if [[ -z "$url" ]]; then
-    for u in $assets; do
-      if [[ "$u" =~ \.tar\.gz$ ]]; then
-        url="$u"
-        $STD msg_info "Using generic tarball: $url"
-        break
-      fi
-    done
-  fi
-  # Final fallback to GitHub source tarball
-  if [[ -z "$url" ]]; then
-    # Use tarball_url directly from API response instead of constructing our own URL
-    url=$(echo "$api_response" | jq -r '.tarball_url // empty')
-
-    # If tarball_url is empty for some reason, fall back to a constructed URL as before
-    if [[ -z "$url" ]]; then
-      url="https://github.com/$repo/archive/refs/tags/v$version.tar.gz"
+    if [[ -z "$url_match" ]]; then
+      msg_error "No matching .deb asset for arch '$arch'"
+      rm -rf "$tmpdir"
+      return 1
     fi
-
-    $STD msg_info "Using GitHub source tarball: $url"
-  fi
-  local filename="${url##*/}"
-  $STD msg_info "Downloading $url"
-  if ! curl $curl_timeout -fsSL -o "$tmpdir/$filename" "$url"; then
-    msg_error "Failed to download release asset from $url"
+    filename="${url_match##*/}"
+    $STD msg_info "Downloading binary .deb: $url_match"
+    curl $curl_timeout -fsSL -o "$tmpdir/$filename" "$url_match" || {
+      msg_error "Download failed: $url_match"
+      rm -rf "$tmpdir"
+      return 1
+    }
+    $STD msg_info "Installing $filename via apt"
+    apt-get install -y "$tmpdir/$filename" || {
+      msg_error "Failed to install $filename"
+      rm -rf "$tmpdir"
+      return 1
+    }
+  else
+    msg_error "Unknown mode: $mode"
     rm -rf "$tmpdir"
     return 1
   fi
-  mkdir -p "/opt/$app"
-  tar -xzf "$tmpdir/$filename" -C "$tmpdir"
-  local content_root
-  content_root=$(find "$tmpdir" -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -type d)
-  if [[ $(echo "$content_root" | wc -l) -eq 1 ]]; then
-    shopt -s dotglob nullglob
-    cp -r "$content_root"/* "/opt/$app/"
-    shopt -u dotglob nullglob
-  else
-    shopt -s dotglob nullglob
-    cp -r "$tmpdir"/* "/opt/$app/"
-    shopt -u dotglob nullglob
-  fi
-  echo "$version" >"/opt/${app}_version.txt"
-  $STD msg_ok "Deployed $app v$version to /opt/$app"
+
+  echo "$version" >"$version_file"
+  $STD msg_ok "$app deployed (version: $version)"
   rm -rf "$tmpdir"
 }