You should use cordova-hcp build instead of cordova-hcp server to generate new chcp.manifest and chcp.json files if you are using them for production.

cordova-hcp server should be used only for testing the app locally. Most likely, you will use it with local-dev-addon plugin.

If you want to test your app with production server:

1. Make sure, that local-dev-addon plugin is not installed in the project.
2. Set correct config-file url in the config.xml. And make sure, that it is accessible.
3. Generate new chcp.json and chcp.manifest files by running cordova-hcp build in the root of your project.
4. Run ionic build ios command to copy updated www folder into the native project.
5. Upload your www folder on your production server.
6. Run the app on emulator/device.

This way your application will be set to use production server with proper configs. For each new release:

1. Change what is needed in the www folder.
2. Run cordova-hcp build to generate new configs.
3. Upload new configs and www folder on the production server.
4. Restart iOS app: it should reload config from the server on the launch. If you want - you can control when to request updates via JS API.

sorry to bother you again,but i'm not clear about the next procedure, let's say i have gone through your steps and installed the app on sim,the index.html has text of 1111111111,as the pic shows below

my app's chcp.json is like this:
{
"autogenerated": true,
"release": "2016.09.20-10.14.45"
}

so ,now if I wanna update it again,I change my index's text to 22222222222,and run cordova-hcp build,now the local chcp.json looks like this:
{
"autogenerated": true,
"release": "2016.09.20-10.25.45"
}

so the release value is different now,right? I upload my chcp.json,chcp.manifest and my index.html, these 3 files to override them on server.when I close my app on sim and reopen it ,the page should change to 22222222 as i think,but it didn't,it still show the 111111111.

besides,the 'update' key-value is not here, this value is to control when to install the updates,right,should i added manually?
could you help me find any steps i did wrong,any tips would be nice,3ks.

the generated chcp.json doesn't have content_url,either,i think i should manually add these,right?will have a try first.

the generated chcp.json doesn't have content_url

Yes, you need to create cordova-hcp.json file in your project's root folder. And set content_url in it. For example:

{
  "content_url": "https://mydomain.com/chcp.json"
}

When you run cordova-hcp build - CLI client will use that config as a default one and add content_url to the generated config.

After that you can upload it on the server. Or you need to set it manually after CLI client generated configs. Otherwise it will not work: plugin would not know from where it should load files.

I upload my chcp.json,chcp.manifest and my index.html, these 3 files to override them on server.when I close my app on sim and reopen it ,the page should change to 22222222 as i think,but it didn't,it still show the 111111111.

It depends on your configuration. First of all, "restart" means that you kill the app, not just go to home screen and back to app. Second, by default when the app is launched - plugin loads updates from the server, but not performing installation until the next launch. You can control that by setting the update flag in chcp.json config to now:

{
  "content_url": "https://mydomain.com/chcp.json",
  "update": "now",
  "release": "213123123"
}

This way you tell the plugin to install the update immediately after downloading it.

You can check the docs for more details.

I actually always killed the app ,then restart it,still not work,no matter I set the "update" to "now" or "start" . besides,I think maybe the content_url you mentioned up is mistaken. should be like "content_url": "https://mydomain.com/www",not with the "chcp.json" end .right?
it seems like I always need to delete the app on sim,and re-run from the Xcode, then the update is working .

strange thing,when I create a small cordova hello world project,the HCP works perfect ! but my own ionic project just not work.

the left pic is my own project,the right one is HCP working helloCordova which I created, I click the run button in Xcode,and check the log difference,the helloCordova printed "Nothing to update",so it did go to update,and my own project didn't,

I set the same config . going to check what's going wrong.

I trace back the OC code and find the below func never call in my project but called in hello cordova.
`#pragma mark Methods, invoked from Javascript

• (void)jsInitPlugin:(CDVInvokedUrlCommand *)command {
  _defaultCallbackID = command.callbackId;
  [self dispatchDefaultCallbackStoredResults];

  if (_pluginXmlConfig.isUpdatesAutoDownloadAllowed &&
  ![HCPUpdateLoader sharedInstance].isDownloadInProgress &&
  ![HCPUpdateInstaller sharedInstance].isInstallationInProgress) {
  [self _fetchUpdate:nil withOptions:nil];
  }
  }`

and this func leads to the
// check if new version is available if ([newAppConfig.contentConfig.releaseVersion isEqualToString:_oldAppConfig.contentConfig.releaseVersion]) {
area

ok,have found the reason,I forgot to add cordova.js, which will call jsInitPlugin in OC from the chcp.js.
// Plugin methods on the native side that can be called from JavaScript pluginNativeMethod = { INITIALIZE: 'jsInitPlugin', FETCH_UPDATE: 'jsFetchUpdate', INSTALL_UPDATE: 'jsInstallUpdate', CONFIGURE: 'jsConfigure', REQUEST_APP_UPDATE: 'jsRequestAppUpdate', IS_UPDATE_AVAILABLE_FOR_INSTALLATION: 'jsIsUpdateAvailableForInstallation', GET_INFO: 'jsGetVersionInfo' };

thanks for the patience.will close this issue.

Glad, that you found the problem :)