diff --git a/bin/ocr.js b/bin/ocr.js
index a1e66437e..bca4b2ced 100755
--- a/bin/ocr.js
+++ b/bin/ocr.js
@@ -21,10 +21,20 @@ const hintFile = path.join(os.homedir(), ".opencodereview", "update-available");
 try {
   const hint = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(hintFile, "utf8"));
   if (hint.version && hint.pkg) {
-    console.error(
-      `\x1b[33m[ocr] A new version (v${hint.version}) is available. Run to update:\x1b[0m\n` +
-      `\x1b[33m  npm i -g ${hint.pkg}@${hint.version}\x1b[0m\n`
-    );
+    // Normalize both sides: strip leading 'v' so "v1.8.6" == "1.8.6".
+    const pkgVersion = (() => {
+      try {
+        return require(path.join(__dirname, "..", "package.json")).version || "";
+      } catch (_) { return ""; }
+    })();
+    const hintNorm = hint.version.startsWith("v") ? hint.version.slice(1) : hint.version;
+    const pkgNorm  = pkgVersion.startsWith("v")  ? pkgVersion.slice(1)  : pkgVersion;
+    if (!pkgNorm || hintNorm !== pkgNorm) {
+      console.error(
+        `\x1b[33m[ocr] A new version (v${hint.version}) is available. Run to update:\x1b[0m\n` +
+        `\x1b[33m  npm i -g ${hint.pkg}@${hint.version}\x1b[0m\n`
+      );
+    }
   }
 } catch (_) {}
 
diff --git a/scripts/update.js b/scripts/update.js
index ba6fc2493..8c4146488 100644
--- a/scripts/update.js
+++ b/scripts/update.js
@@ -149,8 +149,11 @@ async function main() {
     if (!installedVersion) return;
 
     const pkg = loadPackageJson();
-    const latestVersion = await fetchLatestVersion(pkg);
-    if (!latestVersion) return;
+    const rawLatest = await fetchLatestVersion(pkg);
+    if (!rawLatest) return;
+
+    // Normalize: strip leading 'v' so "v1.8.6" and "1.8.6" are treated equally.
+    const latestVersion = rawLatest.startsWith("v") ? rawLatest.slice(1) : rawLatest;
 
     if (!SEMVER_RE.test(latestVersion)) return;
 
diff --git a/scripts/update.test.js b/scripts/update.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..72c3ecd16
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/update.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+"use strict";
+
+// Inline the two pure functions under test so we don't need a test framework.
+const SEMVER_RE = /^\d+\.\d+\.\d+(?:[-+][0-9A-Za-z.-]+)?$/;
+
+function semverGt(a, b) {
+  const pa = a.replace(/-.*$/, "").split(".").map(Number);
+  const pb = b.replace(/-.*$/, "").split(".").map(Number);
+  for (let i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
+    if ((pa[i] || 0) > (pb[i] || 0)) return true;
+    if ((pa[i] || 0) < (pb[i] || 0)) return false;
+  }
+  const aPre = a.includes("-");
+  const bPre = b.includes("-");
+  if (bPre && !aPre) return true;
+  return false;
+}
+
+function normalizeVersion(v) {
+  return v && v.startsWith("v") ? v.slice(1) : v;
+}
+
+let passed = 0, failed = 0;
+function assert(cond, msg) {
+  if (cond) { console.log(`  ok: ${msg}`); passed++; }
+  else       { console.error(`FAIL: ${msg}`); failed++; }
+}
+
+// --- semverGt ---
+assert(!semverGt("1.8.6", "1.8.6"), "equal versions: not gt");
+assert( semverGt("1.8.7", "1.8.6"), "patch bump: gt");
+assert(!semverGt("1.8.5", "1.8.6"), "older: not gt");
+assert( semverGt("2.0.0", "1.9.9"), "major bump: gt");
+assert( semverGt("1.8.6", "1.8.6-beta"), "stable > pre-release: gt");
+assert( semverGt("1.8.6", "1.8.6-rc1"), "stable > rc: gt");
+
+// --- normalizeVersion (the v-prefix fix) ---
+assert(normalizeVersion("v1.8.6") === "1.8.6", "strips leading v");
+assert(normalizeVersion("1.8.6")  === "1.8.6", "leaves bare version alone");
+assert(normalizeVersion("")       === "",       "empty string unchanged");
+
+// --- equal after normalize => no nudge ---
+const latestRaw = "1.8.6";   // npm registry style
+const installed = "1.8.6";   // from binary
+const latest = normalizeVersion(latestRaw);
+assert(SEMVER_RE.test(latest),         "normalized version passes SEMVER_RE");
+assert(!semverGt(latest, installed),   "equal versions: no nudge");
+
+// --- v-prefixed registry response handled correctly ---
+const latestRawV = "v1.8.6";
+const latestNorm = normalizeVersion(latestRawV);
+assert(SEMVER_RE.test(latestNorm),     "v-prefixed from registry normalizes and passes SEMVER_RE");
+assert(!semverGt(latestNorm, "1.8.6"), "v-prefixed equal: no nudge");
+assert( semverGt(latestNorm, "1.8.5"), "v-prefixed newer: nudge shown");
+
+// --- hint display guard (ocr.js logic) ---
+function shouldShowNudge(hintVersion, pkgVersion) {
+  const hintNorm = normalizeVersion(hintVersion);
+  const pkgNorm  = normalizeVersion(pkgVersion);
+  return !pkgNorm || hintNorm !== pkgNorm;
+}
+assert(!shouldShowNudge("1.8.6", "1.8.6"),  "same bare: no nudge");
+assert(!shouldShowNudge("v1.8.6", "1.8.6"), "v-hint vs bare: no nudge");
+assert(!shouldShowNudge("1.8.6", "v1.8.6"), "bare hint vs v-pkg: no nudge");
+assert( shouldShowNudge("1.8.7", "1.8.6"),  "newer hint: show nudge");
+assert( shouldShowNudge("1.8.6", ""),        "unknown pkg version: show nudge (safe default)");
+
+console.log(`\n${passed} passed, ${failed} failed`);
+if (failed > 0) process.exit(1);