Aspects for automatic code version update detection and distribution for an application program running on a computer system in a computer network are described. In a method aspect, the method includes providing two agent processes, a slave agent and a master agent, on an agent system in the computer network. A request is received in the slave agent from a manager system in the computer network, the request including an appropriate code version of the running application for response. A determination of whether the slave agent can fulfill the request at the appropriate code version is made, and an automatic updating of the agent system occurs when the request cannot be fulfilled at the appropriate code version. In a further method aspect, two agent processes, a slave agent and a master agent, are provided on an agent system, with identification of whether the agent system is operating at an appropriate code version occurring during discovery and registration of the agent system in a manager system, and automatic updating of the agent system when the agent system is not operating at the appropriate code version.