npm-check-updates

npm-check-updates upgrades your package.json dependencies to the latest versions, ignoring specified versions.

• maintains existing semantic versioning policies, i.e. "react": "^16.0.4" to "react": "^18.2.0".
• only modifies package.json file. Run npm install to update your installed packages and package-lock.json.
• clean output
• sensible defaults
• lots of options for custom behavior
• CLI and module usage
• compatible with npm, yarn, and pnpm

• Red = major upgrade (and all major version zero)
• Cyan = minor upgrade
• Green = patch upgrade

Installation

Install globally:

npm install -g npm-check-updates

Or run with npx:

npx npm-check-updates

Usage

Show all new dependencies (excluding peerDependencies) for the project in the current directory:

$ ncu
Checking package.json
[====================] 5/5 100%

 eslint             7.32.0  →    8.0.0
 prettier           ^2.7.1  →   ^3.0.0
 svelte            ^3.48.0  →  ^3.51.0
 typescript         >3.0.0  →   >4.0.0
 untildify          <4.0.0  →   ^4.0.0
 webpack               4.x  →      5.x

Run ncu -u to upgrade package.json

Upgrade a project's package file:

Make sure your package file is in version control and all changes have been committed. This will overwrite your package file.

$ ncu -u
Upgrading package.json
[====================] 1/1 100%

 express           4.12.x  →   4.13.x

Run npm install to install new versions.

$ npm install      # update installed packages and package-lock.json

Check global packages:

ncu -g

Filter packages using the --filter option or adding additional cli arguments. You can exclude specific packages with the --reject option or prefixing a filter with !. Supports strings, wildcards, globs, comma-or-space-delimited lists, and regular expressions:

# upgrade only mocha
ncu mocha
ncu -f mocha
ncu --filter mocha

# upgrade packages that start with "react-"
ncu react-*
ncu "/^react-.*$/"

# upgrade everything except nodemon
ncu \!nodemon
ncu -x nodemon
ncu --reject nodemon

# upgrade only chalk, mocha, and react
ncu chalk mocha react
ncu chalk, mocha, react
ncu -f "chalk mocha react"

# upgrade packages that do not start with "react-".
ncu \!react-*
ncu '/^(?!react-).*$/' # mac/linux
ncu "/^(?!react-).*$/" # windows

How dependency updates are determined

• Direct dependencies are updated to the latest stable version:
  • 2.0.1 → 2.2.0
  • 1.2 → 1.3
  • 0.1.0 → 1.0.1
• Range operators are preserved and the version is updated:
  • ^1.2.0 → ^2.0.0
  • 1.x → 2.x
  • >0.2.0 → >0.3.0
• "Less than" is replaced with a wildcard:
  • <2.0.0 → ^3.0.0
  • 1.0.0 < 2.0.0 → ^3.0.0
• "Any version" is preserved:
  • * → *
• Prerelease and deprecated versions are ignored by default.
  • Use --pre to include prerelease versions (e.g. alpha, beta, build1235)
  • Use --deprecated to include deprecated versions
• With --target minor, only update patch and minor:
  • 0.1.0 → 0.2.1
• With --target patch, only update patch:
  • 0.1.0 → 0.1.2
• With --target @next, update to the version published on the next tag:
  • 0.1.0 -> 0.1.1-next.1

Options

Options are merged with the following precedence:

1. CLI
2. Local Config File
3. Project Config File
4. User Config File

Options that take no arguments can be negated by prefixing them with --no-, e.g. --no-peer.

Advanced Options

Some options have advanced usage, or allow per-package values by specifying a function in your ncurc.js file.

Run ncu --help [OPTION] to view advanced help for a specific option, or see below:

doctor

Usage:

ncu --doctor
ncu --no-doctor
ncu -d

Iteratively installs upgrades and runs tests to identify breaking upgrades. Reverts broken upgrades and updates package.json with working upgrades.

Add -u to execute (modifies your package file, lock file, and node_modules)

To be more precise:

1. Runs npm install and npm test to ensure tests are currently passing.
2. Runs ncu -u to optimistically upgrade all dependencies.
3. If tests pass, hurray!
4. If tests fail, restores package file and lock file.
5. For each dependency, install upgrade and run tests.
6. Prints broken upgrades with test error.
7. Saves working upgrades to package.json.

Additional options:

Example:

$ ncu --doctor -u
Running tests before upgrading
npm install
npm run test
Upgrading all dependencies and re-running tests
ncu -u
npm install
npm run test
Tests failed
Identifying broken dependencies
npm install
npm install --no-save [email protected]
npm run test
  ✓ react 15.0.0 → 16.0.0
npm install --no-save [email protected]
npm run test
  ✗ react-redux 6.0.0 → 7.0.0

/projects/myproject/test.js:13
  throw new Error('Test failed!')
  ^

npm install --no-save [email protected]
npm run test
  ✓ react-dnd 10.0.0 → 11.1.3
Saving partially upgraded package.json

filterResults

Filters out upgrades based on a user provided function.

filterResults runs after new versions are fetched, in contrast to filter and filterVersion, which run before. This allows you to filter out upgrades with filterResults based on how the version has changed (e.g. a major version change).

Only available in .ncurc.js or when importing npm-check-updates as a module.

/** Filter out non-major version updates.
  @param {string} packageName               The name of the dependency.
  @param {string} currentVersion            Current version declaration (may be range).
  @param {SemVer[]} currentVersionSemver    Current version declaration in semantic versioning format (may be range).
  @param {string} upgradedVersion           Upgraded version.
  @param {SemVer} upgradedVersionSemver     Upgraded version in semantic versioning format.
  @returns {boolean}                        Return true if the upgrade should be kept, otherwise it will be ignored.
*/
filterResults: (packageName, { currentVersion, currentVersionSemver, upgradedVersion, upgradedVersionSemver }) => {
  const currentMajorVersion = currentVersionSemver?.[0]?.major
  const upgradedMajorVersion = upgradedVersionSemver?.major
  if (currentMajorVersion && upgradedMajorVersion) {
    return currentMajorVersion < upgradedMajorVersion
  }
  return true
}

For the SemVer type definition, see: https://git.coolaj86.com/coolaj86/semver-utils.js#semverutils-parse-semverstring

format

Usage:

ncu --format [value]

Modify the output formatting or show additional information. Specify one or more comma-delimited values.

groupFunction

Customize how packages are divided into groups when using --format group.

Only available in .ncurc.js or when importing npm-check-updates as a module.

/**
  @param name             The name of the dependency.
  @param defaultGroup     The predefined group name which will be used by default.
  @param currentSpec      The current version range in your package.json.
  @param upgradedSpec     The upgraded version range that will be written to your package.json.
  @param upgradedVersion  The upgraded version number returned by the registry.
  @returns                A predefined group name ('major' | 'minor' | 'patch' | 'majorVersionZero' | 'none') or a custom string to create your own group.
*/
groupFunction: (name, defaultGroup, currentSpec, upgradedSpec, upgradedVersion) => {
  if (name === 'typescript' && defaultGroup === 'minor') {
    return 'major'
  }
  if (name.startsWith('@myorg/')) {
    return 'My Org'
  }
  return defaultGroup
}

packageManager

Usage:

ncu --packageManager [s]
ncu -p [s]

Specifies the package manager to use when looking up version numbers.

$ ncu --packageManager staticRegistry --registry ./my-registry.json

{
  "prettier": "2.7.1",
  "typescript": "4.7.4"
}

peer

Usage:

ncu --peer
ncu --no-peer

Check peer dependencies of installed packages and filter updates to compatible versions.

Example:

The following example demonstrates how --peer works, and how it uses peer dependencies from upgraded modules.

The package ncu-test-peer-update has two versions published:

• 1.0.0 has peer dependency "ncu-test-return-version": "1.0.x"
• 1.1.0 has peer dependency "ncu-test-return-version": "1.1.x"

Our test app has the following dependencies:

"ncu-test-peer-update": "1.0.0",
"ncu-test-return-version": "1.0.0"

The latest versions of these packages are:

"ncu-test-peer-update": "1.1.0",
"ncu-test-return-version": "2.0.0"

With --peer:

ncu upgrades packages to the highest version that still adheres to the peer dependency constraints:

ncu-test-peer-update     1.0.0  →  1.1.0
ncu-test-return-version  1.0.0  →  1.1.0

Without --peer:

As a comparison: without using the --peer option, ncu will suggest the latest versions, ignoring peer dependencies:

ncu-test-peer-update     1.0.0  →  1.1.0
ncu-test-return-version  1.0.0  →  2.0.0

registry

Usage:

ncu --registry [uri]
ncu -r [uri]

Specify the registry to use when looking up package version numbers.

When --packageManager staticRegistry is set, --registry must specify a path to a JSON registry file.

target

Usage:

ncu --target [value]
ncu -t [value]

Determines the version to upgrade to. (default: "latest")

You can also specify a custom function in your .ncurc.js file, or when importing npm-check-updates as a module:

/** Upgrade major version zero to the next minor version, and everything else to latest.
  @param dependencyName The name of the dependency.
  @param parsedVersion A parsed Semver object from semver-utils.
    (See https://git.coolaj86.com/coolaj86/semver-utils.js#semverutils-parse-semverstring)
  @returns One of the valid target values (specified in the table above).
*/
target: (dependencyName, [{ semver, version, operator, major, minor, patch, release, build }]) => {
  if (major === '0') return 'minor'
  return 'latest'
}

Interactive Mode

Choose which packages to update in interactive mode:

ncu --interactive
ncu -i

Combine with --format group for a truly luxe experience:

Config File

Use a .ncurc.{json,yml,js,cjs} file to specify configuration information. You can specify the file name and path using --configFileName and --configFilePath command line options.

For example, .ncurc.json:

{
  "upgrade": true,
  "filter": "svelte",
  "reject": ["@types/estree", "ts-node"]
}

If you write .ncurc config files using json or yaml, you can add the JSON Schema to your IDE settings for completions.

e.g. for VS Code:

  "json.schemas": [
    {
      "fileMatch": [
        ".ncurc",
        ".ncurc.json",
      ],
      "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/raineorshine/npm-check-updates/main/src/types/RunOptions.json"
    }
  ],
  "yaml.schemas": {
    "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/raineorshine/npm-check-updates/main/src/types/RunOptions.json": [
        ".ncurc.yml",
    ]
  },

Module/Programmatic Usage

npm-check-updates can be imported as a module:

import ncu from 'npm-check-updates'

const upgraded = await ncu.run({
  // Pass any cli option
  packageFile: '../package.json',
  upgrade: true,
  // Defaults:
  // jsonUpgraded: true,
  // silent: true,
})

console.log(upgraded) // { "mypackage": "^2.0.0", ... }

Contributing

Contributions are happily accepted. I respond to all PR's and can offer guidance on where to make changes. For contributing tips see CONTRIBUTING.md.

Problems?

File an issue. Please search existing issues first.