npm-check: A JavaScript repository from d3lm

npm-check

Check for outdated, incorrect, and unused dependencies.

Features

Tells you what's out of date.
Provides a link to the package's documentation so you can decide if you want the update.
Kindly informs you if a dependency is not being used in your code.
Works on your globally installed packages too, via -g.
Interactive Update for less typing and fewer typos, via -u.
Supports public and private @scoped/packages.
Supports ES6-style import from syntax.
Upgrades your modules using your installed version of npm, including the new npm@3, so dependencies go where you expect them.
Works with any public npm registry, private registries, and alternate registries like Sinopia.
Does not query registries for packages with private: true in their package.json.
Emoji in a command-line app, because command-line apps can be fun too.
Works with npm@2 and npm@3, as well as newer alternative installers like ied and pnpm.

Requirements

Node 4 or newer is required because the code uses ES2015 features like const and arrow functions.

On the command line

This is the easiest way to use npm-check.

Install

$ npm install -g npm-check

Use

$ npm-check

The result should look like the screenshot, or something nice when your packages are all up-to-date and in use.

When updates are required it will return a non-zero response code that you can use in your CI tools.

Options

Usage
  $ npm-check <path> <options>

Path
  Where to check. Defaults to current directory. Use -g for checking global modules.

Options
  -u, --update          Interactive update.
  -g, --global          Look at global modules.
  -s, --skip-unused     Skip check for unused packages.
  -p, --production      Skip devDependencies.
  -E, --save-exact      Save exact version (x.y.z) instead of caret (^x.y.z) in package.json.
  --no-color            Force or disable color output.
  --no-emoji            Remove emoji support. No emoji in default in CI environments.
  --debug               Debug output. Throw in a gist when creating issues on github.

Examples
  $ npm-check           # See what can be updated, what isn't being used.
  $ npm-check ../foo    # Check another path.
  $ npm-check -gu       # Update globally installed modules by picking which ones to upgrade.

`-u, --update`

Show an interactive UI for choosing which modules to update.

Automatically updates versions referenced in the package.json.

Based on recommendations from the npm team, npm-check only updates using npm install, not npm update. To avoid using more than one version of npm in one directory, npm-check will automatically install updated modules using the version of npm installed globally.

Update using ied or pnpm

Set environment variable NPM_CHECK_INSTALLER to the name of the installer you wish to use.

NPM_CHECK_INSTALLER=pnpm npm-check -u
## pnpm install --save-dev foo@version --color=always

You can also use this for dry-run testing:

NPM_CHECK_INSTALLER=echo npm-check -u

`-g, --global`

Check the versions of your globally installed packages.

Tip: Use npm-check -u -g to do a safe interactive update of global modules, including npm itself.

`-s, --skip-unused`

By default npm-check will let you know if any of your modules are not being used by looking at require statements in your code.

This option will skip that check.

This is enabled by default when using global or update.

`-p, --production`

By default npm-check will look at packages listed as dependencies and devDependencies.

This option will let it ignore outdated and unused checks for packages listed as devDependencies.

`-E, --save-exact`

Install packages using --save-exact, meaning exact versions will be saved in package.json.

Applies to both dependencies and devDependencies.

`--color, --no-color`

Enable or disable color support.

By default npm-check uses colors if they are available.

`--emoji, --no-emoji`

Enable or disable emoji support. Useful for terminals that don't support them. Automatically disabled in CI servers.

`--spinner, --no-spinner`

Enable or disable the spinner. Useful for terminals that don't support them. Automatically disabled in CI servers.

API

The API is here in case you want to wrap this with your CI toolset.

const npmCheck = require('npm-check');

npmCheck(options)
  .then(currentState => console.log(currentState.get('packages')));

`global`

Check global modules.
default is false
cwd is automatically set with this option.

`update`

Interactive update.
default is false

`skipUnused`

Skip checking for unused packages.
default is false

`ignoreDev`

Ignore devDependencies.
This is called --production on the command line to match npm.
default is false

`cwd`

Override where npm-check checks.
default is process.cwd()

`saveExact`

Update package.json with exact version x.y.z instead of semver range ^x.y.z.
default is false

`currentState`

The result of the promise is a currentState object, look in state.js to see how it works.

You will probably want currentState.get('packages') to get an array of packages and the state of each of them.

Each item in the array will look like the following:

{
  moduleName: 'lodash',                 // name of the module.
  homepage: 'https://lodash.com/',      // url to the home page.
  regError: undefined,                  // error communicating with the registry
  pkgError: undefined,                  // error reading the package.json
  latest: '4.7.0',                      // latest according to the registry.
  installed: '4.6.1',                   // version installed
  isInstalled: true,                    // Is it installed?
  notInstalled: false,                  // Is it installed?
  packageWanted: '4.7.0',               // Requested version from the package.json.
  packageJson: '^4.6.1',                // Version or range requested in the parent package.json.
  devDependency: false,                 // Is this a devDependency?
  usedInScripts: undefined,             // Array of `scripts` in package.json that use this module.
  mismatch: false,                      // Does the version installed not match the range in package.json?
  semverValid: '4.6.1',                 // Is the installed version valid semver?
  easyUpgrade: true,                    // Will running just `npm install` upgrade the module?
  bump: 'minor',                        // What kind of bump is required to get the latest, such as patch, minor, major.
  unused: false                         // Is this module used in the code?
},

You will also see this if you use --debug on the command line.

Inspiration

npm outdated - awkward output, requires --depth=0 to be grokable.
david - does not work with private registries.
update-notifier - for single modules, not everything in package.json.
depcheck - only part of the puzzle. npm-check uses depcheck.

About the Author

Hi! Thanks for checking out this project! My name is Dylan Greene. When not overwhelmed with my two young kids I enjoy contributing to the open source community. I'm also a tech lead at Opower.

Here's some of my other Node projects:

Name	Description	npm Downloads
`grunt‑notify`	Automatic desktop notifications for Grunt errors and warnings. Supports OS X, Windows, Linux.
`shortid`	Amazingly short non-sequential url-friendly unique id generator.
`space‑hogs`	Discover surprisingly large directories from the command line
`rss`	RSS feed generator. Add RSS feeds to any project. Supports enclosures and GeoRSS.
`grunt‑prompt`	Interactive prompt for your Grunt config using console checkboxes, text input with filtering, password fields.
`xml`	Fast and simple xml generator. Supports attributes, CDATA, etc. Includes tests and examples.
`changelog`	Command line tool (and Node module) that generates a changelog in color output, markdown, or json for modules in npmjs.org's registry as well as any public github.com repo.
`grunt‑attention`	Display attention-grabbing messages in the terminal
`observatory`	Beautiful UI for showing tasks running on the command line.
`anthology`	Module information and stats for any @npmjs user
`grunt‑cat`	Echo a file to the terminal. Works with text, figlets, ascii art, and full-color ansi.