npm-check-updates is a command-line tool that allows you to upgrade your package.json or bower.json dependencies to the latest versions, regardless of existing version constraints.
npm-check-updates maintains your existing semantic versioning policies, i.e., it will upgrade your "express": "^4.11.2" dependency to "express": "^5.0.0" when express 5.0.0 is released.
npm install -g npm-check-updatesShow any new dependencies for the project in the current directory:
$ ncu
express 4.12.x → 4.13.x
multer ^0.1.8 → ^1.0.1
react-bootstrap ^0.22.6 → ^0.24.0
react-a11y ^0.1.1 → ^0.2.6
webpack ~1.9.10 → ~1.10.5
Run with -u to upgrade your package.jsonUpgrade 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
express 4.12.x → 4.13.x
package.json upgradedWorks with bower:
$ ncu -m bower # will use bower.json and check versions in bowerYou can include or exclude specific packages using the --filter and --reject options. They accept strings, comma-delimited lists, or regular expressions:
# match mocha and should packages exactly
$ ncu mocha # shorthand for ncu -f mocha (or --filter)
$ ncu one, two, three
# exclude packages
$ ncu -x nodemon # shorthand for ncu --reject nodemon
# match packages that start with "gulp-" using regex
$ ncu /^gulp-/
# match packages that do not start with "gulp-". Note: single quotes are required
# here to avoid inadvertent bash parsing
$ ncu '/^(?!gulp-).*$/'-d, --dev check only devDependencies
-f, --filter include only package names matching the given string,
comma-delimited list, or regex
-g, --global check global packages instead of in the current project
-h, --help output usage information
-m, --packageManager npm or bower (default: npm)
-p, --prod check only dependencies (not devDependencies)
-r, --registry specify third-party NPM registry
-u, --upgrade overwrite package file
-x, --reject exclude packages matching the given string, comma-
delimited list, or regex
-V, --version output the version number
Do not use these unless you know what you are doing! Not needed for typical usage.
-e, --error-level set the error-level. 1: exits with error code 0 if no
errors occur. 2: exits with error code 0 if no
packages need updating (useful for continuous
integration)
-j, --jsonAll output new package file instead of human-readable
message
--jsonUpgraded output upgraded dependencies in json
-l, --loglevel what level of logs to report: silent, error, warn,
info, verbose, silly (default: warn)
--packageData include stringified package file (use stdin instead)
--packageFile package file location (default: ./package.json)
--packageFileDir use same directory as packageFile to compare against
installed modules. See #201.
-n, --newest find the newest published versions available instead
of the latest stable versions
-o, --optional check only optionalDependencies
-s, --silent don't output anything (--loglevel silent)
--semverLevel find the highest version within "major" or "minor"
-t, --greatest find the highest versions available instead of the
latest stable versions
-a, --upgradeAll include even those dependencies whose latest
version satisfies the declared semver dependency
The tool allows integration with 3rd party code:
const ncu = require('npm-check-updates');
ncu.run({
// Always specify the path to the package file
packageFile: 'package.json',
// Any command-line option can be specified here.
// These are set by default:
silent: true,
jsonUpgraded: true
}).then((upgraded) => {
console.log('dependencies to upgrade:', upgraded);
});- Direct dependencies will be increased to the latest stable version:
2.0.1→2.2.01.2→1.30.1.0→1.0.1- with
--semverLevel major0.1.0→0.2.1
- with
--semverLevel minor0.1.0→0.1.2
- Semantic versioning policies for levels are maintained while satisfying the latest version:
^1.2.0→^2.0.01.x→2.x- "Any version" is maintained:
*→*
- "Greater than" is maintained:
>0.2.0→>0.3.0
- Closed ranges are replaced with a wildcard:
1.0.0 < 2.0.0→^3.0.0
^1.0.0 is a range that will includes all non-major updates. If you run npm update, it will install 1.0.1 without changing the dependency listed in your package file. You don't need to update your package file if the latest version is satisfied by the specified dependency range. If you really want to upgrade your package file (even though it's not necessary), you can run ncu --upgradeAll.
Docker volumes can be used to easily update a package:
docker run -it --rm -v $(pwd)/package.json:/app/package.json creack/ncu -u -a-
ncu -gincorrectly report that all packages are up-to-date. This is due to an issue in npm v3 in which dead symlinks breaknpm ls -g. See #235 for a workaround (TLDR; Delete the dead symlinks). For others, it was an issue with the npm prefix path. TryPREFIX="/usr/local/" ncu -g(#146). -
In some environments (Windows) npm-check-updates may hang. Run
ncu --loglevel verboseto see if it is waiting for stdin. If so, try setting the package file explicitly:ncu -g --packageFile package.json. See #136. -
There is an issue with grunt-shell described in #119. TLDR; You have to explicitly specify your package file with
ncu --packageFile package.json. -
Cannot find module 'proto-list'. This error is occurring for many people, yet it cannot be consistently reproduced. It seems to be fixed by fresh installs of node and npm: "I reinstalled node 4.2.1 and npm 2.14.7. Installed ncu, and it worked fine. So I'm afraid I'm not able to reproduce the issue anymore." See #144.
Please file an issue on github!