NPM update and synchronize

Github action that checks for updates and synchronises package.json

This action will update dependencies to latest available version accoring to version range in package.json

If the version range is described with ^ or ~ prefix and complete semver string it will update package.json to reflect actual version.

Given that version 1.4.0 of @actions/core is the latest version on major version 1 and the following dependencies in package.json

//.....
"dependencies": {
    "@actions/core": "^1.3.0",
},
//.....

The package.json will be updated to

//.....
"dependencies": {
    "@actions/core": "^1.4.0",
},
//.....

The same logic applies to version with ~ prefix eg: ~1.2.3

All other ways of you can describe version ranges in npm is left as-is

Steps in the action

locate package.json in root folder and all sub-folders. Root folder can be overwritten, and recursiveness can be turned off
Install all dependencies using npm install
List all outdated dependencies using npm outdated --json
Check if any versions should be updated in package.json to reflect actual version
Update package-lock.json using npm install --package-lock-only
Generate a pr-body and make it avialable in output: body

Usage

Its recomended to use this aciton in combination along with a action for creating pull requests automatically

on: 
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 8 * * 4' # every thursday @ AM 8:00

jobs:
  npm_update_sync:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: Update npm packages and sync package.json
    steps:
      - name: checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v2

      - uses: actions/setup-node@v2   # Setup build agent with wanted version of node see: https://github.com/actions/setup-node
        with:
          node-version: '16'          

      - name: Update package.json
        id: update
        uses: tjololo/npm-package-update-sync@v1

      - name: Create Pull Request
        uses: peter-evans/create-pull-request@v3
        with:
          title: "Updated npm dependencies"
          body: ${{ steps.update.outputs.body }}
          labels: dependencies

Action inputs

Name	Description	Default
`root-folder`	relative path from repository root where the action should look for `package.json` files	`.`
`ignore-folders`	folders to ignore during update including subfolder. path is relative to root-folder input	`''`
`recursive`	wether or not the action should look for package.json in sub-folders and update all of them	`true`
`comment-updated`	wheter or not the dependencies that are update should be included in the body output	`false`

Action outputs

body - Markdown formated text that can be used in a commit or PR
updated - Returns true if any dependencies are updated

Example of a body for a project with two package.json with comment-updated set to true:

Module: demo

Merging this PR will update the following dependencies

@actions/exec 1.0.0 -> 1.0.4
@types/node 16.6.0 -> 16.6.1
npm-check-updates 10.0.0 -> 10.3.1

Version updates outside of current version ranges

@actions/exec 1.0.4 -> 1.1.0
npm-check-updates 10.3.1 -> 11.8.3

Please update these manually or change version range.

Module: demo/sub-folder

Merging this PR will update the following dependencies

@actions/exec 1.0.0 -> 1.0.4
@types/node 16.6.0 -> 16.6.1
npm-check-updates 10.0.0 -> 10.3.1

Version updates outside of current version ranges

@actions/exec 1.0.4 -> 1.1.0
npm-check-updates 10.3.1 -> 11.8.3

Please update these manually or change version range.