Synopsis

npm update[<pkg>...]
aliases: up, upgrade, udpate

Description

This command will update all the packages listed to the latest version (specified by thetag config), respecting the semver constraints of both your package and its dependencies (if they also require the same package).

It will also install missing packages.

If the-g flag is specified, this command will update globally installed packages.

If no package name is specified, all packages in the specified location (global or local) will be updated.

Note that by defaultnpm update will not update the semver values of direct dependencies in your projectpackage.json. If you want to also update values inpackage.json you can run:npm update --save (or add thesave=true option to aconfiguration file to make that the default behavior).

Example

For the examples below, assume that the current package isapp and it depends on dependencies,dep1 (dep2, .. etc.). The published versions ofdep1 are:

{
"dist-tags":{"latest":"1.2.2"},
"versions":[
"1.2.2",
"1.2.1",
"1.2.0",
"1.1.2",
"1.1.1",
"1.0.0",
"0.4.1",
"0.4.0",
"0.2.0"
]
}

Caret Dependencies

Ifapp'spackage.json contains:

"dependencies":{
"dep1":"^1.1.1"
}

Thennpm update will installdep1@1.2.2, because1.2.2 islatest and1.2.2 satisfies^1.1.1.

Tilde Dependencies

However, ifapp'spackage.json contains:

"dependencies":{
"dep1":"~1.1.1"
}

In this case, runningnpm update will installdep1@1.1.2. Even though thelatest tag points to1.2.2, this version does not satisfy~1.1.1, which is equivalent to>=1.1.1 <1.2.0. So the highest-sorting version that satisfies~1.1.1 is used, which is1.1.2.

Caret Dependencies below 1.0.0

Supposeapp has a caret dependency on a version below1.0.0, for example:

"dependencies":{
"dep1":"^0.2.0"
}

npm update will installdep1@0.2.0.

If the dependence were on^0.4.0:

"dependencies":{
"dep1":"^0.4.0"
}

Thennpm update will installdep1@0.4.1, because that is the highest-sorting version that satisfies^0.4.0 (>= 0.4.0 <0.5.0)

Subdependencies

Suppose your app now also has a dependency ondep2

{
"name":"my-app",
"dependencies":{
"dep1":"^1.0.0",
"dep2":"1.0.0"
}
}

anddep2 itself depends on this limited range ofdep1

{
"name":"dep2",
"dependencies":{
"dep1":"~1.1.1"
}
}

Thennpm update will installdep1@1.1.2 because that is the highest version thatdep2 allows. npm will prioritize having a single version ofdep1 in your tree rather than two when that single version can satisfy the semver requirements of multiple dependencies in your tree. In this case if you really did need your package to use a newer version you would need to usenpm install.

Updating Globally-Installed Packages

npm update -g will apply theupdate action to each globally installed package that isoutdated -- that is, has a version that is different fromwanted.

Note: Globally installed packages are treated as if they are installed with a caret semver range specified. So if you require to update tolatest you may need to runnpm install -g [<pkg>...]

NOTE: If a package has been upgraded to a version newer thanlatest, it will bedowngraded.

Configuration

save

• Default:true unless when usingnpm update where it defaults tofalse
• Type: Boolean

Save installed packages to apackage.json file as dependencies.

When used with thenpm rm command, removes the dependency frompackage.json.

Will also prevent writing topackage-lock.json if set tofalse.

global

• Default: false
• Type: Boolean

Operates in "global" mode, so that packages are installed into theprefix folder instead of the current working directory. Seefolders for more on the differences in behavior.

• packages are installed into the{prefix}/lib/node_modules folder, instead of the current working directory.
• bin files are linked to{prefix}/bin
• man pages are linked to{prefix}/share/man

install-strategy

• Default: "hoisted"
• Type: "hoisted", "nested", "shallow", or "linked"

Sets the strategy for installing packages in node_modules. hoisted (default): Install non-duplicated in top-level, and duplicated as necessary within directory structure. nested: (formerly --legacy-bundling) install in place, no hoisting. shallow (formerly --global-style) only install direct deps at top-level. linked: (experimental) install in node_modules/.store, link in place, unhoisted.

legacy-bundling

• Default: false
• Type: Boolean
• DEPRECATED: This option has been deprecated in favor of--install-strategy=nested

Instead of hoisting package installs innode_modules, install packages in the same manner that they are depended on. This may cause very deep directory structures and duplicate package installs as there is no de-duplicating. Sets--install-strategy=nested.

global-style

• Default: false
• Type: Boolean
• DEPRECATED: This option has been deprecated in favor of--install-strategy=shallow

Only install direct dependencies in the top levelnode_modules, but hoist on deeper dependencies. Sets--install-strategy=shallow.

omit

• Default: 'dev' if theNODE_ENV environment variable is set to 'production'; otherwise, empty.
• Type: "dev", "optional", or "peer" (can be set multiple times)

Dependency types to omit from the installation tree on disk.

Note that these dependenciesare still resolved and added to thepackage-lock.json ornpm-shrinkwrap.json file. They are just not physically installed on disk.

If a package type appears in both the--include and--omit lists, then it will be included.

If the resulting omit list includes'dev', then theNODE_ENV environment variable will be set to'production' for all lifecycle scripts.

include

• Default:
• Type: "prod", "dev", "optional", or "peer" (can be set multiple times)

Option that allows for defining which types of dependencies to install.

This is the inverse of--omit=<type>.

Dependency types specified in--include will not be omitted, regardless of the order in which omit/include are specified on the command-line.

strict-peer-deps

• Default: false
• Type: Boolean

If set totrue, and--legacy-peer-deps is not set, thenany conflictingpeerDependencies will be treated as an install failure, even if npm could reasonably guess the appropriate resolution based on non-peer dependency relationships.

By default, conflictingpeerDependencies deep in the dependency graph will be resolved using the nearest non-peer dependency specification, even if doing so will result in some packages receiving a peer dependency outside the range set in their package'speerDependencies object.

When such an override is performed, a warning is printed, explaining the conflict and the packages involved. If--strict-peer-deps is set, then this warning is treated as a failure.

package-lock

• Default: true
• Type: Boolean

If set to false, then ignorepackage-lock.json files when installing. This will also preventwritingpackage-lock.json ifsave is true.

foreground-scripts

• Default:false unless when usingnpm pack ornpm publish where it defaults totrue
• Type: Boolean

Run all build scripts (ie,preinstall,install, andpostinstall) scripts for installed packages in the foreground process, sharing standard input, output, and error with the main npm process.

Note that this will generally make installs run slower, and be much noisier, but can be useful for debugging.

ignore-scripts

• Default: false
• Type: Boolean

If true, npm does not run scripts specified in package.json files.

Note that commands explicitly intended to run a particular script, such asnpm start,npm stop,npm restart,npm test, andnpm run will still run their intended script ifignore-scripts is set, but they willnot run any pre- or post-scripts.

audit

• Default: true
• Type: Boolean

When "true" submit audit reports alongside the current npm command to the default registry and all registries configured for scopes. See the documentation fornpm audit for details on what is submitted.

before

• Default: null
• Type: null or Date

If passed tonpm install, will rebuild the npm tree such that only versions that were availableon or before the given date are installed. If there are no versions available for the current set of dependencies, the command will error.

If the requested version is adist-tag and the given tag does not pass the--before filter, the most recent version less than or equal to that tag will be used. For example,foo@latest might installfoo@1.2 even thoughlatest is2.0.

bin-links

• Default: true
• Type: Boolean

Tells npm to create symlinks (or.cmd shims on Windows) for package executables.

Set to false to have it not do this. This can be used to work around the fact that some file systems don't support symlinks, even on ostensibly Unix systems.

fund

• Default: true
• Type: Boolean

When "true" displays the message at the end of eachnpm install acknowledging the number of dependencies looking for funding. Seenpm fund for details.

dry-run

• Default: false
• Type: Boolean

Indicates that you don't want npm to make any changes and that it should only report what it would have done. This can be passed into any of the commands that modify your local installation, eg,install,update,dedupe,uninstall, as well aspack andpublish.

Note: This is NOT honored by other network related commands, egdist-tags,owner, etc.

workspace

• Default:
• Type: String (can be set multiple times)

Enable running a command in the context of the configured workspaces of the current project while filtering by running only the workspaces defined by this configuration option.

Valid values for theworkspace config are either:

• Workspace names
• Path to a workspace directory
• Path to a parent workspace directory (will result in selecting all workspaces within that folder)

When set for thenpm init command, this may be set to the folder of a workspace which does not yet exist, to create the folder and set it up as a brand new workspace within the project.

This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.

workspaces

• Default: null
• Type: null or Boolean

Set to true to run the command in the context ofall configured workspaces.

Explicitly setting this to false will cause commands likeinstall to ignore workspaces altogether. When not set explicitly:

• Commands that operate on thenode_modules tree (install, update, etc.) will link workspaces into thenode_modules folder. - Commands that do other things (test, exec, publish, etc.) will operate on the root project,unless one or more workspaces are specified in theworkspace config.

This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.

include-workspace-root

• Default: false
• Type: Boolean

Include the workspace root when workspaces are enabled for a command.

When false, specifying individual workspaces via theworkspace config, or all workspaces via theworkspaces flag, will cause npm to operate only on the specified workspaces, and not on the root project.

This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.

install-links

• Default: false
• Type: Boolean

When set file: protocol dependencies will be packed and installed as regular dependencies instead of creating a symlink. This option has no effect on workspaces.

See Also

• npm install
• npm outdated
• npm shrinkwrap
• npm registry
• npm folders
• npm ls

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Last edited byjsoref onOctober 5, 2025