npm-update

Update packages

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Synopsis

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

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.

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 do 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, because there are no other versions which satisfy^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

`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

`global-style`

Default: false
Type: Boolean

Causes npm to install the package into your localnode_modules folder with the same layout it uses with the globalnode_modules folder. Only your direct dependencies will show innode_modules and everything they depend on will be flattened in theirnode_modules folders. This obviously will eliminate some deduping. If used withlegacy-bundling,legacy-bundling will be preferred.

`legacy-bundling`

Default: false
Type: Boolean

Causes npm to install the package such that versions of npm prior to 1.4, such as the one included with node 0.8, can install the package. This eliminates all automatic deduping. If used withglobal-style this option will be preferred.

`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 and 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.

When package package-locks are disabled, automatic pruning of extraneous modules will also be disabled. To remove extraneous modules with package-locks disabled usenpm prune.

`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.

`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-script 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.

`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 to selecting all of the nested workspaces)

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.