codekingpro/portable-devtools

1.TH "NPM-UPDATE" "1" "April 2026" "NPM@11.13.0" ""
2.SH "NAME"
3\fBnpm-update\fR - Update packages
4.SS "Synopsis"
5.P
6.RS 2
7.nf
8npm update \[lB]<pkg>...\[rB]
9
10aliases: u, up, upgrade, udpate
11.fi
12.RE
13.SS "Description"
14.P
15This command will update all the packages listed to the latest version (specified by the \fB\[rs]fBtag\[rs]fR config\fR \fI\(la/using-npm/config#tag\(ra\fR), respecting the semver constraints of both your package and its dependencies (if they also require the same package).
16.P
17It will also install missing packages.
18.P
19If the \fB-g\fR flag is specified, this command will update globally installed packages.
20.P
21If no package name is specified, all packages in the specified location (global or local) will be updated.
22.P
23Note that by default \fBnpm update\fR will not update the semver values of direct dependencies in your project \fBpackage.json\fR. If you want to also update values in \fBpackage.json\fR you can run: \fBnpm update --save\fR (or add the \fBsave=true\fR option to a npm help "configuration file" to make that the default behavior).
24.SS "Example"
25.P
26For the examples below, assume that the current package is \fBapp\fR and it depends on dependencies, \fBdep1\fR (\fBdep2\fR, .. etc.). The published versions of \fBdep1\fR are:
27.P
28.RS 2
29.nf
30{
31  "dist-tags": { "latest": "1.2.2" },
32  "versions": \[lB]
33    "1.2.2",
34    "1.2.1",
35    "1.2.0",
36    "1.1.2",
37    "1.1.1",
38    "1.0.0",
39    "0.4.1",
40    "0.4.0",
41    "0.2.0"
42  \[rB]
43}
44.fi
45.RE
46.SS "Caret Dependencies"
47.P
48If \fBapp\fR's \fBpackage.json\fR contains:
49.P
50.RS 2
51.nf
52"dependencies": {
53  "dep1": "^1.1.1"
54}
55.fi
56.RE
57.P
58Then \fBnpm update\fR will install \fBdep1@1.2.2\fR, because \fB1.2.2\fR is \fBlatest\fR and \fB1.2.2\fR satisfies \fB^1.1.1\fR.
59.SS "Tilde Dependencies"
60.P
61However, if \fBapp\fR's \fBpackage.json\fR contains:
62.P
63.RS 2
64.nf
65"dependencies": {
66  "dep1": "~1.1.1"
67}
68.fi
69.RE
70.P
71In this case, running \fBnpm update\fR will install \fBdep1@1.1.2\fR. Even though the \fBlatest\fR tag points to \fB1.2.2\fR, this version does not satisfy \fB~1.1.1\fR, which is equivalent to \fB>=1.1.1 <1.2.0\fR. So the highest-sorting version that satisfies \fB~1.1.1\fR is used, which is \fB1.1.2\fR.
72.SS "Caret Dependencies below 1.0.0"
73.P
74Suppose \fBapp\fR has a caret dependency on a version below \fB1.0.0\fR, for example:
75.P
76.RS 2
77.nf
78"dependencies": {
79  "dep1": "^0.2.0"
80}
81.fi
82.RE
83.P
84\fBnpm update\fR will install \fBdep1@0.2.0\fR.
85.P
86If the dependence were on \fB^0.4.0\fR:
87.P
88.RS 2
89.nf
90"dependencies": {
91  "dep1": "^0.4.0"
92}
93.fi
94.RE
95.P
96Then \fBnpm update\fR will install \fBdep1@0.4.1\fR, because that is the highest-sorting version that satisfies \fB^0.4.0\fR (\fB>= 0.4.0 <0.5.0\fR)
97.SS "Subdependencies"
98.P
99Suppose your app now also has a dependency on \fBdep2\fR
100.P
101.RS 2
102.nf
103{
104  "name": "my-app",
105  "dependencies": {
106      "dep1": "^1.0.0",
107      "dep2": "1.0.0"
108  }
109}
110.fi
111.RE
112.P
113and \fBdep2\fR itself depends on this limited range of \fBdep1\fR
114.P
115.RS 2
116.nf
117{
118"name": "dep2",
119  "dependencies": {
120    "dep1": "~1.1.1"
121  }
122}
123.fi
124.RE
125.P
126Then \fBnpm update\fR will install \fBdep1@1.1.2\fR because that is the highest version that \fBdep2\fR allows. npm will prioritize having a single version of \fBdep1\fR 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 use \fBnpm install\fR.
127.SS "Updating Globally-Installed Packages"
128.P
129\fBnpm update -g\fR will apply the \fBupdate\fR action to each globally installed package that is \fBoutdated\fR -- that is, has a version that is different from \fBwanted\fR.
130.P
131Note: Globally installed packages are treated as if they are installed with a caret semver range specified. So if you require to update to \fBlatest\fR you may need to run \fBnpm install -g \[lB]<pkg>...\[rB]\fR
132.P
133NOTE: If a package has been upgraded to a version newer than \fBlatest\fR, it will be \fIdowngraded\fR.
134.SS "Configuration"
135.SS "\fBsave\fR"
136.RS 0
137.IP \(bu 4
138Default: \fBtrue\fR unless when using \fBnpm update\fR where it defaults to \fBfalse\fR
139.IP \(bu 4
140Type: Boolean
141.RE 0
142
143.P
144Save installed packages to a \fBpackage.json\fR file as dependencies.
145.P
146When used with the \fBnpm rm\fR command, removes the dependency from \fBpackage.json\fR.
147.P
148Will also prevent writing to \fBpackage-lock.json\fR if set to \fBfalse\fR.
149.SS "\fBglobal\fR"
150.RS 0
151.IP \(bu 4
152Default: false
153.IP \(bu 4
154Type: Boolean
155.RE 0
156
157.P
158Operates in "global" mode, so that packages are installed into the \fBprefix\fR folder instead of the current working directory. See npm help folders for more on the differences in behavior.
159.RS 0
160.IP \(bu 4
161packages are installed into the \fB{prefix}/lib/node_modules\fR folder, instead of the current working directory.
162.IP \(bu 4
163bin files are linked to \fB{prefix}/bin\fR
164.IP \(bu 4
165man pages are linked to \fB{prefix}/share/man\fR
166.RE 0
167
168.SS "\fBinstall-strategy\fR"
169.RS 0
170.IP \(bu 4
171Default: "hoisted"
172.IP \(bu 4
173Type: "hoisted", "nested", "shallow", or "linked"
174.RE 0
175
176.P
177Sets 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.
178.SS "\fBlegacy-bundling\fR"
179.RS 0
180.IP \(bu 4
181Default: false
182.IP \(bu 4
183Type: Boolean
184.IP \(bu 4
185DEPRECATED: This option has been deprecated in favor of \fB--install-strategy=nested\fR
186.RE 0
187
188.P
189Instead of hoisting package installs in \fBnode_modules\fR, 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 \fB--install-strategy=nested\fR.
190.SS "\fBglobal-style\fR"
191.RS 0
192.IP \(bu 4
193Default: false
194.IP \(bu 4
195Type: Boolean
196.IP \(bu 4
197DEPRECATED: This option has been deprecated in favor of \fB--install-strategy=shallow\fR
198.RE 0
199
200.P
201Only install direct dependencies in the top level \fBnode_modules\fR, but hoist on deeper dependencies. Sets \fB--install-strategy=shallow\fR.
202.SS "\fBomit\fR"
203.RS 0
204.IP \(bu 4
205Default: 'dev' if the \fBNODE_ENV\fR environment variable is set to 'production'; otherwise, empty.
206.IP \(bu 4
207Type: "dev", "optional", or "peer" (can be set multiple times)
208.RE 0
209
210.P
211Dependency types to omit from the installation tree on disk.
212.P
213Note that these dependencies \fIare\fR still resolved and added to the \fBpackage-lock.json\fR or \fBnpm-shrinkwrap.json\fR file. They are just not physically installed on disk.
214.P
215If a package type appears in both the \fB--include\fR and \fB--omit\fR lists, then it will be included.
216.P
217If the resulting omit list includes \fB'dev'\fR, then the \fBNODE_ENV\fR environment variable will be set to \fB'production'\fR for all lifecycle scripts.
218.SS "\fBinclude\fR"
219.RS 0
220.IP \(bu 4
221Default:
222.IP \(bu 4
223Type: "prod", "dev", "optional", or "peer" (can be set multiple times)
224.RE 0
225
226.P
227Option that allows for defining which types of dependencies to install.
228.P
229This is the inverse of \fB--omit=<type>\fR.
230.P
231Dependency types specified in \fB--include\fR will not be omitted, regardless of the order in which omit/include are specified on the command-line.
232.SS "\fBstrict-peer-deps\fR"
233.RS 0
234.IP \(bu 4
235Default: false
236.IP \(bu 4
237Type: Boolean
238.RE 0
239
240.P
241If set to \fBtrue\fR, and \fB--legacy-peer-deps\fR is not set, then \fIany\fR conflicting \fBpeerDependencies\fR will be treated as an install failure, even if npm could reasonably guess the appropriate resolution based on non-peer dependency relationships.
242.P
243By default, conflicting \fBpeerDependencies\fR 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's \fBpeerDependencies\fR object.
244.P
245When such an override is performed, a warning is printed, explaining the conflict and the packages involved. If \fB--strict-peer-deps\fR is set, then this warning is treated as a failure.
246.SS "\fBpackage-lock\fR"
247.RS 0
248.IP \(bu 4
249Default: true
250.IP \(bu 4
251Type: Boolean
252.RE 0
253
254.P
255If set to false, then ignore \fBpackage-lock.json\fR files when installing. This will also prevent \fIwriting\fR \fBpackage-lock.json\fR if \fBsave\fR is true.
256.SS "\fBforeground-scripts\fR"
257.RS 0
258.IP \(bu 4
259Default: \fBfalse\fR unless when using \fBnpm pack\fR or \fBnpm publish\fR where it defaults to \fBtrue\fR
260.IP \(bu 4
261Type: Boolean
262.RE 0
263
264.P
265Run all build scripts (ie, \fBpreinstall\fR, \fBinstall\fR, and \fBpostinstall\fR) scripts for installed packages in the foreground process, sharing standard input, output, and error with the main npm process.
266.P
267Note that this will generally make installs run slower, and be much noisier, but can be useful for debugging.
268.SS "\fBignore-scripts\fR"
269.RS 0
270.IP \(bu 4
271Default: false
272.IP \(bu 4
273Type: Boolean
274.RE 0
275
276.P
277If true, npm does not run scripts specified in package.json files.
278.P
279Note that commands explicitly intended to run a particular script, such as \fBnpm start\fR, \fBnpm stop\fR, \fBnpm restart\fR, \fBnpm test\fR, and \fBnpm run\fR will still run their intended script if \fBignore-scripts\fR is set, but they will \fInot\fR run any pre- or post-scripts.
280.SS "\fBaudit\fR"
281.RS 0
282.IP \(bu 4
283Default: true
284.IP \(bu 4
285Type: Boolean
286.RE 0
287
288.P
289When "true" submit audit reports alongside the current npm command to the default registry and all registries configured for scopes. See the documentation for npm help audit for details on what is submitted.
290.SS "\fBbefore\fR"
291.RS 0
292.IP \(bu 4
293Default: null
294.IP \(bu 4
295Type: null or Date
296.RE 0
297
298.P
299If passed to \fBnpm install\fR, will rebuild the npm tree such that only versions that were available \fBon or before\fR the given date are installed. If there are no versions available for the current set of dependencies, the command will error.
300.P
301If the requested version is a \fBdist-tag\fR and the given tag does not pass the \fB--before\fR filter, the most recent version less than or equal to that tag will be used. For example, \fBfoo@latest\fR might install \fBfoo@1.2\fR even though \fBlatest\fR is \fB2.0\fR.
302.P
303This config cannot be used with: \fBmin-release-age\fR
304.SS "\fBmin-release-age\fR"
305.RS 0
306.IP \(bu 4
307Default: null
308.IP \(bu 4
309Type: null or Number
310.RE 0
311
312.P
313If set, npm will build the npm tree such that only versions that were available more than the given number of days ago will be installed. If there are no versions available for the current set of dependencies, the command will error.
314.P
315This flag is a complement to \fBbefore\fR, which accepts an exact date instead of a relative number of days.
316.P
317This config cannot be used with: \fBbefore\fR
318.P
319This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.
320.SS "\fBbin-links\fR"
321.RS 0
322.IP \(bu 4
323Default: true
324.IP \(bu 4
325Type: Boolean
326.RE 0
327
328.P
329Tells npm to create symlinks (or \fB.cmd\fR shims on Windows) for package executables.
330.P
331Set 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.
332.SS "\fBfund\fR"
333.RS 0
334.IP \(bu 4
335Default: true
336.IP \(bu 4
337Type: Boolean
338.RE 0
339
340.P
341When "true" displays the message at the end of each \fBnpm install\fR acknowledging the number of dependencies looking for funding. See npm help fund for details.
342.SS "\fBdry-run\fR"
343.RS 0
344.IP \(bu 4
345Default: false
346.IP \(bu 4
347Type: Boolean
348.RE 0
349
350.P
351Indicates 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, \fBinstall\fR, \fBupdate\fR, \fBdedupe\fR, \fBuninstall\fR, as well as \fBpack\fR and \fBpublish\fR.
352.P
353Note: This is NOT honored by other network related commands, eg \fBdist-tags\fR, \fBowner\fR, etc.
354.SS "\fBworkspace\fR"
355.RS 0
356.IP \(bu 4
357Default:
358.IP \(bu 4
359Type: String (can be set multiple times)
360.RE 0
361
362.P
363Enable 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.
364.P
365Valid values for the \fBworkspace\fR config are either:
366.RS 0
367.IP \(bu 4
368Workspace names
369.IP \(bu 4
370Path to a workspace directory
371.IP \(bu 4
372Path to a parent workspace directory (will result in selecting all workspaces within that folder)
373.RE 0
374
375.P
376When set for the \fBnpm init\fR 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.
377.P
378This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.
379.SS "\fBworkspaces\fR"
380.RS 0
381.IP \(bu 4
382Default: null
383.IP \(bu 4
384Type: null or Boolean
385.RE 0
386
387.P
388Set to true to run the command in the context of \fBall\fR configured workspaces.
389.P
390Explicitly setting this to false will cause commands like \fBinstall\fR to ignore workspaces altogether. When not set explicitly:
391.RS 0
392.IP \(bu 4
393Commands that operate on the \fBnode_modules\fR tree (install, update, etc.) will link workspaces into the \fBnode_modules\fR folder. - Commands that do other things (test, exec, publish, etc.) will operate on the root project, \fIunless\fR one or more workspaces are specified in the \fBworkspace\fR config.
394.RE 0
395
396.P
397This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.
398.SS "\fBinclude-workspace-root\fR"
399.RS 0
400.IP \(bu 4
401Default: false
402.IP \(bu 4
403Type: Boolean
404.RE 0
405
406.P
407Include the workspace root when workspaces are enabled for a command.
408.P
409When false, specifying individual workspaces via the \fBworkspace\fR config, or all workspaces via the \fBworkspaces\fR flag, will cause npm to operate only on the specified workspaces, and not on the root project.
410.P
411This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.
412.SS "\fBinstall-links\fR"
413.RS 0
414.IP \(bu 4
415Default: false
416.IP \(bu 4
417Type: Boolean
418.RE 0
419
420.P
421When set file: protocol dependencies will be packed and installed as regular dependencies instead of creating a symlink. This option has no effect on workspaces.
422.SS "See Also"
423.RS 0
424.IP \(bu 4
425npm help install
426.IP \(bu 4
427npm help outdated
428.IP \(bu 4
429npm help shrinkwrap
430.IP \(bu 4
431npm help registry
432.IP \(bu 4
433npm help folders
434.IP \(bu 4
435npm help ls
436.RE 0
437