How can I update each dependency in package.json to the latest version?

Question

I copied package.json from another project and now want to bump all of the dependencies to their latest versions since this is a fresh project and I don't mind fixing something if it breaks.

What's the easiest way to do this?

The best way I know is to run npm info express version and then update each dependency in package.json manually. There must be a better way.

{
  "name": "myproject",
  "description": "my node project",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "dependencies": {
    "express": "^3.0.3", // how do I get these bumped to latest?
    "mongodb": "^1.2.5",
    "underscore": "^1.4.2"
  }
}

---

For Yarn-specific solutions, refer to this Stack Overflow question.

Chlortetracycline

There NEEDS to be some better answers here. Obviously with dependency resolution, you can't always have the latest version of everything. Maximizing the greatest number of latest versions of modules is just that, some sort of optimization problem. But NPM doesn't know which modules you want to be most recent more than others. It would be cool if there was something like this: npm update --latest x y z, where x y z are the modules you want to be as recent as possible and all other modules will follow with their most recent compatible version. – Shekinah

npm will correctly handle version conflicts between shared dependencies by downloading the correct one for each. So, if Dep A depends on Dep C v1.0.0 and Dep B depends on Dep C v2.0.0, they will each be installed and used appropriately. Therefore, you are free to install the latest of any packages you would like. – Chlortetracycline

Try this to force upgrade: npm outdated | sed '1d; s/ .*/@latest/' | xargs npm i --save – Perlie

I'm always checking this answer. But I see that it has slipped in the Google results. Hopefully this comment will help push it's relevance back up!! – Anatolian

@RaineRevere Seems something has happened about this during 2017 (npm 5.0). Would you be so kind and check #16525930 and maybe add a reference to it? Some answers below mention 'npm outdated' and 'nom update' but they are lost in the dust. I found your question by search but the other one seems more up-to-date. – Cundiff

@Cundiff They seem to be different questions and solutions afaict. This question is "How to update to latest?" and the one you referenced is "How to check outdated?" – Chlortetracycline

Or you can set the version = "latest" for all dependencies, and then run npm i. – Heretic

In case of yarn you can update your package.json using this command: yarn add bootstrap@latest mongoose@latest next@latest next-auth@latest react@latest react-bootstrap@latest react-dom@latest – Thimbleful

Answer 1

It looks like npm-check-updates is the only way to make this happen now.

npm i -g npm-check-updates
ncu -u
npm install

Or using npx (so you don't have to install a global package):

npx npm-check-updates -u
npm install 

---

On npm <3.11:

Simply change every dependency's version to *, then run npm update --save. (Note: broken in recent (3.11) versions of npm).

Before:

  "dependencies": {
    "express": "*",
    "mongodb": "*",
    "underscore": "*",
    "rjs": "*",
    "jade": "*",
    "async": "*"
  }

After:

  "dependencies": {
    "express": "~3.2.0",
    "mongodb": "~1.2.14",
    "underscore": "~1.4.4",
    "rjs": "~2.10.0",
    "jade": "~0.29.0",
    "async": "~0.2.7"
  }

---

Of course, this is the blunt hammer of updating dependencies. It's fine if—as you said—the project is empty and nothing can break.

On the other hand, if you're working in a more mature project, you probably want to verify that there are no breaking changes in your dependencies before upgrading.

To see which modules are outdated, just run npm outdated. It will list any installed dependencies that have newer versions available.

For Yarn specific solution, refer to this Stack Overflow answer.

Selma

Great answer, thank you. npm outdated doesn't seem to work for me, unless I'm misunderstanding what it does. I changed async to "0.2.5", reinstalled it, and ran npm outdated and it returned an empty line. – Chlortetracycline

Looks like using * is not recommended package.json.nodejitsu.com. Is that any specific reason? – Thumb

@thefourtheye: You generally shouldn't leave * in package.json since you might end up automatically installing a new module version with breaking changes that break your app. Since we're using --save here, the * is replaced with each package's current version. – Selma

Tip: Change version numbers like "~3.2.0" to "~3" after the install. This will allow minor version and patch updates (which are backwards compatible in semver) and ignore major version updates (which may be breaking). The magic of '~'! – Chlortetracycline

I'm not able to get this to work. Has something changed with npm since this answer was posted? When I use the wildcard and then npm install --save the wildcard is left in my package.json. – Dunno

@davidtheclark: Yes, npm 1.3 (released with node 0.10.13) made changes that result in npm install --save not updating package.json. Fortunately, npm update --save still works. – Selma

Unfortunately, using update doesn't work either, for me. I'm still left with the wildcards. Is there any documentation about this that you know of, or any other resources I might look at? – Dunno

A bit old but that might help other people: github.com/tjunnone/npm-check-updates | Use npm install -g npm-check-updates to install, then npm-check-updates to check if your dependencies have updates, and npm-check-updates -u to update your package.json versions. Then it's just npm install and it will download new versions. – Hemidemisemiquaver

Is there a way to get npm outdated to only show outdated dependencies that are direct dependencies of your project? It seems to also show outdated dependencies for packages in your node_modules directory. – Eulogium

Your problem is probably coming from the fact that you try to update dev packages by typing npm update --save instead of npm update --save-dev. – Barvick

npm-check-updates is now the officially supported method for updating your package version numbers to the latest. – Chlortetracycline

@Raine, that's a third-party module. While useful, I don't see anything that indicates it's officially supported by npm. – Selma

Yes, poor choice of words. It's the "best" solution that I know of. Not official. – Chlortetracycline

npm update --save seems to destroy git dependencies. Turns them into local file: dependencies. – Amiens

delete npm_modules folder just in case you have the updated version already (it will keep the * if so) – Shainashaine

In text editor, use regexp replace(i used Eclipse Find/Replace with checked Regular Expressions) to quickly go thru all entries Find: : ".*?" Replace with: : "*" Put cursor to first dependency, and tap Replace/Find until reach end of list – Selfeffacing

npm update --save (and --save-dev) works fine in 5.3.0 (current version at the moment) – Sanfo

If you're running npm >= 5.2 you can just run npx npm-check-updates as a single command without having to install globally first – Sere

The * option does not work for me. I forced to change the module version number to a small number, for example, 0.0.1, then run ncu -u and it worked. – Eolian

Seriously, it is 2018 and I still need to install an additional npm package to do something simple as updating a package. – Binocular

Nope. Running npx npm-check-updates gives me require.extensions.hasOwnProperty is not a function – Carmelacarmelia

Wow, there is no official way? No feature in npm to update ALL to the LATEST version? That's weak. – Donny

on second step, you will have to do ncu -ua in case you want version to persist in package.json – Giddens

npm-check-updates does not work as described in the answer. As documented, it won't touch the * wildcard. Replace "*" with "^0.0.0" before running ncu -u. – Anatomist

It's curious that the author of the npm-check-updates package suggested in this answer is actually the OP... you have now entered the twilight zone – Famous

Is it fully safe to forcibly update all the packages to each of the respective latest version? Why the command npm update does not do it then? Package versions dependencies problems? – Frons

What about yarn – Undermost

@Undermost Check this thread #62651140 – Jerz

ncu -u will upgrade package version ignoring the semver, for example, it will upgrade from "^1.7.0" to "^4.2.0". how can I just upgrade to the latest version but still match semver? I know Deleting package-lock.json will make NPM install lastest version, but it can't get package.json update. – Poetics

Update all at once npm i -g npm-check-updates && ncu -u && npm install – Bree

To prevent weird errors, it's better to delete node-modules folder after the ncu -u step and then run npm install – Excrement

Answer 2

npm-check-updates is a utility that automatically adjusts a package.json file with the latest version of all dependencies.

See npm-check-updates

npm install -g npm-check-updates
ncu -u
npm install

A slightly less intrusive (avoids a global install) way of doing this if you have a modern version of npm is:

npx npm-check-updates -u
npm install

Iny

This should be available natively through npm command itself, indeed best solution so far to update the dependencies. – Cristiano

Should be part of npm natively, fully agree. However, it is not and this solution comes in like a breeze. Thank you. – Radar

i assume you fellows are pushing [HARD] to get this into the core npm? – Maduro

$ ncu //checking for updates. $ ncu -a //updating package.json – Alphabetical

@wisemann would you also have to run npm install after the package.json file is updated? – Papyrology

@Papyrology Yes if you didn't install before. Otherwise use npm update. ncu just updates package.json. It doesn't install or update 'node_modules'. – Alphabetical

BAD: it doesn't respect semver settings in ~/.npmrc!!! I have save-prefix=~ but it bumped me from convict ~1.5.0 → ~2.0.0 -- that's not what I have set in npmrc. – Tanguay

Didn't work for private packages. All packages still have * instead of version. Tried to remove node_modules – Connie

This worked for me with any version of NPM: 1) Delete node_modules, 2) ncu -a, 3) npm install. @Lukas Liesis, if you first delete your NPM cache: npm cache clean <path_to_npmcache_your_local_module> or npm cache --force (for the whole cache) and specify the file path instead of * ("bar": "file:../foo/bar"), then I think that should work. – Mayest

@jcollum, I didn't try the steps above with save-prefix options. – Mayest

useless package, updating only part of packages with ncu -a, not updating package.json also. – Interlope

Imagine that your module depend on Dep A latest version, but Dep A depends on Dep B specifically on v.1.0.0, while there is already a Dep B v1.0.1. If Dep A is not tested to work on Dep B v1.0.1, you should not force Dep B to be the on the latest version because things can break. You should contact the developer of Dev A and tell him to update his dependencies and test it. If you force everything to be on the latest versions, things can break, and probably that's the reason why npm does not support officially this solution. – Frons

@AlexanderKim maybe this was a bug but this is fixed now, I ran npx npm-check-updates -u and got the package.json updated as well as the modules themselves. – Purplish

Is it fully safe to forcibly update all the packages to each of the respective latest version? Why the command npm update does not do it then? Package versions dependencies problems? – Frons

npx npm-check-updates -u was the answer for me – Siusan

npx npm-check-updates -u $ npm install This was the only thing that worked for me. Thank you – Indira

Answer 3

Updated for npm v2+

npm 2+ (Node.js 0.12+):

npm outdated
npm update
git commit package-lock.json

Ancient npm (circa 2014):

npm install -g npm-check-updates
npm-check-updates
npm shrinkwrap
git commit package-lock.json

Be sure to shrinkwrap your dependencies, or you may wind up with a dead project. I pulled out a project the other day and it wouldn't run, because my dependencies were all out of date/updated/a mess. If I'd shrinkwrapped, npm would have installed exactly what I needed.

---

Details

For the curious who make it this far, here is what I recommend:

Use npm-check-updates or npm outdated to suggest the latest versions.

# `outdated` is part of newer npm versions (2+)
npm outdated

# If you agree, update.
npm update

#       OR

# Install and use the `npm-check-updates` package.
npm install -g npm-check-updates

# Then check your project
npm-check-updates

# If you agree, update package.json.
npm-check-updates -u

Then do a clean install (without the rm I got some dependency warnings)

rm -rf node_modules
npm install

Lastly, save exact versions to npm-shrinkwrap.json with npm shrinkwrap

rm npm-shrinkwrap.json
npm shrinkwrap

Now, npm install will now use exact versions in npm-shrinkwrap.json

If you check npm-shrinkwrap.json into Git, all installs will use the exact same versions.

This is a way to transition out of development (all updates, all the time) to production (nobody touch nothing).

• npm outdated

• npm-check-updates

• npm shrinkwrap

P.S.: Yarn is sending your package list to Facebook.

Mauldin

For sure. If you create and npm-shrinkwrap.json into source, and commit whenever you update, you can always 'go back to where you were'. I overlooked shrinkwrap feature when I started. – Mauldin

this does not answer the question. The question is how to update the latest version. npm update only updates to the semver version, not the latest. – Cam

Would be great if npm update actually updated package.json. Per github.com/npm/npm/issues/13555 this is a bug which is not fixed after 2 years. npmjs.com/package/npm-check-updates is the current way to go – Pleat

I love the outdated option to see first what's to be updated .... nice one!! – Skep

Answer 4

To update one dependency to its lastest version without having to manually open the package.json and change it, you can run

npm install {package-name}@* {save flags?}

i.e.

npm install express@* --save

This flow is compatible with workspaces, i.e.

npm --workspace some/package install express@*

For reference, npm-install

---

Note: Some npm versions may need latest flag instead, i.e. npm install express@latest

---

As noted by user Vespakoen on a rejected edit, it's also possible to update multiple packages at once this way:

npm install --save package-nave@* other-package@* whatever-thing@*

He also apports a one-liner for the shell based on npm outdated. See the edit for code and explanation.

---

PS: I also hate having to manually edit package.json for things like that ;)

Varhol

This solution is great. Quick and easy way to explicitly update a single package to the latest version without installing any new modules. I like npm-check-updates, but afaik it tries to keep all packages up to date, which isn't always what you want. – Eulogium

this doesn't work for me npm install react-native-image-picker@* --save – Interdental

Use npm outdated -l to show whether each package is a dependency or devDependency. Use npm install --save-dev to save as a devDependency. – Lunkhead

@Chev: ncu can easily target a single or several packages with ncu express mocha chai. You can also exclude packages with ncu -x mocha. I agree the above is the simplest solution though for updating a single package. – Chlortetracycline

If using bash, an alias with the following oneliner to update devDeps npm outdated -lp|awk -F':' '$5~/^dev/{print $4}'|xargs npm i -D and this for update deps npm outdated -lp|awk -F':' '$5~/^dep/{print $4}'|xargs npm i -P. – Mariehamn

I just used something similar that worked, from possibly more recent docs... uses "latest" instead of "*" npm install {package-name}@latest {save flags} – Loganloganberry

Many thanks, this solution is great and exactly what I am looking for. It allows you to update a particular package without the need to update every other dependency which may lead to unforeseen problems! – Pym

Answer 5

If you happen to be using Visual Studio Code as your IDE, this is a fun little extension to make updating package.json a one click process.

_{note: After updating packages in package.json file, run npm update to install the new versions.}

Version Lens

GitLab Repo

Constructionist

There's sublime text 3 version here: github.com/yavorsky/Bump, though a bit slow. – Interlope

Worked beautifully, in case it is not clear to anyone, this simply checks the versions in your package.json against the latest npm repository versions, and allows you to click on a version to update the text content in your package.json. You then need to run "npm update" to tell npm to install the new versions. – Conflagrant

Note that it is already possible to see the latest version of the package dependencies with a brief description in built-in Visual Studio Code by mouse hovering on the package entry: Built-in Package Version Hint – Herein

Note that it does not automatically install packages when clicking a code lens link! It simply updates the package.json version text. – Unpractical

This saved me a lot of time, I had to update all dependencies in a project. Thank you very much – Foreland

Answer 6

This works as of npm 1.3.15.

"dependencies": {
  "foo": "latest"
}

Phylis

Good to know. My guess is that this would generally be a bad practice on any production site because it will update to potentially backwards-incompatible versions automatically. The '~2' syntax locks you into a given major version number, which following semver will be backwards compatible. – Chlortetracycline

You can always freeze deps on prod. Theres a command for that. -2 sounds ok. – Phylis

I like using this along with npm shrinkwrap to freeze deps. – Sulfurous

If we do this, then how do we know the actual version of that package? Say I had an entry called "react": "16.9.0" and then I added latest to it and ran npm i, after this how do I find which version of react is now in my project? since "react":"latest" is whats left in my package.json, not a number even after I did npm i – Xerophyte

Answer 7

1. Use * as the version for the latest releases, including unstable
2. Use latest as version definition for the latest stable version
3. Modify the package.json with exactly the latest stable version number using LatestStablePackages

Here is an example:

"dependencies": {
        "express": "latest"  // using the latest STABLE version
    ,   "node-gyp": "latest"    
    ,   "jade": "latest"
    ,   "mongoose": "*" // using the newest version, may involve the unstable releases
    ,   "cookie-parser": "latest"
    ,   "express-session": "latest"
    ,   "body-parser": "latest"
    ,   "nodemailer":"latest"
    ,   "validator": "latest"
    ,   "bcrypt": "latest"
    ,   "formidable": "latest"
    ,   "path": "latest"
    ,   "fs-extra": "latest"
    ,   "moment": "latest"
    ,   "express-device": "latest"
},

Histopathology

This is the best answer. – Raskind

still the safest approach to take. Good answer. – Goethite

"latest" also stops the thrashing that package.json does to your git commit history, each time a package version number changes. The only downside being that in a production release we need to freeze the package version numbers, so that the build does not break. Although we might be able to replace "latest" with the actual semvar values, by handling that in package.json with a run script for a command like npm run build. – Pancho

Not sure if npm shrinkwrap is the way to go to freeze version numbers for a production release. But to convert "latest" into exact semvar numbers one could use something like "scripts": { "build" : "npx --yes npm-check-updates --upgrade" } in package.json. – Pancho

Answer 8

To see which packages have newer versions available, then use the following command:

npm outdated

to update just one dependency just use the following command:

npm install yourPackage@latest

For example:

My package.json file has dependency:

"@progress/kendo-angular-dateinputs": "^1.3.1",

then I should write:

npm install @progress/kendo-angular-dateinputs@latest

What does --save-dev mean?

npm install @progress/kendo-angular-dateinputs@latest --save-dev

As npm install docs says:

-D, --save-dev: Package will appear in your devDependencies.

Jarvis

Nice but it looks like that --save (or --save-dev) is not mandatory for update. – Roslyn

@Roslyn yeah, you are right! Please, see my updated answer! Thanks! – Jarvis

how does this answer the question to 'update each dependency'? Isn't this a manual solution by dependency, not a solution that updates all dependencies? And to the latest major version? – Commuter

Answer 9

I really like how npm-upgrade works. It is a simple command line utility that goes through all of your dependencies and lets you see the current version compared to the latest version and update if you want.

Here is a screenshot of what happens after running npm-upgrade in the root of your project (next to the package.json file):

For each dependency you can choose to upgrade, ignore, view the changelog, or finish the process. It has worked great for me so far.

To be clear this is a third party package that needs to be installed before the command will work. It does not come with npm itself:

npm install -g npm-upgrade

Then from the root of a project that has a package.json file:

npm-upgrade

Shiver

Hmm, npm-upgrade did not work for me, but npm upgrade did and it updated my package.json file which was exactly what I was looking for. – Smilax

Hmm interesting, was there an error? The idea behind using npm-upgrade is that you get to see exactly what is being upgraded and pick and choose which ones get upgraded. npm upgrade may work fine for most people but sometimes you need to have a little more control when upgrading. – Shiver

@Grandizer: upgrade is an alias for update, so there should be no difference between them. However, npm 6.2.0 is buggy, and may not udpate package.json. – Walli

You can also use this with npx: npx npm-upgrade - quite cool! :) – Unmoor

Please review Why not upload images of code/errors when asking a question? (e.g., "Images should only be used to illustrate problems that can't be made clear in any other way, such as to provide screenshots of a user interface.") and do the right thing (it covers answers as well, and it also covers program (text) input and output). Thanks in advance. – Flue

Answer 10

The only caveat I have found with the best answer is that it updates the modules to the latest version. This means it could update to an unstable alpha build.

I would use that npm-check-updates utility. My group used this tool and it worked effectively by installing the stable updates.

As Etienne stated: install and run with this:

npm install -g npm-check-updates
npm-check-updates -u
npm install

Amphicoelous

rm -rf node_modules before npm install got rid of some dependency warnings for me. – Mauldin

Just in case you have "*" in package.json, simply change it to "0" or "0.0" or "0.0.0" before running npm-check-updates. – Messene

You should link directly to whatever the "best answer above" is/was. While your answer stands alone, that explanation isn't clear. – Extinguisher

Answer 11

I use npm-check to achieve this.

npm i -g npm npm-check
npm-check -ug # To update globals
npm-check -u # To update locals

Another useful command list which will keep exact version numbers in package.json:

npm cache clean
rm -rf node_modules/
npm i -g npm npm-check-updates
ncu -g # Update globals
ncu -u # Update locals
npm I

You can use yarn upgrade-interactive --latest if you are using Yarn.

Overleap

yarn upgrade-interactive --latest is a better option now – Overleap

wouldn't that install latest Major? That's not usually better. – Slater

Answer 12

Safe update

1. Use npm outdated to discover dependencies that are out of date.

2. Use npm update to perform safe dependency upgrades.

3. Use npm install <packagename>@latest to upgrade to the latest major version of a package.

Breaking Update

1. Use npx npm-check-updates -u.

2. npm install to upgrade all dependencies to their latest major versions.

Schuller

The commands listed in the answer are incorrect and will error out. Please note that npm install @latest should really be npm install <PACKAGE>@latest. – Elrod

Works fine for me and my macbook – Matsuyama

Answer 13

Here is a basic regex to match semantic version numbers so you can quickly replace them all with an asterisk.

Semantic Version Regex

([>|<|=|~|^|\s])*?(\d+\.)?(\d+\.)?(\*|\d+)

How to use

Select the package versions you want to replace in the JSON file.

Input the regex above and verify it's matching the correct text.

Replace all matches with an asterisk.

Run npm update --save

Sulfurous

doesn't when there is number in a package name. i.e.: babel-preset-es2015, babel-preset-stage-0, hex2rgba. Maybe search for quote/double quote at the beggining: ('|")([>|<|=|~|^|\s])*?(\d+\.)?(\d+\.)?(\*|\d+) – Eleemosynary

on any editor that supports multiple carets (ej Sublime Text) you can select the first : and press ctrl+d multiple times until you select them all, then go to the version number (press right arrow 2 times) and press ctrl space, then write "*" – Umbel

Answer 14

If you want to use a gentle approach via a beautiful (for terminal) interactive reporting interface I would suggest using npm-check.

It's less of a hammer and gives you more consequential knowledge of, and control over, your dependency updates.

To give you a taste of what awaits here's a screenshot (scraped from the git page for npm-check):

Lyonnais

Please review Why not upload images of code/errors when asking a question? (e.g., "Images should only be used to illustrate problems that can't be made clear in any other way, such as to provide screenshots of a user interface.") and do the right thing (it covers answers as well). Thanks in advance. – Flue

Answer 15

As of npm version 5.2.0, there is a way to run this in a single line without installing any additional packages to your global npm registry nor locally to your application. This can be done by leveraging the new npx utility that's bundled with npm. (Click here to learn more.)

Run the following command in the root of your project:

npx npm-check-updates -u && npm i

Chrystel

Answer 16

This feature has been introduced in npm v5. Update to npm using npm install -g npm@latest and to update package.json:

1. delete folder node_modules and package-lock.json (if you have any)

2. run npm update. This will update the dependencies in package.json to the latest, based on semantic versioning.

To update to the very latest version, you can go with npm-check-updates.

Unyoke

Answer 17

I recently had to update several projects that were using npm and package.json for their gruntfile.js magic. The following Bash command (multiline command) worked well for me:

npm outdated --json --depth=0 | \
jq --ascii-output --monochrome-output '. | keys | .[]' | \
xargs npm install $1 --save-dev

The idea here:

To pipe the npm outdated output as JSON, to jq (jq is a JSON command line parser/query tool) (notice the use of --depth argument for npm outdated).

jq will strip the output down to just the top-level package name only. Finally xargs puts each LIBRARYNAME one at a time into a npm install LIBRARYNAME --save-dev command.

The above is what worked for me on a machine running: node=v0.11.10 osx=10.9.2 npm=1.3.24

This required: xargs (native to my machine I believe) and jq (I installed it with brew install jq).

Note: I only save the updated libraries to package.json inside of the JSON key devDependancies by using --save-dev. That was a requirement of my projects, quite possible not yours.

Afterwards, I check that everything is gravy with a simple

npm outdated --depth=0

Also, you can check the current top-level installed library versions with

npm list --depth=0

Praiseworthy

I love jq and use it almost everyday, but for this purpose I use simple awk instead: npm outdated --depth=0 | grep -v "^Package" | awk '{print $1}' | xargs npm install $1 --save-dev – Tat

I've been using cat package.json|jq -r '.devDependencies|keys|map(.+"@latest")|@sh'|xargs npm install --save-dev – Comprehension

Re "devDependancies": [sic]. Is it actually present? Not "devDependencies"? – Flue

Answer 18

If you use Yarn, the following command updates all packages to their latest version:

yarn upgrade --latest

From their documentation:

The upgrade --latest command upgrades packages the same as the upgrade command, but ignores the version range specified in package.json. Instead, the version specified by the latest tag will be used (potentially upgrading the packages across major versions).

Punchy

Doesn't update the dependencies in package.json - github.com/yarnpkg/yarn/issues/4390 – Lowpitched

@Lowpitched Please refer to this YARN specific thread #62651140 – Jerz

Answer 19

Use Updtr!

Based on npm outdated, updtr installs the latest version and runs npm test for each dependency. If the test succeeds, updtr saves the new version number to your package.json. If the test fails, however, updtr rolls back its changes.

Loquat

Answer 20

If you are using yarn, yarn upgrade-interactive is a really sleek tool that can allow you to view your outdated dependencies and then select which ones you want to update.

More reasons to use Yarn over npm. Heh.

Parvenu

Yarn is moving fast, hit a 1.0 already and is a damn pleasure to use. This should be the new selected answer. – Lichen

Doesn't update the dependencies in package.json - github.com/yarnpkg/yarn/issues/4390 – Lowpitched

@JoshHabdas You can follow the following thread for Yarn specific solution.... #62651140 – Jerz

Answer 21

Commands that I had to use to update package.json for NPM 3.10.10:

npm install -g npm-check-updates
ncu -a
npm install

Background:

I was using the latest command from @josh3736 but my package.json was not updated. I then noticed the description text when running npm-check-updates -u:

The following dependency is satisfied by its declared version range, but the installed version is behind. You can install the latest version without modifying your package file by using npm update. If you want to update the dependency in your package file anyway, run ncu -a.

Reading the documentation for npm-check-updates you can see the difference:

https://www.npmjs.com/package/npm-check-updates

-u, --upgrade: overwrite package file

-a, --upgradeAll: include even those dependencies whose latest version satisfies the declared semver dependency

ncu is an alias for npm-check-updates as seen in the message when typing npm-check-updates -u:

[INFO]: You can also use ncu as an alias

Montgolfier

In npm-check-updates v3, -a is the default behavior, and overwriting the package.json is left solely to the -u option. – Chlortetracycline

Answer 22

I solved this by using the instructions from npm-check-updates:

npm install -g npm-check-updates
ncu
ncu -u # To update all the dependencies to the latest
ncu -u "specific module name"  # In case you want to update specific dependencies to the latest

Rusell

also there is an option --target minor to update only minor versions – Gravitt

Answer 23

If you're looking for an easier solution that doesn't involve installing npm packages, I'd checkout updatepackagejson.com

Monostich

Answer 24

Try the following command if you are using npm 5 and Node.js 8:

npm update --save

Nagging

The update command does not seem to bump dependencies beyond the original definition. If package.json declares "1.2.3" exactly you won't get 1.2.4. That can be good or bad :) – Nahum

Answer 25

If you don't want to install global npm-check-updates you can simply run that:

node -e "const pk = JSON.parse(require('fs').readFileSync('package.json', 'utf-8'));require('child_process').spawn('npm', ['install', ...Object.keys(Object.assign({},pk.dependencies, pk.devDependencies)).map(a=>a+'@latest')]).stdout.on('data', d=>console.log(d.toString()))"

Eastward

Love it! Best answer here. No unwanted dependencies required for a one-time task. Thank you kind sir! – Flavorous

this command not work for us @Node.js v18.14.1 + Windows – Proteolysis

Answer 26

As it's almost been 10 years since the original question, and many of the answers are either outdated or not recommended.

I would use something which is package manager-agnostic, i.e., can work with npm, pnpm, Yarn or others.

Lately I have been using taze.

You can either add it to your development dependencies and run from there or run without installation with npx taze or pnpx taze, etc.

Extravert

Answer 27

The commands in previous answers are unsafe, because you might break your module when switching versions. Instead I recommend the following:

• Set the actual current Node.js modules version into package.json using the npm shrinkwrap command.
• Update each dependency to the latest version if it does not break your tests using the next-update command line tool

npm install -g next-update
// from your package
next-update

Pineda

Backwards-incompatible changes do need to be safeguarded against for active projects. The OP is more concerned with starting a new project where you want to break things now rather than later and have the latest versions to work from. – Chlortetracycline

Re "the next-update command line tool": Which you presumably wrote? That should be revealed. Related (Help Center): How to not be a spammer – Flue

Answer 28

I found another solution for recent versions of NPM. I want to replace all the "*" dependencies with the explicit latest version number. None of the methods discussed has worked for me.

I did:

1. Replace all "*" with "^0.0.0"
2. Run npm-check-updates -u

Everything in package.json now is updated to the last version.

Herculaneum

Answer 29

The following code (which was accepted) wrote me something like "it takes too long blah-blah" and did nothing. Probably using the global flag was the problem, idk.

npm i -g npm-check-updates
ncu -u
npm install

I decided to use my text editor and follow a semi-manual approach instead.

I copied a list like this (just a lot longer) from the dev dependencies of my package.json to the notepad++ text editor:

"browserify": "10.2.6",
"expect.js": "^0.3.1",
"karma": "^0.13.22",
"karma-browserify": "^5.2.0",

I set the search mode to regular expression, used the ^\s*"([^"]+)".*$ pattern to get the package name and replaced it with npm uninstall \1 --save-dev \nnpm install \1 --save-dev. Clicked on "replace all". The otput was this:

npm uninstall browserify --save-dev 
npm install browserify --save-dev
npm uninstall expect.js --save-dev 
npm install expect.js --save-dev
npm uninstall karma --save-dev 
npm install karma --save-dev
npm uninstall karma-browserify --save-dev 
npm install karma-browserify --save-dev

I copied it back to bash and hit enter. Everything was upgraded and working fine. That's all.

"browserify": "^16.1.0",
"expect.js": "^0.3.1",
"karma": "^2.0.0",
"karma-browserify": "^5.2.0",

I don't think it is a big deal, since you have to do it only every now and then, but you can easily write a script, which parses the package.json and upgrades your packages. I think it is better this way, because you can edit your list if you need something special, for example keeping the current version of a lib.

Unwieldy

With npm-check-updates, the hanging terminal is a known issue on Windows. Try adding --packageFile package.json so that knows not to wait for stdin. – Chlortetracycline

@RaineRevere Thanks! – Unwieldy

Answer 30

It's wild to me that 90% of answers is some variant of "use npm-check-updates". Here's what I do (relevant code):

{
  "devDependencies": {
    "updates": "^13.0.5" // the version here could be "latest" or "*" tbh...
  },
  "scripts": {
    "test:dependencies": "updates --update ./",
  }
}

Running npm run test:dependencies (or whatever your dependency update script is called) will check your package.json for the latest versions of every package listed, and it'll let you know when the latest version was published. Run npm i after that and you'll be up to date!

Also, unlike npm-check-updates, updates has zero dependencies (ncu has 29, at the time of this post).

Brae

Why is it wild? – Flue

Answer 31

There is an online package.json update tool. The versions can also be selected via a dropdown.

It also updates to the major version, which npm outdated and ncu don't do.

Paste the package.json content into the input field and let it parse:

The output looks like this:

Jaxartes

Answer 32

Instead of installing yet another Node.js module for a one-off use case, you can just do this in your shell...

npm install $(npm outdated | tail -n +2 | awk '{print $1}' | sed -e 's/$/@latest/g' | tr '\n' ' ')

Impacted

Answer 33

An alternative is

"dependencies":{
    "foo" : ">=1.4.5"
}

Every time you use npm update, it automatically updates to the latest version.

For more version syntax, you may check here: https://www.npmjs.org/doc/misc/semver.html

Rhombohedron

One reason for versioning is to prevent backwards-incompatible changes from newer major versions. I would recommend against this or '*' version numbers. The OP is related to easing the process while maintaining control over when it occurs. – Chlortetracycline

The link is broken (404). – Flue

Answer 34

Solution without additional packages

Change every dependency's version to *:

"dependencies": {
    "react": "*",
    "react-google-maps": "*"
  }

Then run npm update --save.

Some of your packages were updated, but some not?

"dependencies": {
    "react": "^15.0.1",
    "react-google-maps": "*"
  }

This is the tricky part, it means your local version of "react" was lower than the newest one. In this case npm downloaded and updated "react" package. However your local version of "react-google-maps" is the same as the newest one.

If you still want to "update" unchanged *, you have to delete these modules from node_modules folder.

e.g. delete node_modules/react-google-maps.

Finally run again npm update --save.

"dependencies": {
    "react": "^15.0.1",
    "react-google-maps": "^4.10.1"
  }

Do not forget to run npm update --save-dev if you want to update development dependencies.

Tufted

Answer 35

Greenkeeper if you're using GitHub.

It's a GitHub integration and incredibly easy to set things up. When installed, it automatically creates pull requests in repositories you specify (or all if wanted) and keeps your code always up-to-date, without forcing you to do anything manually. PRs should then trigger a build on a CI service and depending on a successful or failed check you can keep figuring out what's triggering the issue or when CI passes simply merge the PR.

At the bottom, you can see that the first build failed at first and after a commit ("upgrade to node v6.9") the tests pass, so I could finally merge the PR. It comes with a lot of emoji, too.

Another alternative would be https://dependencyci.com/, however I didn't test it intensively. After a first look, Greenkeeper looks better in general, IMO, and has better integration.

Winchell

"Greenkeeper has said goodbye" – Flue

Definitely not a relevant option anymore :D – Winchell

Answer 36

• npm outdated
• npm update

Should get you the latest wanted versions compatible for your app. But not the latest versions.

Deft

Answer 37

An automatic update is possible with NPM-script:

{
    "_cmd-update-modules": "npm run devops-update-modules",
    "scripts": {
        "create-global-node-modules-folder": "if not exist \"%appdata%\\npm\\node_modules\" mkdir %appdata%\\npm\\node_modules",
        "npm-i-g": "npm i npm@latest -g",
        "npm-check-i-g": "npm i npm-check@latest -g",
        "eslint-i-g": "npm i eslint@latest -g",
        "npm-check-u-l": "npm-check \"C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\" -y",
        "npm-check-u-g": "npm-check \"C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node_modules\\npm\" -y -g",
        "npm-deep-update-l": "npm update --depth 9999 --dev",
        "npm-deep-update-g": "npm update --depth 9999 --dev -g",
        "npm-cache-clear": "npm cache clear --force",
        "devops-update-modules": "npm run create-global-node-modules-folder && npm run npm-i-g && npm run npm-check-i-g && npm run eslint-i-g && npm run npm-check-u-l && npm run npm-check-u-g && npm run npm-deep-update-l && npm run npm-deep-update-g && npm run npm-cache-clear"
    }
}

For further details and step-by-step manual: How can I update all Node.js modules automatically?

Aronson

Answer 38

The easiest way to do this as of today is use pnpm rather than npm and simply type:

pnpm update --latest

Alpenstock

Answer 39

This can be helpful:

npm outdated | awk '{ if (NR>1) {print $1"@"$4} }' | xargs npm i

Lurette

Answer 40

Expanding on kozlovd's answer, I built a Bash script to update any npm script in two steps:

1. This gives you the number of npm packages, if you get an error count them manually.

   npm list | wc -l

2. Here replace NUM_PKGS with the number of packages and if you got "UNMET DEPENDENCY" error in the previous command replace $2 for $4.

   NUM_PKGS=9999; npm list --no-unicode | awk -v NUM_PKGS=$NUM_PKGS '{\
       if (NR>1 && NR <NUM_PKGS) {\
           pver=A[split($2,A,"@")];\
           print substr($2,0,length($2)-length(pver))"latest";\
       }\
   }' | xargs -r npm i
   

Explanation: The command number 2 first gets the package names and only operates over the lines with them in case of an "UNMET DEPENDENCY" error, then AWK iterates over each package name, it gets the version value and replaces it by "latest", lastly all those packages with the version replaced are collected by xargs who concatenates them after "npm i" to finally install all of them with the latest version.

These steps can update a new project with packages without a set version or an existing project.

Yun

Answer 41

I find that npm-check-updates works well, but it is extremely heavy in its dependencies (currently 312 packages).

I created a limited, but extremely lightweight, (no dependencies) tool to update dependencies: npm-updatedependencies2latest

Maybe it might be a good solution for others as well.

Mitis

Answer 42

Here in 2023, I simply used:

npm update

Many packages are updated at that point, but you may get a message that some need to be fixed. In that case, I then ran:

npm audit fix --force

Finally, to make sure it is all installed, I ran:

npm install

That's it; my packages were updated.
There isn't any need to manually edit your configuration files.

Geometric

npm update does not upgrade to the latest version. It only upgrades to the version range given in your package.json. – Chlortetracycline

@RaineRevere Interesting. Not sure how my packages became updated to newer versions then. Would you know how that might've happened after only running npm update? Also, are you saying that the only way to update to newer versions is by manually altering the package-lock.json? if this is still true in 2023 then npm is definitely a failed package system. Thanks – Geometric

npm update --save will upgrade your package.json dependencies to newer versions, provided that they fall within the specified version range. For example, ^1.0.0 may be upgraded to ^1.1.0 but not ^2.0.0. – Chlortetracycline

There are several ways to upgrade package.json dependencies, as shown in the answers on this page, but none that are built in to npm. The package-lock.json would never be manually edited, but rather is generated automatically from your package.json when you run npm install or npm update. The package-lock.json will only ever reflect what you have in your package.json. So the main concern here is how to upgrade the dependencies in package.json beyond their specified versions ranges. – Chlortetracycline