Quick Tip: npm outdated and npm update

Use npm outdate and npm update to check for and update to newer versions of your installed node modules using npm's built-in commands.

npm outdated

• Current is what you have installed
• Wanted is the latest version that satisfies the semver range in package.json
• Latest is, you guessed it, the latest.

Red items mean the wanted version is also the latest.

npm update

This will update all packages to the wanted version.

My package.json has "react": "^16.13.1" listed as a dependency. npm update would change this to "react": "^16.14.0",, not v17.

Running npm outdated again would show I have every package updated the wanted version.

Individual packages can be updated by listing the package names in the command e.g. npm update react react-dom

Updating to the latest and greatest

npm update only gets you as far as your semver range. If you want to break above that and get the latest, append @latest to the package name. e.g. npm install react@latest

Update Globally Installed Packages

All three commands work globally with the addition of -g or --global

npm outdated -g
npm update -g
npm install -g package@latest