NPM-OUTDATED(1) General Commands Manual NPM-OUTDATED(1)
NAME
npm-outdated
Synopsis
<!-- AUTOGENERATED USAGE DESCRIPTIONS -->
Description
This command will check the registry to see if any (or, specific) in-
stalled
packages are currently outdated.
By default, only the direct dependencies of the root project and direct
dependencies of your configured workspaces are shown.
Use --all to find all outdated meta-dependencies as well.
In the output:
• wanted is the maximum version of the package that satisfies the
semver
range specified in package.json. If there's no available semver
range
(i.e. you're running npm outdated --global, or the package isn't
included in package.json), then wanted shows the currently-installed
version.
• latest is the version of the package tagged as latest in the reg-
istry.
Running npm publish with no special configuration will publish the
package with a dist-tag of latest. This may or may not be the maxi-
mum
version of the package, or the most-recently published version of
the
package, depending on how the package's developer manages the latest
dist-tag.
• location is where in the physical tree the package is located.
• depended by shows which package depends on the displayed dependency
• package type (when using --long / -l) tells you whether this
package is a dependency or a dev/peer/optional dependency. Packages
not
included in package.json are always marked dependencies.
• homepage (when using --long / -l) is the homepage value contained
in the package's packument
• Red means there's a newer version matching your semver requirements,
so
you should update now.
• Yellow indicates that there's a newer version above your semver
requirements (usually new major, or new 0.x minor) so proceed with
caution.
An example
$ npm outdated
Package Current Wanted Latest Location Depended by
glob 5.0.15 5.0.15 6.0.1 node_modules/glob dependent-package-name
nothingness 0.0.3 git git node_modules/nothingness dependent-package-name
npm 3.5.1 3.5.2 3.5.1 node_modules/npm dependent-package-name
local-dev 0.0.3 linked linked local-dev dependent-package-name
once 1.3.2 1.3.3 1.3.3 node_modules/once dependent-package-name
With these dependencies:
{
"glob": "^5.0.15",
"nothingness": "github:othiym23/nothingness#master",
"npm": "^3.5.1",
"once": "^1.3.1"
}
A few things to note:
• glob requires ^5, which prevents npm from installing glob@6, which
is outside the semver range.
• Git dependencies will always be reinstalled, because of how they're
specified. The installed committish might satisfy the dependency
specifier (if it's something immutable, like a commit SHA), or it
might
not, so npm outdated and npm update have to fetch Git repos to
check.
This is why currently doing a reinstall of a Git dependency always
forces
a new clone and install.
• npm@3.5.2 is marked as "wanted", but "latest" is npm@3.5.1 because
npm uses dist-tags to manage its latest and next release channels.
npm update will install the newest version, but npm install npm
(with no semver range) will install whatever's tagged as latest.
• once is just plain out of date. Reinstalling node_modules from
scratch or running npm update will bring it up to spec.
Configuration
<!-- AUTOGENERATED CONFIG DESCRIPTIONS -->
See Also
• package spec
• npm update
• npm dist-tag
• npm registry
• npm folders
• npm workspaces
9.2.0 December 2022 NPM-OUTDATED(1)
Generated by dwww version 1.15 on Tue Sep 2 04:03:36 CEST 2025.