npm-update(1) npm-update(1)
NAME
npm-update - Update packages
Synopsis
npm update [<pkg>...]
aliases: up, upgrade, udpate
Description
This command will update all the packages listed to the latest version
(specified by the \fBtag\fR config </using-npm/config#tag>), 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.
Note that by default npm update will not update the semver values of
direct dependencies in your project package.json. If you want to also
update values in package.json you can run: npm update --save (or add
the save=true option to a npm help "configuration file" to make that
the default behavior).
Example
For the examples below, assume that the current package is app and it
depends on dependencies, dep1 (dep2, .. etc.). The published versions
of dep1 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
If app's package.json contains:
"dependencies": {
"dep1": "^1.1.1"
}
Then npm update will install dep1@1.2.2, because 1.2.2 is latest and
1.2.2 satisfies ^1.1.1.
Tilde Dependencies
However, if app's package.json contains:
"dependencies": {
"dep1": "~1.1.1"
}
In this case, running npm update will install dep1@1.1.2. Even though
the latest tag points to 1.2.2, this version does 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 is 1.1.2.
Caret Dependencies below 1.0.0
Suppose app has a caret dependency on a version below 1.0.0, for
example:
"dependencies": {
"dep1": "^0.2.0"
}
npm update will install dep1@0.2.0.
If the dependence were on ^0.4.0:
"dependencies": {
"dep1": "^0.4.0"
}
Then npm update will install dep1@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 on dep2
{
"name": "my-app",
"dependencies": {
"dep1": "^1.0.0",
"dep2": "1.0.0"
}
}
and dep2 itself depends on this limited range of dep1
{
"name": "dep2",
"dependencies": {
"dep1": "~1.1.1"
}
}
Then npm update will install dep1@1.1.2 because that is the highest
version that dep2 allows. npm will prioritize having a single version
of dep1 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 npm install.
Updating Globally-Installed Packages
npm update -g will apply the update action to each globally installed
package that is outdated -- that is, has a version that is different
from wanted.
Note: Globally installed packages are treated as if they are installed
with a caret semver range specified. So if you require to update to
latest you may need to run npm install -g [<pkg>...]
NOTE: If a package has been upgraded to a version newer than latest, it
will be downgraded.
Configuration
save
o Default: true unless when using npm update where it defaults to
false
o Type: Boolean
Save installed packages to a package.json file as dependencies.
When used with the npm rm command, removes the dependency from
package.json.
Will also prevent writing to package-lock.json if set to false.
global
o Default: false
o Type: Boolean
Operates in "global" mode, so that packages are installed into the
prefix folder instead of the current working directory. See npm help
folders for more on the differences in behavior.
o packages are installed into the {prefix}/lib/node_modules folder,
instead of the current working directory.
o bin files are linked to {prefix}/bin
o man pages are linked to {prefix}/share/man
install-strategy
o Default: "hoisted"
o Type: "hoisted", "nested", "shallow", or "linked"
Sets 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.
legacy-bundling
o Default: false
o Type: Boolean
o DEPRECATED: This option has been deprecated in favor of --install-
strategy=nested
Instead of hoisting package installs in node_modules, 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 --install-strategy=nested.
global-style
o Default: false
o Type: Boolean
o DEPRECATED: This option has been deprecated in favor of --install-
strategy=shallow
Only install direct dependencies in the top level node_modules, but
hoist on deeper dependencies. Sets --install-strategy=shallow.
omit
o Default: 'dev' if the NODE_ENV environment variable is set to
'production'; otherwise, empty.
o Type: "dev", "optional", or "peer" (can be set multiple times)
Dependency types to omit from the installation tree on disk.
Note that these dependencies are still resolved and added to the
package-lock.json or npm-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 the NODE_ENV
environment variable will be set to 'production' for all lifecycle
scripts.
include
o Default:
o Type: "prod", "dev", "optional", or "peer" (can be set multiple
times)
Option that allows for defining which types of dependencies to install.
This is the inverse of --omit=<type>.
Dependency types specified in --include will not be omitted, regardless
of the order in which omit/include are specified on the command-line.
strict-peer-deps
o Default: false
o Type: Boolean
If set to true, and --legacy-peer-deps is not set, then any conflicting
peerDependencies will be treated as an install failure, even if npm
could reasonably guess the appropriate resolution based on non-peer
dependency relationships.
By default, conflicting peerDependencies 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 peerDependencies
object.
When such an 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
o Default: true
o Type: Boolean
If set to false, then ignore package-lock.json files when installing.
This will also prevent writing package-lock.json if save is true.
foreground-scripts
o Default: false unless when using npm pack or npm publish where it
defaults to true
o Type: Boolean
Run all build scripts (ie, preinstall, install, and postinstall)
scripts for installed packages in the foreground process, sharing
standard input, output, and error with the main npm process.
Note that this will generally make installs run slower, and be much
noisier, but can be useful for debugging.
ignore-scripts
o Default: false
o 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
as npm start, npm stop, npm restart, npm test, and npm run will still
run their intended script if ignore-scripts is set, but they will not
run any pre- or post-scripts.
audit
o Default: true
o 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 for npm help audit for details on what is submitted.
before
o Default: null
o Type: null or Date
If passed to npm install, will rebuild the npm tree such that only
versions that were available on or before the given date are installed.
If there are no versions available for the current set of dependencies,
the command will error.
If the requested version is a dist-tag and the given tag does not pass
the --before filter, the most recent version less than or equal to that
tag will be used. For example, foo@latest might install foo@1.2 even
though latest is 2.0.
This config cannot be used with: min-release-age
min-release-age
o Default: null
o Type: null or Number
If 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.
This flag is a complement to before, which accepts an exact date
instead of a relative number of days.
This config cannot be used with: before
This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.
bin-links
o Default: true
o 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
o Default: true
o Type: Boolean
When "true" displays the message at the end of each npm install
acknowledging the number of dependencies looking for funding. See npm
help fund for details.
dry-run
o Default: false
o 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 as pack and publish.
Note: This is NOT honored by other network related commands, eg dist-
tags, owner, etc.
workspace
o Default:
o 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 the workspace config are either:
o Workspace names
o Path to a workspace directory
o Path to a parent workspace directory (will result in selecting all
workspaces within that folder)
When set for the npm 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.
workspaces
o Default: null
o Type: null or Boolean
Set to true to run the command in the context of all configured
workspaces.
Explicitly setting this to false will cause commands like install to
ignore workspaces altogether. When not set explicitly:
o Commands that operate on the node_modules tree (install, update,
etc.) will link workspaces into the node_modules folder. - Commands
that do other things (test, exec, publish, etc.) will operate on
the root project, unless one or more workspaces are specified in
the workspace config.
This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.
include-workspace-root
o Default: false
o Type: Boolean
Include the workspace root when workspaces are enabled for a command.
When false, specifying individual workspaces via the workspace config,
or all workspaces via the workspaces flag, will cause npm to operate
only on the specified workspaces, and not on the root project.
This value is not exported to the environment for child processes.
install-links
o Default: false
o Type: Boolean
When set file: protocol dependencies will be packed and installed as
regular dependencies instead of creating a symlink. This option has no
effect on workspaces.
See Also
o npm help install
o npm help outdated
o npm help shrinkwrap
o npm help registry
o npm help folders
o npm help ls
NPM@11.12.0 March 2026 npm-update(1)
npm 11.12.0 - Generated Thu Mar 19 07:26:41 CDT 2026