CLI Options Reference

This page provides a comprehensive list of all available command-line options for npm-check-updates.

Options

Advanced Options

Some options have advanced usage or allow per-package values by specifying a function in your .ncurc.js file.

cooldown

Usage:

ncu --cooldown [n]
ncu -c [n]

The cooldown option helps protect against supply chain attacks by requiring package versions to be published at least the given number of days before considering them for upgrade.

Note that previous stable versions will not be suggested. The package will be completely ignored if its latest published version is within the cooldown period. This is due to a limitation of the npm registry, which does not provide a way to query previous stable versions.

Example:

Let's examine how cooldown works with a package that has these versions available:

1.0.0          Released 7 days ago    (initial version)
1.1.0          Released 6 days ago    (minor update)
1.1.1          Released 5 days ago    (patch update)
1.2.0          Released 5 days ago    (minor update)
2.0.0-beta.1   Released 5 days ago    (beta release)
1.2.1          Released 4 days ago    (patch update)
1.3.0          Released 4 days ago    (minor update) [latest]
2.0.0-beta.2   Released 3 days ago    (beta release)
2.0.0-beta.3   Released 2 days ago    (beta release) [beta]

With default target (latest):

$ ncu --cooldown 5

No update will be suggested because:

• Latest version (1.3.0) is only 4 days old.
• Cooldown requires versions to be at least 5 days old
• Use --cooldown 4 or lower to allow this update

With @beta/@tag target:

$ ncu --cooldown 3 --target @beta

No update will be suggested because:

• Current beta (2.0.0-beta.3) is only 2 days old
• Cooldown requires versions to be at least 3 days old
• Use --cooldown 2 or lower to allow this update

With other targets:

$ ncu --cooldown 5 --target greatest|newest|minor|patch|semver

Each target will select the best version that is at least 5 days old:

greatest → 1.2.0        (highest version number outside cooldown)
newest   → 2.0.0-beta.1 (most recently published version outside cooldown)
minor    → 1.2.0        (highest minor version outside cooldown)
patch    → 1.1.1        (highest patch version outside cooldown)

Note for latest/tag targets:

⚠️ For packages that update frequently (e.g. daily releases), using a long cooldown period (7+ days) with the default --target latest or --target @tag may prevent all updates since new versions will be published before older ones meet the cooldown requirement. Please consider this when setting your cooldown period.

doctor

Usage:

ncu --doctor -u
ncu -du

Iteratively installs upgrades and runs your project's tests to identify breaking upgrades. Reverts broken upgrades and updates package.json with working upgrades.

Requires -u to execute (modifies your package file, lock file, and node_modules)

To be more precise:

1. Runs npm install and npm test to ensure tests are currently passing.
2. Runs ncu -u to optimistically upgrade all dependencies.
3. If tests pass, hurray!
4. If tests fail, restores package file and lock file.
5. For each dependency, install upgrade and run tests.
6. Prints broken upgrades with test error.
7. Saves working upgrades to package.json.

Additional options:

Example:

$ ncu --doctor -u
Running tests before upgrading
npm install
npm run test
Upgrading all dependencies and re-running tests
ncu -u
npm install
npm run test
Tests failed
Identifying broken dependencies
npm install
npm install --no-save react@16.0.0
npm run test
  ✓ react 15.0.0 → 16.0.0
npm install --no-save react-redux@7.0.0
npm run test
  ✗ react-redux 6.0.0 → 7.0.0

/projects/myproject/test.js:13
  throw new Error('Test failed!')
  ^

npm install --no-save react-dnd@11.1.3
npm run test
  ✓ react-dnd 10.0.0 → 11.1.3
Saving partially upgraded package.json

filter

Usage:

ncu --filter [p]
ncu -f [p]

Include only package names matching the given string, wildcard, glob, comma-or-space-delimited list, /regex/, or predicate function. Only included packages will be checked with --peer.

--filter runs before new versions are fetched, in contrast to --filterResults which runs after.

You can also specify a custom function in your .ncurc.js file, or when importing npm-check-updates as a module.

⚠️ The predicate function is only available in .ncurc.js or when importing npm-check-updates as a module, not on the command line. To convert a JSON config to a JS config, follow the instructions at Configuration.

/**
  @param name     The name of the dependency.
  @param semver   A parsed Semver array of the current version.
    (See: https://git.coolaj86.com/coolaj86/semver-utils.js#semverutils-parse-semverstring)
  @returns        True if the package should be included, false if it should be excluded.
*/
filter: (name, semver) => {
  if (name.startsWith('@myorg/')) {
    return false
  }
  return true
}

filterResults

Filters results based on a user provided predicate function after fetching new versions.

filterResults runs after new versions are fetched, in contrast to filter, reject, filterVersion, and rejectVersion, which run before. This allows you to exclude upgrades with filterResults based on how the version has changed (e.g. a major version change).

⚠️ The predicate function is only available in .ncurc.js or when importing npm-check-updates as a module, not on the command line. To convert a JSON config to a JS config, follow the instructions at Configuration.

/** Exclude major version updates. Note this could also be achieved with --target semver.
  @param {string} packageName               The name of the dependency.
  @param {string} current                   Current version declaration (may be a range).
  @param {SemVer[]} currentVersionSemver    Current version declaration in semantic versioning format (may be a range).
  @param {string} upgraded                  Upgraded version.
  @param {SemVer} upgradedVersionSemver     Upgraded version in semantic versioning format.
  @returns {boolean}                        Return true if the upgrade should be kept, otherwise it will be ignored.
*/
filterResults: (packageName, { current, currentVersionSemver, upgraded, upgradedVersionSemver }) => {
  const currentMajor = parseInt(currentVersionSemver[0]?.major, 10)
  const upgradedMajor = parseInt(upgradedVersionSemver?.major, 10)
  if (currentMajor && upgradedMajor) {
    return currentMajor >= upgradedMajor
  }
  return true
}

For the SemVer type definition, see: https://git.coolaj86.com/coolaj86/semver-utils.js#semverutils-parse-semverstring

filterVersion

Usage:

ncu --filterVersion [p]

Include only versions matching the given string, wildcard, glob, comma-or-space-delimited list, /regex/, or predicate function.

--filterVersion runs before new versions are fetched, in contrast to --filterResults which runs after.

⚠️ The predicate function is only available in .ncurc.js or when importing npm-check-updates as a module, not on the command line. To convert a JSON config to a JS config, follow the instructions at Configuration. This function is an alias for the filter option function.

/**
  @param name     The name of the dependency.
  @param semver   A parsed Semver array of the current version.
    (See: https://git.coolaj86.com/coolaj86/semver-utils.js#semverutils-parse-semverstring)
  @returns        True if the package should be included, false if it should be excluded.
*/
filterVersion: (name, semver) => {
  if (name.startsWith('@myorg/') && parseInt(semver[0]?.major) > 5) {
    return false
  }
  return true
}

format

Usage:

ncu --format [value]

Modify the output formatting or show additional information. Specify one or more comma-delimited values.

groupFunction

Customize how packages are divided into groups when using --format group.

⚠️ Only available in .ncurc.js or when importing npm-check-updates as a module. To convert a JSON config to a JS config, follow the instructions at Configuration.

/**
  @param name             The name of the dependency.
  @param defaultGroup     The predefined group name which will be used by default.
  @param currentSpec      The current version range in your package.json.
  @param upgradedSpec     The upgraded version range that will be written to your package.json.
  @param upgradedVersion  The upgraded version number returned by the registry.
  @returns                A predefined group name ('major' | 'minor' | 'patch' | 'majorVersionZero' | 'none') or a custom string to create your own group.
*/
groupFunction: (name, defaultGroup, currentSpec, upgradedSpec, upgradedVersion) => {
  if (name === 'typescript' && defaultGroup === 'minor') {
    return 'major'
  }
  if (name.startsWith('@myorg/')) {
    return 'My Org'
  }
  return defaultGroup
}

install

Usage:

ncu --install [value]

Default: prompt

Control the auto-install behavior.

packageManager

Usage:

ncu --packageManager [s]
ncu -p [s]

Specifies the package manager to use when looking up versions.

peer

Usage:

ncu --peer
ncu --no-peer

Check peer dependencies of installed packages and filter updates to compatible versions.

Example:

The following example demonstrates how --peer works, and how it uses peer dependencies from upgraded modules.

The package ncu-test-peer-update has two versions published:

• 1.0.0 has peer dependency "ncu-test-return-version": "1.0.x"
• 1.1.0 has peer dependency "ncu-test-return-version": "1.1.x"

Our test app has the following dependencies:

{
  "ncu-test-peer-update": "1.0.0",
  "ncu-test-return-version": "1.0.0"
}

The latest versions of these packages are:

{
  "ncu-test-peer-update": "1.1.0",
  "ncu-test-return-version": "2.0.0"
}

With --peer:

ncu upgrades packages to the highest version that still adheres to the peer dependency constraints:

ncu-test-peer-update     1.0.0  →  1.1.0
ncu-test-return-version  1.0.0  →  1.1.0

Without --peer:

As a comparison: without using the --peer option, ncu will suggest the latest versions, ignoring peer dependencies:

ncu-test-peer-update     1.0.0  →  1.1.0
ncu-test-return-version  1.0.0  →  2.0.0

registryType

Usage:

ncu --registryType [type]

Specify whether --registry refers to a full npm registry or a simple JSON file.

// local file
$ ncu --registryType json --registry ./registry.json

// url
$ ncu --registryType json --registry https://api.mydomain/registry.json

// you can omit --registryType when the registry ends in .json
$ ncu --registry ./registry.json
$ ncu --registry https://api.mydomain/registry.json

{
  "prettier": "2.7.1",
  "typescript": "4.7.4"
}

reject

Usage:

ncu --reject [p]
ncu -x [p]

The inverse of --filter. Exclude package names matching the given string, wildcard, glob, comma-or-space-delimited list, /regex/, or predicate function. This will also exclude them from the --peer check.

--reject runs before new versions are fetched, in contrast to --filterResults which runs after.

⚠️ The predicate function is only available in .ncurc.js or when importing npm-check-updates as a module. To convert a JSON config to a JS config, follow the instructions at Configuration.

/**
  @param name     The name of the dependency.
  @param semver   A parsed Semver array of the current version.
    (See: https://git.coolaj86.com/coolaj86/semver-utils.js#semverutils-parse-semverstring)
  @returns        True if the package should be excluded, false if it should be included.
*/
reject: (name, semver) => {
  if (name.startsWith('@myorg/')) {
    return true
  }
  return false
}

rejectVersion

Usage:

ncu --rejectVersion [p]

The inverse of --filterVersion. Exclude versions matching the given string, wildcard, glob, comma-or-space-delimited list, /regex/, or predicate function.

--rejectVersion runs before new versions are fetched, in contrast to --filterResults which runs after.

⚠️ The predicate function is only available in .ncurc.js or when importing npm-check-updates as a module. To convert a JSON config to a JS config, follow the instructions at Configuration. This function is an alias for the reject option function.

/**
  @param name     The name of the dependency.
  @param semver   A parsed Semver array of the current version.
    (See: https://git.coolaj86.com/coolaj86/semver-utils.js#semverutils-parse-semverstring)
  @returns        True if the package should be excluded, false if it should be included.
*/
rejectVersion: (name, semver) => {
  if (name.startsWith('@myorg/') && parseInt(semver[0]?.major) > 5) {
    return true
  }
  return false
}

target

Usage:

ncu --target [value]
ncu -t [value]

Determines the version to upgrade to. (default: "latest")

e.g.

ncu --target semver

⚠️ The predicate function is only available in .ncurc.js or when importing npm-check-updates as a module. To convert a JSON config to a JS config, follow the instructions at Configuration.

/** Upgrade major version zero to the next minor version, and everything else to latest.
  @param name     The name of the dependency.
  @param semver   A parsed Semver object of the upgraded version.
    (See: https://git.coolaj86.com/coolaj86/semver-utils.js#semverutils-parse-semverstring)
  @returns        One of the valid target values (specified in the table above).
*/
target: (name, semver) => {
  if (parseInt(semver[0]?.major) === '0') return 'minor'
  return 'latest'
}