How do I update each dependency in package.json to

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 of now is to run npm info express version then update package.json manually for each one. There must be a better way.

{
  "name": "myproject",
  "description": "my node project",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "engines": {
    "node": "0.8.4",
    "npm": "1.1.65"
  },
  "private": true,
  "dependencies": {
    "express": "~3.0.3", // how do I get these bumped to latest?
    "mongodb": "~1.2.5",
    "underscore": "~1.4.2",
    "rjs": "~2.9.0",
    "jade": "~0.27.2",
    "async": "~0.1.22"
  }
}

---

I am now a collaborator on npm-check-updates, which is a great solution to this problem.

Answer 1

Alternative is

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

everytime you use npm update , it automatically update to the latest version. For more version syntax, you may check here: https://www.npmjs.org/doc/misc/semver.html

Answer 2

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.

Answer 3

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

see https://www.npmjs.org/package/npm-check-updates

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

Answer 4

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npm outdated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 --save

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 --save

Answer 5

Ncu is a new alias to check for updates. By doing so you do not have to manually update ur version numbers in package.json ncu does it for you . Follow the method below if you are on a Linux machine

sudo npm i -g npm-check-updates
// decide between -u or -a
ncu -u, --upgrade and overwrite package file
ncu -a, --upgradeAll include even those dependencies whose latest 
          version satisfies the declared server dependency
sudo npm install

Answer 6

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):