align-deps-vers

🛠️ A tiny CLI tool to align semver-declared dependency versions in package.json with what’s actually installed in node_modules.

What it does

When dependencies are declared like:

"chalk": "^5.0.0"

But node_modules contains a newer compatible version, say:

"chalk": "5.3.0"

This tool updates your package.json to:

"chalk": "^5.3.0"

➡️ Keeping your semver prefixes (^, ~, etc.), while reflecting actual versions.

Usage

Run instantly with npx

npx align-deps-vers

This:

• Reads your package.json
• Gets actual installed versions
• Rewrites all matching dependencies with updated (actual) versions

How It Works

• Calls npm list --json
• Resolves top-level installed packages from node_modules
• Walks through:
  • dependencies
  • devDependencies
  • optionalDependencies
• If the declared version uses a prefix (^, ~, etc.) — it replaces only the version part, not the prefix

Example

Before:

"dependencies": {
  "chalk": "^5.0.0",
  "ora": "~6.0.0"
}

Actually installed:

• [email protected]
• [email protected]

After:

"dependencies": {
  "chalk": "^5.3.0",
  "ora": "~6.1.1"
}

Use Case

Useful for:

• Committing package updates with accurate dependency metadata
• Snapshotting versions for auditability and long-term tracking
• Improving visibility into the actual versions installed in node_modules (let's be honest, package-lock.json is not human-friendly)
• Avoiding confusion caused by mismatches between declared and real versions