npm-interactive-check

Interactive npm dependency updater with changelog previews and breaking change warnings.

Features

• Interactive Updates: Review and select packages to update one by one or from a list
• Changelog Preview: Automatically fetches changelogs from GitHub releases or CHANGELOG.md files
• Breaking Change Detection: Highlights major version updates with clear warnings
• Semver-Aware: Distinguishes between major, minor, and patch updates
• Multiple Update Modes: Choose between interactive review, selection list, or update all
• Beautiful CLI: Clean, colorful output with progress indicators

Installation

# Global installation (recommended)
npm install -g npm-interactive-check

# Or run directly with npx (no installation needed)
npx npm-interactive-check

Note for Windows users: After global installation, you may need to restart your terminal for the command to be recognized. See Troubleshooting if you encounter any issues.

Usage

# Run interactive update check
npm-interactive-check

# Or use the short alias
nic

Options

| Option | Description | |--------|-------------| | -a, --all | Update all packages without prompting | | -d, --dev | Only check devDependenices | | -p, --prod | Only check dependenices (exclude devDependenices) | | -g, --global | Check globally installed packages | | -i, --interactive | Review each package individually (default) | | --json | Output results as JSON | | --depth <n> | Max depth for checking nested dependenices | | --registry <url> | Use a custom npm registry | | --debug | Enable debug logging |

Examples

# Check and interactively update all outdated packages
nic

# Only check dev dependenices
nic --dev

# Check global packages
nic --global

# Update all packages (no prompts)
nic --all

# Output as JSON for scripting
nic --json

Update Modes

When you run npm-interactive-check, you'll be prompted to choose an update mode:

1. Review each package individually: Go through each outdated package one by one, view changelogs, and decide whether to update
2. Select from list: View all outdated packages and select which ones to update using checkboxes
3. Update all: Update all packages to their latest versions (use with caution)

Breaking Change Warnings

Packages with major version updates are highlighted with a red warning badge. When a breaking change is detected:

• The package is marked with ⚠ BREAKING
• Changelog is automatically fetched and displayed
• You'll be prompted to confirm before proceeding

Programmatic Usage

import {
  getOutdatedPackages,
  fetchChangelog,
  updatePackages,
  determineUpdateType,
} from 'npm-interactive-check';

// Get all outdated packages
const packages = await getOutdatedPackages();

// Fetch changelog for a specific package
const changelog = await fetchChangelog(packages[0]);

// Check update type
const updateType = determineUpdateType('1.0.0', '2.0.0'); // 'major'

Requirements

• Node.js >= 18.0.0
• npm (any recent version)

Troubleshooting

Windows: Command not recognized

If you see the error 'npm-interactive-check' is not recognized as an internal or external command, try these solutions:

1. Ensure the package is installed globally:

   npm install -g npm-interactive-check

2. Restart your terminal/command prompt after installation to refresh PATH variables

3. Use npx instead:

   npx npm-interactive-check

4. Check if npm's global bin directory is in your PATH:

   npm config get prefix

   The output directory's bin folder (or on Windows: the directory itself) should be in your system PATH.

   On Windows, this is typically: %APPDATA%\npm

   To add it to PATH:

   • Open System Properties → Advanced → Environment Variables
   • Edit the Path variable under "User variables"
   • Add the npm global directory (e.g., C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Roaming\npm)
   • Restart your terminal

5. Verify installation:

   npm list -g npm-interactive-check

Permission Issues

If you encounter permission errors during installation on Linux/macOS:

sudo npm install -g npm-interactive-check

Or configure npm to use a different directory:

mkdir ~/.npm-global
npm config set prefix '~/.npm-global'
export PATH=~/.npm-global/bin:$PATH

Development

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/MDevSolutions/npm-interactive-check.git
cd npm-interactive-check

# Install dependenices
npm install

# Run in development mode
npm run dev

# Run tests
npm test

# Run linter
npm run lint

# Build for production
npm run build

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes using conventional commits (git commit -m 'feat: add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Commit Convention

This project uses Conventional Commits for automated versioning and changelog generation:

• feat: - A new feature (triggers minor release)
• fix: - A bug fix (triggers patch release)
• docs: - Documentation changes
• chore: - Maintenance tasks
• BREAKING CHANGE: - Breaking changes (triggers major release)

License

MIT