Patch Pulse CLI

This package lives in the Patch Pulse monorepo at packages/cli.

Check for outdated npm dependencies across your project.

Quick Start

npx patch-pulse

That's it! Patch Pulse scans the current project for package.json files and shows which dependencies are outdated.

Docs: https://barrymichaeldoyle.github.io/patch-pulse/

• Zero runtime dependencies
• Monorepo-aware, including pnpm catalog: support
• Interactive terminal updates for patch, minor, or all outdated packages

Configuration

Patch Pulse supports configuration files for persistent settings. Prefer patchpulse.json in your project root. These filenames are supported:

• patchpulse.json
• patchpulse.config.json
• .patchpulserc.json
• .patchpulserc

Configuration File Example

{
  "skip": ["lodash", "@types/*", "test-*"],
  "ignorePaths": ["packages/cli/e2e"],
  "packageManager": "npm",
  "interactive": true
}

Skip Patterns

The skip array supports exact names and glob wildcards:

• Exact names: "lodash", "chalk"
• Glob patterns: "@types/*", "test-*", "*-dev"

Ignore Paths

The ignorePaths array excludes matching directories or package.json paths from workspace scanning:

• Exact paths: "packages/cli/e2e"
• Glob patterns: "**/fixtures", "packages/*/dist"

Package Manager

The packageManager option allows you to override the package manager detection.

• npm
• pnpm
• yarn
• bun

Interactive Mode

The interactive option opts in to the interactive update prompt after the summary.

CLI vs File Configuration

CLI arguments override file configuration:

# This will override any settings in patchpulse.json
npx patch-pulse --skip "react,react-dom" --package-manager pnpm --no-interactive

For monorepos, use --expand to print full dependency sections for clean workspaces too.

npx patch-pulse --expand

Use --hide-clean to hide clean workspaces entirely.

npx patch-pulse --hide-clean

Focus one project by workspace path or package name:

npx patch-pulse --project packages/app

Use --json for scripts, CI, or editor integrations:

npx patch-pulse --json

Use --fail to exit with code 1 if any outdated packages are found — useful as a CI gate:

npx patch-pulse --fail
# or combine with --json for machine-readable output + non-zero exit
npx patch-pulse --json --fail

When running the local workspace CLI through the root script, use pnpm -s to suppress pnpm's script banner before JSON output:

pnpm -s pp -- --json

Monorepos

When run from a repository root, Patch Pulse scans every package.json under the current directory except anything inside node_modules.

• workspace:* dependencies are ignored
• pnpm catalog: dependencies are resolved from pnpm-workspace.yaml
• interactive dependency updates can update both direct dependency ranges and pnpm catalog entries

Slack Bot

Get notified in Slack whenever a package you depend on releases a new version.

Help us reach the Slack Marketplace! We need at least 5 active workspace installs before Slack will approve PatchPulse for the official Marketplace. If the bot looks useful to you, installing it now is a huge help — it's free and takes about 30 seconds.

Discord Bot

Get notified in Discord whenever a package you depend on releases a new version.

Add to Discord

GitHub Action

Automate dependency update pull requests on a schedule with the Patch Pulse GitHub Action.

Read the GitHub Action docs

Ecosystem

• 🔧 CLI Tool (this repo) - Check dependencies from terminal
• ⚡ VSCode Extension (@PatchPulse/vscode-extension) - Get updates in your editor (Coming soon)
• 🤖 Slack Bot (Add to Workspace) - Get notified in Slack
• 💬 Discord Bot (Add to Server) - Get notified in Discord
• ⚙️ GitHub Action (Docs) - Open dependency update PRs automatically

Troubleshooting

• "No dependencies found" - Run from a project directory that contains dependency-bearing package.json files
• "Error reading package.json" - Check JSON syntax and file permissions
• Network errors - Verify internet connection and npm registry access
• Debug registry lookups - Run PATCH_PULSE_DEBUG=1 npx patch-pulse to log npm lookup failures and HTTP/network errors
• Machine-readable output - Run npx patch-pulse --json for scripts or CI

Contributing

1. Fork and clone
2. npm install
3. Make changes
4. Submit PR

Guidelines: Add tests, update docs, keep commits atomic.

Support

• 📚 Read the docs at barrymichaeldoyle.github.io/patch-pulse
• ⭐ Star the repo
• 🐛 Report bugs via Issues
• 💬 Join discussions in Discussions

License

MIT - see LICENSE

Author

@BarryMichaelDoyle

🎥 Live Development: Sometimes I stream on Twitch - drop by and say hello!

Made with ❤️ for the Node.js community