NPM Outdated Check

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- Permissions
Outputs
Comment Options
Comment Examples
Examples
Tags
Features
- Planned
Support
Contributing

Action to report npm outdated packages on a pull request and add a customizable comment, also includes output of npm-check-updates and npm update --dry-run.

This action will comment on a PR if packages are outdated. As packages are updated, the comment is updated. No comment is added on pulls when everything is up-to-date to reduce spam.

You can customize the heading, column visibility, column order, and reporting on wanted or latest. Check out the Comment Examples to see more.

Note

This action is under active development.
Please request any features you would like to see and report any issues you find.

Inputs

Input	Req.	Default Value	Input Description
columns	-	`n,c,w,l`	Customize Table Columns ⤵️
latest	-	`true`	Report if Latest > Wanted ⤵️
heading	-	`### NPM Outdated Check`	Comment Heading ⤵️
open	-	`true`	Details Open by Default ⤵️
ncu	-	`true`	Show npm-check-updates Output ⤵️
update	-	`true`	Show npm update --dry-run Output ⤵️
link	-	`true`	Use Hyperlink for Names ⤵️
exclude	-	-	CSV of Package Names to Exclude ⤵️
fail	-	`false`	Fail Job if Updates are Found ⤵️
summary	-	`true`	Add Workflow Job Summary *
token	-	`github.token`	For use with a PAT

summary: Will add result details to the job summary on the workflow run.

👀 View Example Job Summary

PR Comment: #4

PR Comment will Appear Here

Config

columns: ["n","c","w","l"]
latest: true
heading: "### NPM Outdated Check"
open: true
ncu: true
update: true
link: true
summary: true

At a minimum, you need to checkout the repository. The workspace should also be somewhat "clean". The action will run a npm clean-install npm ci. If this fails it will report the errors and skip the checks.

- name: 'Checkout'
  uses: actions/checkout@v4

- name: 'NPM Outdated Check'
  uses: cssnr/npm-outdated-action@master
  continue-on-error: true

Note: continue-on-error: true is used to prevent the workflow from failing if the action fails.

If you want the job to fail, remove continue-on-error and set fail: true.

See the Comment Options for more details on inputs.

You can also view more Examples below.

Permissions

This action requires the following permissions to add pull request comments:

permissions:
  pull-requests: write

Permissions documentation for Workflows and Actions.

Outputs

Output	Empty	Output Description
outdated	`{}`	Outdated JSON Object
ncu		NPM Check Updates Output
update		NPM Update Dry Run Output
markdown	-	Results Markdown Output

This outputs the outdated JSON object string, ncu output, npm update output, and the markdown results.

- name: 'NPM Outdated Check'
  id: outdated
  uses: cssnr/npm-outdated-action@master

- name: 'Echo Output'
  env:
    OUTDATED: ${{ steps.outdated.outputs.outdated }}
    NCU: ${{ steps.outdated.outputs.ncu }}
    UPDATE: ${{ steps.outdated.outputs.update }}
    MARKDOWN: ${{ steps.outdated.outputs.markdown }}
  run: |
    echo "outdated: '${{ env.OUTDATED }}'"
    echo "ncu: '${{ env.NCU }}'"
    echo "update: '${{ env.UPDATE }}'"
    echo "markdown: '${{ env.MARKDOWN }}'"

Note: due to the way ${{}} expressions are evaluated, multi-line output gets executed in a run block.

JSON Schema

{
  "@package/name": {
    "current": "1.0.0",
    "wanted": "1.0.1",
    "latest": "2.0.0",
    "dependent": "npm-outdated-action",
    "location": "node_modules/name"
  }
}

More Output Examples Coming Soon...

Comment Options

latest: To disable reporting of latest and ONLY show wanted, set this to false.

heading: You can customize the heading or set to an empty string to remove it.

open: Set to false for sections to be closed (collapsed/not open) by default.

ncu: Set this to false to disable reporting the output of npx npm-check-updates.

update: Set this to false to disable reporting the output of npm update --dry-run.

link: Set this to false to use plain text for package names instead of hyperlinks.

exclude: Packages to ignore/omit when running checks; example @eslint/js,tsparticles.

fail: Set this to true to fail if updates are found to enforce this through status checks.

columns: Customize column visibility and order.
This must be a perfectly formatted CSV with any combination of these keys:

Default value: n,c,w,l

Key	Column	Description
`n`	Package Name	Name of Package
`c`	Current	Current Version
`w`	Wanted	Wanted Version
`l`	Latest	Latest Version
`d`	Dependent	Dependent Package
`p`	Location	Path of Package

👀 View the Column Map

const maps = {
  n: { align: 'l', col: 'Package&nbsp;Name' },
  c: { align: 'c', col: 'Current' },
  w: { align: 'c', col: 'Wanted' },
  l: { align: 'c', col: 'Latest' },
  d: { align: 'l', col: 'Dependent' },
  p: { align: 'l', col: 'Location' },
}

Comment Examples

Note: the examples are generated with no heading and default options.

🔷 Full Example Closed

npm outdated

Package Name	Current	Wanted	Latest
axios	1.8.3	1.8.4	-

npm-check-updates

 @eslint/js  ^9.20.0  →  ^9.22.0
 axios        ^1.8.3  →   ^1.8.4

npm update --dry-run

change undici 5.28.5 => 5.29.0
change axios 1.8.3 => 1.8.4
change @pkgr/core 0.1.1 => 0.1.2
change @octokit/types 13.8.0 => 13.10.0
change @octokit/openapi-types 23.0.1 => 24.2.0
change @octokit/core 5.2.0 => 5.2.1

changed 6 packages in 4s

32 packages are looking for funding
  run `npm fund` for details

🔷 Full Example Open

npm outdated

Package Name	Current	Wanted	Latest
axios	1.8.3	1.8.4	-

npm-check-updates

 @eslint/js  ^9.20.0  →  ^9.22.0
 axios        ^1.8.3  →   ^1.8.4

npm update --dry-run

change undici 5.28.5 => 5.29.0
change axios 1.8.3 => 1.8.4
change @pkgr/core 0.1.1 => 0.1.2
change @octokit/types 13.8.0 => 13.10.0
change @octokit/openapi-types 23.0.1 => 24.2.0
change @octokit/core 5.2.0 => 5.2.1

changed 6 packages in 4s

32 packages are looking for funding
  run `npm fund` for details

🔷 Only One Outdated Package

npm outdated

Package Name	Current	Wanted	Latest
npm-check-updates	17.1.15	17.1.16	-

npm-check-updates

 npm-check-updates  ^17.1.15  →  ^17.1.16

npm update --dry-run

change npm-check-updates 17.1.15 => 17.1.16

changed 1 package

🔷 After Everything Updated

✅ All packages are up-to-date.

Note: this only appears if a previous comment is edited and does not show up on a new PR with no outdated packages.

More Comment Examples Coming Soon...

Examples

💡 Click on an example heading to expand or collapse the example.

Custom Heading

- name: 'Package Changelog Action'
  uses: cssnr/npm-outdated-action@master
  continue-on-error: true
  with:
    heading: '**NPM Changelog**'

Remove Heading

- name: 'Package Changelog Action'
  uses: cssnr/npm-outdated-action@master
  continue-on-error: true
  with:
    heading: ''

This puts latest before current and adds dependent.

Fail Status Check if Outdated

- name: 'Package Changelog Action'
  uses: cssnr/npm-outdated-action@master
  with:
    fail: true

Custom Column Order

- name: 'Package Changelog Action'
  uses: cssnr/npm-outdated-action@master
  continue-on-error: true
  with:
    columns: 'n,l,c,w,d'

This puts latest before current and adds dependent.

Disable NCU Check

- name: 'Package Changelog Action'
  uses: cssnr/npm-outdated-action@master
  continue-on-error: true
  with:
    ncu: false

This puts latest before current and adds dependent.

Disable Update Check

- name: 'Package Changelog Action'
  uses: cssnr/npm-outdated-action@master
  continue-on-error: true
  with:
    update: false

This puts latest before current and adds dependent.

Full Workflow Example

If you don't have a pull_request workflow already you can use this one.
Simply create a file called pull.yaml in the .github/workflows directory: .github/workflows/pull.yaml
Then add the below content to the file, save, commit, and create a PR...

name: 'Pull'

on:
  pull_request:

concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true

jobs:
  pull:
    name: 'Pull'
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    timeout-minutes: 5
    permissions:
      pull-requests: write

    steps:
      - name: 'Checkout'
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: 'NPM Outdated Check'
        uses: cssnr/npm-outdated-action@master

More Examples Coming Soon...

Features

Automatically report npm outdated packages on a PR and add a comment.
Report wanted and latest with option to only report wanted.
Option to exclude packages by name from being reported.
Option to customize columns visibility and columns order.
Option to display results expanded or collapsed.
Option to display npx npm-check-updates output.
Option to display npm update --dry-run output.
Outputs outdated, ncu, update, and markdown results.

Planned

Custom Column Alignment
Custom Column Titles
Custom Section Text

Want to show package changes on release notes? Check out: cssnr/package-changelog-action
Want to automatically updated tags on release? Check out: cssnr/update-version-tags-action

If you would like to see a new feature, please submit a feature request.

Support

For general help or to request a feature, see:

Q&A Discussion: https://github.com/cssnr/npm-outdated-action/discussions/categories/q-a
Request a Feature: https://github.com/cssnr/npm-outdated-action/discussions/categories/feature-requests

If you are experiencing an issue/bug or getting unexpected results, you can:

Report an Issue: https://github.com/cssnr/npm-outdated-action/issues
Chat with us on Discord: https://discord.gg/wXy6m2X8wY
Provide General Feedback: https://cssnr.github.io/feedback/

For more information, see the CSSNR SUPPORT.md.

Contributing

Currently, the best way to contribute to this project is to star this project on GitHub.

For more information, see the CSSNR CONTRIBUTING.md.

Additionally, you can support other GitHub Actions I have published:

Stack Deploy Action
Portainer Stack Deploy
VirusTotal Action
Mirror Repository Action
Update Version Tags Action
Update JSON Value Action
Parse Issue Form Action
Cloudflare Purge Cache Action
Mozilla Addon Update Action
Docker Tags Action
Package Changelog Action
NPM Outdated Check Action

For a full list of current projects to support visit: https://cssnr.github.io/

Rolling	Bugs	Feat.	Name	Target	Example
✅	✅	✅	Major	`vN.x.x`	`vN`
✅	✅	❌	Minor	`vN.N.x`	`vN.N`
❌	❌	❌	Micro	`vN.N.N`	`vN.N.N`

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Files

README.md

README.md

NPM Outdated Check

Inputs

Permissions

Outputs

Comment Options

Comment Examples

Examples

Tags

Features

Planned

Support

Contributing

Files

README.md

Latest commit

History

README.md

File metadata and controls

NPM Outdated Check

Inputs

Permissions

Outputs

Comment Options

Comment Examples

Examples

Tags

Features

Planned

Support

Contributing