Node: check latest version of package programmatically

Question

I'd like my node package (published on npm) to alert the user when a new version is available. How can i check programmatically for the latest version of a published package and compare it to the current one?

Thanks

Answer 1

You can combine the npmview (for getting remote version) and semver (for comparing versions) packages to do this:

const npmview = require('npmview');
const semver  = require('semver');

// get local package name and version from package.json (or wherever)
const pkgName    = require('./package.json').name;
const pkgVersion = require('./package.json').version;

// get latest version on npm
npmview(pkgName, function(err, version, moduleInfo) {
  // compare to local version
  if(semver.gt(version, pkgVersion)) {
    // remote version on npm is newer than current version
  }
});