sindresorhus/log-update

log-update

Version: 7.1.0 (1 week ago) Deps: ansi-escapes@^7.1.0, cli-cursor@^5.0.0, slice-ansi@^7.1.2, strip-ansi@^7.1.2, wrap-ansi@^9.0.2 Tags: latest: 7.1.0 (1 week ago)

References: package.json • GitHub Issues • Releases

Search

Use

npx -y skilld search

instead of grepping

.skilld/

directories — hybrid semantic + keyword search across all indexed docs, issues, and releases.

npx -y skilld search "query" -p log-update
npx -y skilld search "issues:error handling" -p log-update
npx -y skilld search "releases:deprecated" -p log-update

Filters:

docs:

,

issues:

,

releases:

prefix narrows by source type.

API Changes

✨

.persist(...text)

— new in v7.0, writes text that stays in scrollback (like

console.log

) without clearing the update area source

✨

defaultWidth

/

defaultHeight

options — new in v7.0 for

createLogUpdate()

, controls fallback dimensions when stream lacks

columns

/

rows

(default: 80×24) source

✨ Partial diff rendering — v7.0 only redraws changed lines instead of erasing all, reduces flicker source

✨ Synchronized output (

?2026h

/

?2026l

) — v7.1 wraps writes in DEC synchronized output sequences on TTYs, eliminates tearing source

⚠️ Node.js 20+ required — v7.0 dropped Node 18 support source

⚠️

logUpdate.create()

removed in v5 — use named export

createLogUpdate

instead source

⚠️

logUpdate.stderr

removed in v5 — use named export

logUpdateStderr

instead source

⚠️ Pure ESM since v5 — no

require()

, use

import logUpdate from 'log-update'

source

Best Practices

✅ Use

.persist()

for permanent output between updating sections — it writes to scrollback history then resets the update region, unlike

.done()

which just freezes the current frame source

logUpdate('Downloading...')
logUpdate.persist('✓ Download complete')  // stays in scrollback
logUpdate('Installing...')                 // new update region starts

✅ Call

.done()

when finished to restore the cursor — the default export hides the cursor on first call and only restores it on

.done()

source

✅ Set

showCursor: true

via

createLogUpdate

when your CLI also accepts user input — the default singleton hides the cursor which breaks interactive prompts source

const log = createLogUpdate(process.stdout, { showCursor: true })

✅ Set

defaultWidth

/

defaultHeight

when output may be piped or redirected —

stream.columns

/

stream.rows

are undefined in non-TTY contexts, defaults are 80×24 source

✅ Output is automatically clipped to terminal height (bottom lines kept, top removed) — cannot be disabled, design your output with the most important info at the bottom source

✅ Content exceeding terminal width is hard-wrapped per-character (not word-wrapped) — ANSI-colored strings are handled correctly but long unbroken lines will split mid-word source

✅ Multiple string arguments are joined with spaces, not newlines —

logUpdate('a', 'b')

produces

"a b"

, use template literals or

\n

for multiline source

✅ Use

createLogUpdate

for multiple independent update regions — the default export is a singleton; two modules sharing it will clobber each other's output. Each

createLogUpdate

call tracks its own state source

✅ v7.1.0 uses synchronized output (

\x1b[?2026h/l

) on TTYs to eliminate flicker — no action needed, but be aware this wraps every write in DEC private mode sequences that some non-standard terminals may not support source

✅ Identical consecutive frames are skipped (no-op) — safe to call

logUpdate()

at high frequency without performance concern, the library diffs and only writes changed lines source