Dependency Audit

Audit, update, and manage dependencies safely.

npm / Node.js

Audit

# Run security audit
npm audit
npm audit --json              # Machine-readable
npm audit --production        # Production deps only

# Fix automatically
npm audit fix
npm audit fix --force         # Allow major version bumps

# Check specific advisory
npm audit --advisory=1234

Check Outdated

# List outdated packages
npm outdated

# Output:
# Package    Current  Wanted  Latest  Location
# express    4.17.1   4.17.3  5.0.0   my-app
# lodash     4.17.20  4.17.21 4.17.21 my-app

# Wanted = highest version matching semver range in package.json
# Latest = latest version published

Update Strategies

# Update within semver range (safe)
npm update

# Update specific package
npm update express

# Update to latest (may break)
npm install express@latest

# Interactive update tool
npx npm-check-updates         # List all updates
npx npm-check-updates -u      # Update package.json
npm install                    # Install updated

# Update with target
npx npm-check-updates --target minor  # Only minor+patch
npx npm-check-updates --target patch  # Only patch

Lock File

# Regenerate lock file
rm package-lock.json && npm install

# Check lock file integrity
npm ci    # Clean install from lock file (CI)

# Deduplicate
npm dedupe

Python / pip

Audit

# pip-audit (recommended)
pip install pip-audit
pip-audit
pip-audit -r requirements.txt
pip-audit --fix               # Auto-fix vulnerabilities
pip-audit --json              # Machine-readable

# Safety (alternative)
pip install safety
safety check
safety check -r requirements.txt

Check Outdated

# List outdated packages
pip list --outdated
pip list --outdated --format=json

# Check specific package
pip show package-name

Update Strategies

# Update single package
pip install --upgrade requests

# Update all packages (careful!)
pip list --outdated --format=json | python -c "
import json, sys
for pkg in json.load(sys.stdin):
    print(pkg['name'])" | xargs -n1 pip install --upgrade

# Pin versions after updating
pip freeze > requirements.txt

pip-tools (Recommended)

pip install pip-tools

# Define requirements.in (unpinned)
# requirements.in:
# flask
# sqlalchemy>=2.0

# Compile to pinned requirements.txt
pip-compile requirements.in

# Update all
pip-compile --upgrade requirements.in

# Update specific package
pip-compile --upgrade-package flask requirements.in

# Sync environment to match
pip-sync requirements.txt

Yarn

# Audit
yarn audit
yarn audit --level moderate    # Only moderate+

# Outdated
yarn outdated

# Update
yarn upgrade                   # Within ranges
yarn upgrade --latest          # To latest versions
yarn upgrade-interactive       # Interactive picker

# Dedupe
yarn dedupe

pnpm

# Audit
pnpm audit
pnpm audit --fix

# Outdated
pnpm outdated

# Update
pnpm update
pnpm update --latest
pnpm update --interactive

Renovate / Dependabot

Dependabot (GitHub)

# .github/dependabot.yml
version: 2
updates:
  - package-ecosystem: "npm"
    directory: "/"
    schedule:
      interval: "weekly"
    open-pull-requests-limit: 10
    reviewers:
      - "team-name"
    labels:
      - "dependencies"
    groups:
      dev-deps:
        patterns:
          - "*"
        dependency-type: "development"
      prod-deps:
        patterns:
          - "*"
        dependency-type: "production"

  - package-ecosystem: "pip"
    directory: "/"
    schedule:
      interval: "weekly"

  - package-ecosystem: "github-actions"
    directory: "/"
    schedule:
      interval: "weekly"

Renovate

// renovate.json
{
  "$schema": "https://docs.renovatebot.com/renovate-schema.json",
  "extends": ["config:recommended"],
  "schedule": ["before 6am on Monday"],
  "automerge": true,
  "automergeType": "pr",
  "packageRules": [
    {
      "matchUpdateTypes": ["patch"],
      "automerge": true
    },
    {
      "matchUpdateTypes": ["major"],
      "automerge": false,
      "labels": ["breaking"]
    }
  ]
}

Update Workflow

1. Check what's outdated
   npm outdated / pip list --outdated

2. Run audit for vulnerabilities
   npm audit / pip-audit

3. Update patch versions first (safest)
   npx ncu --target patch -u && npm install

4. Run tests
   npm test / pytest

5. Update minor versions
   npx ncu --target minor -u && npm install && npm test

6. Update major versions one at a time
   npm install package@latest && npm test
   Read migration guides for major bumps

7. Commit and push
   git add package.json package-lock.json
   git commit -m "chore: update dependencies"

License Checking

# npm
npx license-checker --summary
npx license-checker --onlyAllow "MIT;ISC;BSD-3-Clause;Apache-2.0"

# Python
pip install pip-licenses
pip-licenses --summary
pip-licenses --allow-only "MIT;BSD;Apache-2.0"

Reference

For CI integration and automation:

references/automation.md