Install vs Update in npm

Install vs Update in npm | Generated by AI

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The main differences between npm install and npm update:

npm install

Installs packages listed in package.json that aren’t yet in node_modules
Respects the exact version ranges specified in package.json (e.g., ^1.2.3)
Creates or updates package-lock.json to lock those versions
If you run it when packages are already installed, it generally does nothing (unless lock file is missing)

npm update

Updates existing packages in node_modules to the latest versions that still satisfy the ranges in package.json
Won’t install packages that aren’t already present
Updates package-lock.json with the new versions
For example, if you have ^1.2.3 in package.json and version 1.2.3 installed, npm update might upgrade it to 1.9.0 (but not 2.0.0)

Quick example:

// package.json shows: "lodash": "^4.17.0"
// currently installed: 4.17.0
// latest available: 4.17.21

npm install → keeps 4.17.0 (already satisfies the requirement)
npm update → upgrades to 4.17.21 (latest within the ^ range)

In practice: Use npm install for fresh setups or adding new packages. Use npm update when you want to get newer versions of your existing dependencies within their allowed ranges.

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