Dependency Updater

Overview

This skill analyzes your project's dependency tree to find outdated packages, known vulnerabilities, and breaking API changes. It produces a prioritized upgrade plan with specific migration steps, ordered to minimize risk and maximize safety.

Instructions

1. Parse the Dependency File

• Read package.json + lockfile (npm/yarn/pnpm), requirements.txt/pyproject.toml, or go.mod
• List all direct dependencies with current pinned versions
• Note version constraints (^, ~, exact, ranges)

2. Check Each Package

Gather facts with the ecosystem tools rather than from memory:

npm outdated && npm audit --omit=dev       # npm (pnpm: pnpm outdated / pnpm audit)
yarn upgrade-interactive && yarn npm audit # Yarn 2+
pip list --outdated && pip-audit -r requirements.txt   # pip-audit is installed separately
go list -u -m all && govulncheck ./...     # Go

Do not run npm audit fix --force: it can apply major upgrades unreviewed.

For each dependency:

• Latest version: What's available on the registry
• Version gap: How many major/minor/patch versions behind
• Security: Known CVEs from npm audit, Snyk, or GitHub Advisory Database
• Maintenance: Last publish date, open issues count, whether it's deprecated
• Breaking changes: Read CHANGELOG.md or GitHub releases for breaking change notes between current and latest

3. Classify by Risk

Group packages into four tiers:

• Critical: Known CVE with severity HIGH or CRITICAL — update immediately
• Major: Major version bump with confirmed breaking API changes — needs migration
• Minor: Minor/patch updates with no breaking changes — safe to batch update
• Stale: Package unmaintained (no release in >12 months) — consider replacement

4. Scan for Impact

For Major-tier packages:

• Read the changelog/migration guide for the new version
• Search the codebase for imports and usages of changed APIs
• List affected files with line numbers
• Estimate effort: how many patterns need changing and whether they're automatable

5. Generate Upgrade Plan

Produce an ordered plan:

1. Critical (CVE fixes) first — usually patch-level, zero code changes
2. Minor/patch batch — single npm update command
3. Each Major upgrade individually, with:
   • Exact install command (npm install package@version)
   • Code changes needed (as diffs when possible)
   • Test commands to verify

Examples

Example 1: Node.js Project Audit

Input: User provides package.json with 94 dependencies.

Output:

Dependency Audit — 94 packages

CRITICAL (2 packages):
  lodash 4.17.20 → 4.17.21
    CVE-2021-23337 (Command Injection, HIGH)
    Fix: npm install lodash@4.17.21 (patch, no code changes)

  node-fetch 2.6.1 → 2.6.13
    CVE-2022-0235 (Exposure of sensitive headers on redirect, HIGH)
    Fix: npm install node-fetch@2.6.13 (fixed in 2.6.7; patch, no code changes)

MAJOR (1 package):
  express 4.18.2 → 5.x
    Breaking: req.host now keeps the port number (Express 4 stripped it)
    Breaking: app.del() removed, use app.delete()
    Breaking: req.query is read-only; async handler errors now reach error middleware
    Tip: run npx @expressjs/codemod upgrade for the mechanical changes
    Affected files: src/server.ts:45 (uses req.host), src/routes/legacy.ts:12 (uses app.del)
    Migration effort: Low — 2 files, 2 line changes

MINOR (18 packages):
  Can be batch-updated: npm update (no breaking changes detected)

STALE (1 package):
  request 2.88.2 — DEPRECATED, last release Feb 2020
  Recommended replacement: undici or node-fetch
  Used in: src/lib/http-client.ts (3 call sites)

Upgrade Order:
  Step 1: npm install lodash@4.17.21 node-fetch@2.6.13
  Step 2: npm update
  Step 3: npm install express@5 (apply 2 code changes first)
  Step 4: Replace request with undici (separate PR recommended)

Example 2: Python Requirements

Input: User provides requirements.txt with pinned versions.

Output:

Dependency Audit — 23 packages

CRITICAL:
  django==3.2.18 → 3.2.25
    CVE-2024-24680 (DoS via intcomma template filter, fixed in 3.2.24)
    Fix: pip install django==3.2.25 (patch within same minor)

MAJOR:
  django==3.2.25 → 5.2.x LTS (3.2 is end-of-life: no further security fixes)
    Breaking: django.conf.urls.url() removed in 4.0, use path()/re_path()
    Upgrade through 4.2 LTS first, fixing deprecation warnings at each stop
    Affected: 8 files in urls/, settings.py

Guidelines

• Never recommend upgrading all major versions at once — one at a time, with tests between each
• For monorepos, check if packages have peer dependency conflicts before recommending upgrades
• If a package is deprecated with no CVE, it's STALE not CRITICAL — don't panic the user
• Always check if the project has a test suite (npm test, pytest) and recommend running it after each step
• When generating diffs, use the project's actual code, not generic examples
• For workspaces/monorepos, note which workspace each dependency belongs to