Package Commands

CLI commands for package analysis and information retrieval.

Package Information

info - Package Details

Get comprehensive information about a package:

# Basic package info
buddy info react

# Info for a specific dist-tag
buddy info typescript@latest

# Output as JSON
buddy info react --json

# Verbose output
buddy info react --verbose

Without --json, the command prints the description, homepage, repository, license, author, keywords, dependency counts and the number of published versions.

Options:

• --json - Output as JSON
• --verbose, -v - Enable verbose logging

versions - Available Versions

List available versions for a package:

# Most recent versions (10 by default)
buddy versions typescript

# Latest 5 versions
buddy versions typescript --latest 5

The output shows the total number of published versions, the latest version, and the most recent versions in descending order.

Options:

• --latest <count> - Show only the latest N versions (default: 10)
• --verbose, -v - Enable verbose logging

latest - Latest Version

Get the latest version of a package:

# Latest version
buddy latest vue

# Works with scoped packages
buddy latest @types/node

Options:

• --verbose, -v - Enable verbose logging

Package Analysis

deps - Dependency Analysis

Show the dependencies a package declares:

# Production dependencies
buddy deps react

# Dev dependencies
buddy deps react --dev

# Peer dependencies
buddy deps react --peer

# Every dependency type
buddy deps react --all

Options:

• --dev - Show devDependencies
• --peer - Show peerDependencies
• --all - Show all dependency types
• --verbose, -v - Enable verbose logging

check - Package Updates

Check named packages for available updates. At least one package name is required:

# Check specific packages
buddy check react vue typescript

# Check with a strategy
buddy check react --strategy minor

# Verbose output
buddy check react typescript --verbose

Each update is reported as name: current → new (type).

Options:

• --strategy <type> - Update strategy: major|minor|patch|all (default: all)
• --verbose, -v - Enable verbose logging

To check every dependency in the project rather than a fixed list, use buddy scan, which also accepts --pattern "@types/*" for glob matching.

Package Search

search - Package Search

Search for packages in the registry:

# Basic search
buddy search "state management"

# Limit results
buddy search "test framework" --limit 5

Options:

• --limit <count> - Limit number of results (default: 10)
• --verbose, -v - Enable verbose logging

exists - Package Existence

Check whether a package exists in the registry:

# Check if a package exists
buddy exists react

# Check a name you expect to be free
buddy exists nonexistent-package-xyz

The command exits 0 when the package exists and 1 when it does not, so it can be used directly in shell conditionals:

if buddy exists my-new-package-name; then
  echo "name is taken"
fi

Options:

• --verbose, -v - Enable verbose logging

Package Comparison

compare - Version Comparison

Compare two versions of a package:

# Compare two versions
buddy compare react 17.0.0 18.0.0

# Compare across a major boundary
buddy compare typescript 4.9.0 5.0.0

Both versions are positional and required. The output reports the update type (major, minor or patch), how many published versions sit between the two, and which of them is newer.

Options:

• --verbose, -v - Enable verbose logging

Configuration

--config is a global option, so it works on every command:

# Use a specific config file
buddy check react --config custom-config.ts

check reads packages.strategy from the configuration file and --strategy overrides it for that run. The registry lookup commands (info, versions, latest, deps, compare, search, exists) query the registry directly and take no configuration beyond the flags listed above.

Examples

Investigating a package before adding it

buddy exists fast-glob && \
buddy info fast-glob && \
buddy deps fast-glob --all

Planning an upgrade

# See what versions are available
buddy versions typescript --latest 20

# Understand the jump
buddy compare typescript 5.8.2 5.9.0

# Check what Buddy would do with it
buddy check typescript --strategy minor

See Package Management for more details on package handling features.