outdated-packages-action

Github action for reporting on outdated dotnet packages in a solution or project, or npm packages in a project directory.

Overview

This action will run either or both of:

• dotnet-outdated against a supplied dotnet solution or project
• npm outdated against a supplied npm project directory

Note

The intention of this action is purely to notify of any outdated packages and not to perform any kind of update action.

Reports for any outdated packages found are added as a comment to the pull request used to run this action.

If the action is re-run against a pull request that has already been commented on, the existing comment will be updated.

v1.7.0, v2.0.0 and v3.x.x of this action are functionally identical, except v1.7.0 defaults to using dotnet 8.*.*, v2.0.0 defaults to using dotnet 9.*.* and v3.x.x defaults to using dotnet 10.*.*. v3.x.x also updates action dependencies to latest major versions (npm update check now uses node 20).

Warning

This action is designed to be actioned only within the context of a pull request, no other scenarios are catered for.

Inputs

use-dotnet-outdated

Optional - Whether to run dotnet-outdated. Default false.

dotnet-solution-or-project-path

Optional - The path to the dotnet solution or project file. Required if use-dotnet-outdated is true.

dotnet-exclude-packages

Optional - Names of packages to exclude from the check. Optional if use-dotnet-outdated is true. Space delimited string of package names, e.g. "Microsoft.Extensions.Logging Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Abstractions"

dotnet-version

Optional - The version of dotnet to use. Default 10.*.*.

use-npm-outdated

Optional - Whether to run npm outdated. Default false.

npm-project-directory

Optional - The path to the npm project directory. Default ..

hide-successful-checks

Optional - When true, don't add a success comment to the PR when checks are successful. Default false.

comment-label

Optional - A label used to distinguish this run's PR comment, e.g. a matrix variant name. It is included in the comment's hidden identifier so parallel matrix jobs each update their own comment instead of overwriting one another, and is shown at the top of the comment. If omitted, the npm project directory / dotnet solution path is used to differentiate comments. Default ''.

Example github action

outdated.yml

name: Outdated package checks

# Run workflow on pull request to the main branch
on:
  pull_request:
    types: [opened, synchronize, reopened]
    branches: [ main ]

env:
  SOLUTION_PATH: 'src/RobGreenEngineering.sln'
  PROJECT_DIR: 'src/RobGreenEngineering'
  EXCLUDE_PACKAGES: 'Microsoft.Extensions.Logging Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Abstractions'

jobs:
  outdated-packages-check:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    # grant pull request write permission if 'Read and write permissions' is not active for actions in the repository
    permissions:
      pull-requests: write

    steps:
      - uses: trossr32/outdated-packages-action@v4
        with:
          # Whether to run dotnet-outdated. Default is false if not supplied.
          use-dotnet-outdated: true

          # The path to the dotnet solution or project file. Required if use-dotnet-outdated is true.
          dotnet-solution-or-project-path: ${{ env.SOLUTION_PATH }}

          # Names of packages to exclude from the check. Optional if use-dotnet-outdated is true.
          # Space delimited string of package names, e.g. "Microsoft.Extensions.Logging Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Abstractions"
          dotnet-exclude-packages: ${{ env.EXCLUDE_PACKAGES }}

          # The version of dotnet to use. Default is 10.*.*.
          dotnet-version: '10.*.*'

          # Whether to run npm-update-check-action. Default is false if not supplied.
          use-npm-outdated: true

          # The path to the npm project directory.
          # Default is '.', so only required if the npm project is not the root of the repository.
          npm-project-directory: ${{ env.PROJECT_DIR }}

          # When true, don't add a success comment to the PR when checks are successful. Default is false if not supplied.
          hide-successful-checks: false

Example github action (matrix)

When checking multiple projects/directories in parallel with a matrix, each job posts its own PR comment. Comments are differentiated automatically by npm-project-directory / dotnet-solution-or-project-path; set comment-label to give each comment a friendlier title.

outdated.yml

name: Outdated package checks

on:
  pull_request:
    types: [opened, synchronize, reopened]
    branches: [ main ]

jobs:
  outdated-packages-check:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: Check outdated packages (${{ matrix.name }})
    permissions:
      pull-requests: write

    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        include:
          - name: project root
            directory: '.'
          - name: playwright tests
            directory: 'tests/playwright'

    steps:
      - uses: trossr32/outdated-packages-action@v4
        with:
          use-npm-outdated: true
          npm-project-directory: ${{ matrix.directory }}
          # Optional: titles the comment and keeps each variant's comment separate
          comment-label: ${{ matrix.name }}

Example output

dotnet packages are outdated

dotnet packages up to date

npm packages are outdated

npm packages up to date

Credit

This action leverages these projects:

• dotnet-outdated
• npm outdated
• setup-dotnet

Contribute

Please create a pull request and get in touch. Alternatively feel free to raise an issue if you've found a bug or want to suggest a new feature.