Bump a semantic version number from the command line (major, minor, patch, prerelease)

npx semver -i minor 1.4.2 prints 1.5.0. The semver CLI from npm increments a version by the level you name (major, minor, patch, premajor, preminor, prepatch, prerelease, release) and resets the lower numbers, as the SemVer rules require. To change the version inside package.json, use npm version patch (or minor, major), which also commits and tags in a git repository.

Every increment level

for level in major minor patch premajor preminor prepatch prerelease; do
  printf '%-11s 1.4.2 -> %s\n' "$level" "$(npx -y semver@7 -i "$level" 1.4.2)"
done
echo "--- with a pre-release id"
printf '%-11s 1.4.2 -> %s\n' "premajor" "$(npx -y semver@7 -i premajor --preid beta 1.4.2)"
printf '%-11s 2.0.0-beta.0 -> %s\n' "prerelease" "$(npx -y semver@7 -i prerelease 2.0.0-beta.0)"
echo "--- leaving a pre-release"
for level in patch minor major release; do
  printf '%-11s 2.0.0-rc.1 -> %s\n' "$level" "$(npx -y semver@7 -i "$level" 2.0.0-rc.1)"
done
echo "--- edge cases"
echo "release on 1.4.2: $(npx -y semver@7 -i release 1.4.2)"
echo "patch on 1.4 with -c: $(npx -y semver@7 -c -i patch 1.4)"

major       1.4.2 -> 2.0.0
minor       1.4.2 -> 1.5.0
patch       1.4.2 -> 1.4.3
premajor    1.4.2 -> 2.0.0-0
preminor    1.4.2 -> 1.5.0-0
prepatch    1.4.2 -> 1.4.3-0
prerelease  1.4.2 -> 1.4.3-0
--- with a pre-release id
premajor    1.4.2 -> 2.0.0-beta.0
prerelease  2.0.0-beta.0 -> 2.0.0-beta.1
--- leaving a pre-release
patch       2.0.0-rc.1 -> 2.0.0
minor       2.0.0-rc.1 -> 2.0.0
major       2.0.0-rc.1 -> 2.0.0
release     2.0.0-rc.1 -> 2.0.0
--- edge cases
release on 1.4.2: null
patch on 1.4 with -c: 1.4.1

Incrementing from a pre-release goes to the release it leads up to: 2.0.0-rc.1 becomes 2.0.0 for major, minor, patch and release, because 2.0.0 is the next version at each of those levels. Without --preid, pre-release levels use a bare number (2.0.0-0). release on a version that is not a pre-release prints null and still exits with 0, so check the output in scripts. -c coerces 1.4 to 1.4.0 before incrementing.

Bump the version in package.json

npm init -y >/dev/null
npm pkg set version=1.4.2
npm version minor --no-git-tag-version
npm version prerelease --preid rc --no-git-tag-version
npm pkg get version

v1.5.0
v1.5.1-rc.0
"1.5.1-rc.0"

npm version prints the new version with a v prefix and writes it to package.json (and package-lock.json when present). --no-git-tag-version skips the commit and the tag; without it, outside a git repository npm only edits the files.

Levels

Pitfalls

• Two-part versions are rejected. npx semver -i patch 1.4 prints nothing and exits with 1, because 1.4 is not a valid version; add -c (coerce) to treat it as 1.4.0. In code, semver.inc returns null, and passing such strings to other functions throws TypeError: Invalid Version.
• npm version needs a clean working tree in a git repository, otherwise it fails with Git working directory not clean. Commit first, or use --no-git-tag-version.
• A v prefix is accepted on input but dropped from output. npx semver -i patch v1.4.2 prints 1.4.3; add the v back when you build a tag name.
• Pre-release order is by identifier. rc.10 sorts after rc.9 because numeric identifiers compare as numbers, but rc10 (no dot) compares as text and sorts before rc9. Keep the dot.

FAQ