Dependency Upgrade
Manage major dependency version upgrades with compatibility analysis, staged rollout, and comprehensive testing. Use when upgrading framework versions, updating major dependencies, or managing breaking changes in libraries.
MCP get_skill({ skillId: "dependency-upgrade-b171f048" })Use this skill with your agent
Create a free account and connect via MCP
# Dependency Upgrade
Master major dependency version upgrades, compatibility analysis, staged upgrade strategies, and comprehensive testing approaches.
## When to Use This Skill
- Upgrading major framework versions
- Updating security-vulnerable dependencies
- Modernizing legacy dependencies
- Resolving dependency conflicts
- Planning incremental upgrade paths
- Testing compatibility matrices
- Automating dependency updates
## Semantic Versioning Review
```
MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH (e.g., 2.3.1)
MAJOR: Breaking changes
MINOR: New features, backward compatible
PATCH: Bug fixes, backward compatible
^2.3.1 = >=2.3.1 <3.0.0 (minor updates)
~2.3.1 = >=2.3.1 <2.4.0 (patch updates)
2.3.1 = exact version
```
## Dependency Analysis
### Audit Dependencies
```bash
# npm
npm outdated
npm audit
npm audit fix
# yarn
yarn outdated
yarn audit
# Check for major updates
npx npm-check-updates
npx npm-check-updates -u # Update package.json
```
### Analyze Dependency Tree
```bash
# See why a package is installed
npm ls package-name
yarn why package-name
# Find duplicate packages
npm dedupe
yarn dedupe
# Visualize dependencies
npx madge --image graph.png src/
```
## Compatibility Matrix
```javascript
// compatibility-matrix.js
const compatibilityMatrix = {
react: {
"16.x": {
"react-dom": "^16.0.0",
"react-router-dom": "^5.0.0",
"@testing-library/react": "^11.0.0",
},
"17.x": {
"react-dom": "^17.0.0",
"react-router-dom": "^5.0.0 || ^6.0.0",
"@testing-library/react": "^12.0.0",
},
"18.x": {
"react-dom": "^18.0.0",
"react-router-dom": "^6.0.0",
"@testing-library/react": "^13.0.0",
},
},
};
function checkCompatibility(packages) {
// Validate package versions against matrix
}
```
## Staged Upgrade Strategy
### Phase 1: Planning
```bash
# 1. Identify current versions
npm list --depth=0
# 2. Check for breaking changes
# Read CHANGELOG.md and MIGRATION.md
# 3. Create upgrade plan
echo "Upgrade order:
1. TypeScript
2. React
3. React Router
4. Testing libraries
5. Build tools" > UPGRADE_PLAN.md
```
### Phase 2: Incremental Updates
```bash
# Don't upgrade everything at once!
# Step 1: Update TypeScript
npm install typescript@latest
# Test
npm run test
npm run build
# Step 2: Update React (one major version at a time)
npm install react@17 react-dom@17
# Test again
npm run test
# Step 3: Continue with other packages
npm install react-router-dom@6
# And so on...
```
### Phase 3: Validation
```javascript
// tests/compatibility.test.js
describe("Dependency Compatibility", () => {
it("should have compatible React versions", () => {
const reactVersion = require("react/package.json").version;
const reactDomVersion = require("react-dom/package.json").version;
expect(reactVersion).toBe(reactDomVersion);
});
it("should not have peer dependency warnings", () => {
// Run npm ls and check for warnings
});
});
```
## Breaking Change Handling
### Identifying Breaking Changes
```bash
# Check the changelog directly
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/facebook/react/master/CHANGELOG.md
```
### Codemod for Automated Fixes
```bash
# Run jscodeshift with transform URL
npx jscodeshift -t <transform-url> <path>
# Example: Rename unsafe lifecycle methods
npx jscodeshift -t https://raw.githubusercontent.com/reactjs/react-codemod/master/transforms/rename-unsafe-lifecycles.js src/
# For TypeScript files
npx jscodeshift -t https://raw.githubusercontent.com/reactjs/react-codemod/master/transforms/rename-unsafe-lifecycles.js --parser=tsx src/
# Dry run to preview changes
npx jscodeshift -t https://raw.githubusercontent.com/reactjs/react-codemod/master/transforms/rename-unsafe-lifecycles.js --dry src/
```
### Custom Migration Script
```javascript
// migration-script.js
const fs = require("fs");
const glob = require("glob");
glob("src/**/*.tsx", (err, files) => {
files.forEach((file) => {
let content = fs.readFileSync(file, "utf8");
// Replace old API with new API
content = content.replace(
/componentWillMount/g,
"UNSAFE_componentWillMount",
);
// Update imports
content = content.replace(
/import { Component } from 'react'/g,
"import React, { Component } from 'react'",
);
fs.writeFileSync(file, content);
});
});
```
## Testing Strategy
### Unit Tests
```javascript
// Ensure tests pass before and after upgrade
npm run test
// Update test utilities if needed
npm install @testing-library/react@latest
```
### Integration Tests
```javascript
// tests/integration/app.test.js
describe("App Integration", () => {
it("should render without crashing", () => {
render(<App />);
});
it("should handle navigation", () => {
const { getByText } = render(<App />);
fireEvent.click(getByText("Navigate"));
expect(screen.getByText("New Page")).toBeInTheDocument();
});
});
```
### Visual Regression Tests
```javascript
// visual-regression.test.js
describe("Visual Regression", () => {
it("should match snapshot", () => {
const { container } = render(<App />);
expect(container.firstChild).toMatchSnapshot();
});
});
```
### E2E Tests
```javascript
// cypress/e2e/app.cy.js
describe("E2E Tests", () => {
it("should complete user flow", () => {
cy.visit("/");
cy.get('[data-testid="login"]').click();
cy.get('input[name="email"]').type("user@example.com");
cy.get('button[type="submit"]').click();
cy.url().should("include", "/dashboard");
});
});
```
## Automated Dependency Updates
### Renovate Configuration
```json
// renovate.json
{
"extends": ["config:base"],
"packageRules": [
{
"matchUpdateTypes": ["minor", "patch"],
"automerge": true
},
{
"matchUpdateTypes": ["major"],
"automerge": false,
"labels": ["major-update"]
}
],
"schedule": ["before 3am on Monday"],
"timezone": "America/New_York"
}
```
### Dependabot Configuration
```yaml
# .github/dependabot.yml
version: 2
updates:
- package-ecosystem: "npm"
directory: "/"
schedule:
interval: "weekly"
open-pull-requests-limit: 5
reviewers:
- "team-leads"
commit-message:
prefix: "chore"
include: "scope"
```
## Rollback Plan
```javascript
// rollback.sh
#!/bin/bash
# Save current state
git stash
git checkout -b upgrade-branch
# Attempt upgrade
npm install package@latest
# Run tests
if npm run test; then
echo "Upgrade successful"
git add package.json package-lock.json
git commit -m "chore: upgrade package"
else
echo "Upgrade failed, rolling back"
git checkout main
git branch -D upgrade-branch
npm install # Restore from package-lock.json
fi
```
## Common Upgrade Patterns
### Lock File Management
```bash
# npm
npm install --package-lock-only # Update lock file only
npm ci # Clean install from lock file
# yarn
yarn install --frozen-lockfile # CI mode
yarn upgrade-interactive # Interactive upgrades
```
### Peer Dependency Resolution
```bash
# npm 7+: strict peer dependencies
npm install --legacy-peer-deps # Ignore peer deps
# npm 8+: override peer dependencies
npm install --force
```
### Workspace Upgrades
```bash
# Update all workspace packages
npm install --workspaces
# Update specific workspace
npm install package@latest --workspace=packages/app
```Related Skills
More skills in Software Engineering
Accessibility Standards
Comprehensive web accessibility standards based on WCAG 2.2 AA, with 38+ anti-patterns, legal enforcement context (EAA, ADA Title II), WAI-ARIA patterns, and framework-specific fixes for modern web frameworks and libraries.
Accord
Authoring unified specification packages across Business/Development/Design teams via staged elaboration (L0 Vision → L1 Requirements → L2 Team Detail → L3 Acceptance Criteria). No code. Use when authoring cross-team specs, building L0-L3 packages, or aligning Biz/Dev/Design on a single source of truth.
Acquire Codebase Knowledge
Use this skill when the user explicitly asks to map, document, or onboard into an existing codebase. Trigger for prompts like "map this codebase", "document this architecture", "onboard me to this repo", or "create codebase docs". Do not trigger for routine feature implementation, bug fixes, or narrow code edits unless the user asks for repository-level discovery.
Acreadiness Assess
Run the AgentRC readiness assessment on the current repository and produce a static HTML dashboard at reports/index.html. Wraps `npx github:microsoft/agentrc readiness` and hands off rendering to the @ai-readiness-reporter custom agent. Supports policies (--policy) for org-specific scoring. Use when asked to assess, audit, or score the AI readiness of a repo.
Acreadiness Generate Instructions
Generate tailored AI agent instruction files via AgentRC instructions command. Produces .github/copilot-instructions.md (default, recommended for Copilot in VS Code) plus optional per-area .instructions.md files with applyTo globs for monorepos. Use after running /acreadiness-assess to close gaps in the AI Tooling pillar.
Acreadiness Policy
Help the user pick, write, or apply an AgentRC policy. Policies customise readiness scoring by disabling irrelevant checks, overriding impact/level, setting pass-rate thresholds, or chaining org baselines with team overrides. Use when the user asks about strict mode, AI-only scoring, custom weights, CI gating, or wants org-wide standardisation.
Explore Other Categories
Skills from other categories with shared topics
Team Composition Analysis
Design optimal team structures, hiring plans, compensation strategies, and equity allocation for early-stage startups from pre-seed through Series A. Use this skill when planning headcount, determining which roles to hire next, setting compensation or equity ranges, designing org structure, or building a hiring budget aligned to funding milestones.
Hads
Use when writing technical documentation that needs to be readable by both humans and AI models, converting existing docs to HADS format, validating a HADS document, or optimizing documentation for token-efficient AI consumption.
Secrets Management
Implement secure secrets management for CI/CD pipelines using Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, or native platform solutions. Use when handling sensitive credentials, rotating secrets, or securing CI/CD environments.