^ vs ~

If you’ve ever looked at a package.json and wondered:

"lodash": "^4.17.21"

…or maybe:

"express": "~4.18.2"

And thought what’s with the hat and the squiggly line?, you’re not alone. Let’s decode what these characters do, and when to use them.

🔍 TL;DR: What do ^ and ~ mean in package.json?

Symbol Allows Updates To Example Can Upgrade To
^ Minor & Patch ^1.2.3 1.3.0, 1.2.4
~ Patch only ~1.2.3 1.2.4, not 1.3
none Exact version 1.2.3 Only 1.2.3

^ (Caret)

The caret means:

«Install this version or anything newer that doesn’t break major version compatibility.»

This follows Semantic Versioning (SemVer), where a major.minor.patch version tells you the scope of the changes.

Example: 

"axios": "^1.3.2"

Can update to:

  • ✅ 1.3.3
  • ✅ 1.9.9
  • ❌2.0.0 (major version change)

📌 It’s the default versioning npm uses when you run npm install [email protected].

~ (Tilde)

The tilde means:

«Install this version or any newer patch within the same minor version.»

Example: 

"axios": "~1.3.2"

Can update to:

  • ✅ 1.3.3
  • ✅ 1.3.9
  • ❌ 1.4.0

This is much more conservative — perfect for when you don’t want unexpected changes sneaking into your builds.

🔥 Why This Matters: The Hidden Danger

Imagine this:

  1. You deploy your app today with ^1.3.2.
  2. A week later, 1.4.0 is released with a subtle change that breaks your edge case.
  3. You run npm install, and suddenly your app is acting weird.

Surprise! 🎉

Unless you locked dependencies or used ~, you’re getting updates whether you asked for them or not.

🧠 Pros and Cons

Symbol Pros Cons
^ Keeps you up-to-date easily Risk of breakage in minor updates
~ Safer and more predictable builds Can miss out on minor improvements
none Total control (exact version) No updates unless manual

🛠 When to Use What?

Use ^ when:

  • You’re building a library or want the latest stable versions
  • You’re okay with minor version bumps and trust the maintainers

Use ~ when:

  • Stability is critical (e.g. production apps)
  • You want tight control over updates
  • You’ve been burned before

Use no symbol when:

  • You want full determinism
  • You’re building dockerized / reproducible builds

📦 Bonus: How to Check What’s Actually Installed

To see what version was installed:

npm list

An alternative to this is just checking your yarn.lock or package-lock.json

To find out what’s outdated:

npm outdated

🧵 Conclusion

Choosing between ^ and ~ might seem like a small detail, but it can mean the difference between a calm deploy and hours of debugging.

Use ^ if you like to live a little.

Use ~ if you like sleeping at night.

Use no symbol if you’re preparing for war ⚔.

🔗 Related Resources

La entrada Difference between the ^ and ~ in package.json se publicó primero en Position Sticky.