dart pub outdated
Outdated is one of the commands of the pub tool.
$ dart pub outdated [options]
Use dart pub outdated to identify out-of-date package dependencies
and get advice on how to update them.
Best practices for dependency management
include using the most recent stable package versions,
so you can get the latest bug fixes and improvements.
Overview
#
Here's how you can use dart pub outdated to help you
update the dependencies of a package that you own
(whether it's an app or regular package):
-
If your package doesn't have a
pubspec.lockfile checked into source control, rundart pub getin the top directory of the package—the directory that contains your package'spubspec.yamlfile. -
Run
dart pub outdatedto identify which package dependencies are out-of-date. Note the affected packages, so that later you can test the behavior of code that uses them. -
Follow the recommendations of
dart pub outdatedfor updating the packages. Some updates might require only runningdart pub upgrade. Others might require updatingpubspec.yamlbefore runningdart pub upgrade. -
Run
dart pub outdatedto confirm that you're using the latest compatible package versions. - Test your package to confirm that it still works as expected.
You might still have out-of-date dependencies due to
transitive dependencies.
If you want to determine the cause,
try running dart pub deps and searching the output for
the name of each out-of-date package.
Example
#
Here's an example of running dart pub outdated on
an example that has several out-of-date dependencies.
Three of the dependencies (args, http, and path) are direct,
and one is transitive (meta).
As the following example shows,
dart pub outdated colorizes the output by default
when you run it on the command line.
$ dart pub outdated Package Name Current Upgradable Resolvable Latest direct dependencies: args 1.4.4 1.6.0 1.6.0 1.6.0 http 0.11.3+17 0.11.3+17 0.12.1 0.12.1 path 1.6.2 1.6.2 1.6.2 1.7.0 dev_dependencies: all up-to-date transitive dependencies: meta 1.1.6 1.1.6 1.1.6 1.1.8 transitive dev_dependencies: all up-to-date 1 upgradable dependency is locked (in pubspec.lock) to an older version. To update it, use `dart pub upgrade`. 1 dependency is constrained to a version that is older than a resolvable version. To update it, edit pubspec.yaml.
The Resolvable column shows which versions you can upgrade to
for each out-of-date dependency.
You can get more information by looking for
the leftmost column with a non-red value.
For example, args is upgradable to 1.6.0,
and http is resolvable to 0.12.1.
The path and meta packages aren't the latest versions,
but are the most current resolvable versions,
considering all the other dependencies.
To fix the first dependency (args),
which is listed as upgradable,
you just need to run dart pub upgrade:
$ dart pub upgrade
Resolving dependencies...
> args 1.6.0 (was 1.4.4)
...
Changed 1 dependency!
To fix the second dependency (http),
which is listed as resolvable,
you can change the pubspec's http entry to use
the version in the Resolvable column
(or a compatible higher version).
In caret syntax, that's
^0.12.1.
Here's the diff for pubspec.yaml:
- http: ^0.11.0
+ http: ^0.12.1
After editing pubspec.yaml, you run dart pub upgrade to
update the pubspec.lock file.
You can then run dart pub outdated to confirm that
you've made all necessary changes.
In this example, the path and meta packages are still out-of-date,
due to constraints determined by other dependencies:
$ dart pub upgrade
...
$ dart pub outdated
Package Name Current Upgradable Resolvable Latest
direct dependencies:
path 1.6.2 1.6.2 1.6.2 1.7.0
dev_dependencies: all up-to-date
transitive dependencies:
meta 1.1.6 1.1.6 1.1.6 1.1.8
transitive dev_dependencies: all up-to-date
Dependencies are all on the latest resolvable versions.
Newer versions, while available, are not mutually compatible.
To see why these packages are out-of-date, you can run dart pub deps
and look for dependencies on these packages:
$ dart pub deps -s list
...
dependencies:
...
- terminal_tools 0.1.0
- path 1.6.2
- meta 1.1.6
...
As the preceding output shows,
this package depends on the terminal_tools package,
which depends on old versions of path and meta.
Once the terminal_tools package is updated,
it should be possible to update this package.
Output columns
#
The output of dart pub outdated has four columns of version information
for each out-of-date dependency.
Here is the part of the example output
that shows the four version columns:
Current, Upgradable, Resolvable, and Latest.
Package Name Current Upgradable Resolvable Latest direct dependencies: args 1.4.4 1.6.0 1.6.0 1.6.0 http 0.11.3+17 0.11.3+17 0.12.1 0.12.1 path 1.6.2 1.6.2 1.6.2 1.7.0 dev_dependencies: all up-to-date transitive dependencies: meta 1.1.6 1.1.6 1.1.6 1.1.8
- Current
-
The version used in your package, as recorded in
pubspec.lock. If the package isn't inpubspec.lock, the value is-. - Upgradable
-
The latest version allowed by your
pubspec.yamlfile. This is the version thatdart pub upgraderesolves to. The value is-if the value in the Current column is-. - Resolvable
-
The latest version that can be resolved, when combined with all other dependencies. This version corresponds to what
dart pub upgradegives you if all version constraints inpubspec.yamlare unbounded. A value of-means that the package won't be needed. - Latest
-
The latest version of the package available, excluding prereleases unless you use the option
--prereleases.
For example, say your app depends on the foo and bar packages,
but the latest version of bar allows only older major versions of foo.
The result is that the latest resolvable version of foo
is different from the latest version of foo.
When you edit the pubspec.yaml file,
you generally update the dependencies and dev_dependencies
sections
so that each package uses the versions in the Resolvable column.
Options
#For options that apply to all pub commands, see Global options.
--[no-]dependency-overrides
#
By default, accounts for dependency_overrides
when resolving package constraints (--dependency-overrides).
To not consider overrides, use --no-dependency-overrides.
--[no-]dev-dependencies
#
By default, accounts for dev dependencies
when resolving package constraints (--dev-dependencies).
To not consider dev dependencies, use --no-dev-dependencies.
--json
#
Generates output in JSON format.
--[no-]prereleases
#
By default, includes prereleases
when determining the last package versions (--prereleases).
To not consider preleases, use --no-prereleases.
--[no-]transitive
#
By default, doesn't include transitive dependencies
as part of the output (--no-transitive).
To include transitive dependencies, use --transitive.
--[no-]up-to-date
#
By default, doesn't include dependencies that
are at the latest version (--no-up-to-date).
To include up-to-date dependencies, use --up-to-date.
In a workspace
#
In a Pub workspace dart pub outdated lists
all dependencies
Unless stated otherwise, the documentation on this site reflects Dart 3.9.2. Page last updated on 2025-9-4. View source or report an issue.