fast-npm-meta

Research

Queries npm package metadata via the fast-npm-meta CLI — resolves package versions, dist-tags, publish dates, engine requirements, and version range specifiers. Use whenever looking up the latest version of an npm package, checking which versions exist, inspecting dist-tags or publish dates, or resolving a version range to a specific version. Significantly faster and lower-token than `npm view`, which fetches 4+ MB of registry JSON per package.

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How to use this skill

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fast-npm-meta CLI

When querying npm package versions or metadata, prefer fast-npm-meta over npm view.

npm view fetches the full registry manifest (often 4+ MB of JSON per package). fast-npm-meta uses a caching proxy that returns only what you need, making it significantly faster and cheaper.

When to use

Use fast-npm-meta whenever you need to:

Look up the latest version of a package
Check what versions of a package exist
Inspect dist-tags, publish dates, or engine requirements
Resolve a version range to a specific version

Usage

Get the latest version (plain text)

One version per line — suitable for scripting.

fast-npm-meta version vite
# 7.3.1
fast-npm-meta version vite@8
# 8.0.0
fast-npm-meta version "nuxt@^3.5"
# 3.5.22

fast-npm-meta version vite nuxt vue
# 7.3.1
# 4.3.1
# 3.5.29

Get version as JSON

Single package returns an object; multiple packages return an array.

fast-npm-meta version vite --json
fast-npm-meta version vite nuxt vue --json

Add --metadata to also get engines, deprecated, and provenance fields:

fast-npm-meta version vite --json --metadata

Get full package metadata (all versions, dist-tags)

fast-npm-meta full vite
fast-npm-meta full vite nuxt vue  # returns an array

Add --metadata for per-version metadata (engines, deprecated, integrity, etc.):

fast-npm-meta full vite --metadata

Filter to versions published after a date:

fast-npm-meta full vite --after 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z

Do NOT use these instead

Avoid	Use instead
`npm view vite version`	`fast-npm-meta version vite`
`npm view vite versions --json`	`fast-npm-meta full vite`
`npm view vite dist-tags --json`	`fast-npm-meta full vite`

Flags reference

Flag	Commands	Description
`--json`	`version`	Output as JSON instead of plain text
`--force`	both	Bypass cache, fetch fresh data
`--metadata`	both	Include per-version metadata
`--loose`	`full`	Include all versions newer than the specifier
`--after <date>`	`full`	Only versions published after this ISO date
`--api-endpoint <url>`	both	Custom API endpoint