[BUG] Inconsistent behavior when updating deps between specifying exact version and not

[matthew-plusprogramming]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

This issue exists in the latest npm version

• I am using the latest npm

Current Behavior

I am experiencing inconsistent behavior of updating packages to their latest version via npm install <example-package> and npm install -E <example-package>@version even though these two have the same final outcome.

When I try to install the exact latest version of several packages I'm working with I get the following error:

npm error code ERESOLVE
npm error ERESOLVE could not resolve
npm error
npm error While resolving: reproduce-peerdep-issue@1.0.0
npm error Found: @typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin@8.32.1
npm error node_modules/@typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin
npm error   peerOptional @typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin@"^8.0.0-0 || ^7.0.0 || ^6.0.0 || ^5.0.0" from eslint-plugin-unused-imports@4.1.4
npm error   node_modules/eslint-plugin-unused-imports
npm error     eslint-plugin-unused-imports@"^4.1.4" from the root project
npm error   @typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin@"8.32.1" from typescript-eslint@8.32.1
npm error   node_modules/typescript-eslint
npm error     typescript-eslint@"^8.32.1" from the root project
npm error   1 more (the root project)
npm error
npm error Could not resolve dependency:
npm error @typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin@"^8.32.1" from the root project
npm error
npm error Conflicting peer dependency: @typescript-eslint/parser@8.37.0
npm error node_modules/@typescript-eslint/parser
npm error   peer @typescript-eslint/parser@"^8.37.0" from @typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin@8.37.0
npm error   node_modules/@typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin
npm error     @typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin@"^8.32.1" from the root project
npm error
npm error Fix the upstream dependency conflict, or retry
npm error this command with --force or --legacy-peer-deps
npm error to accept an incorrect (and potentially broken) dependency resolution.
npm error
npm error
npm error For a full report see:
npm error /Users/matthewlin/.npm/_logs/2025-07-16T04_44_38_789Z-eresolve-report.txt
npm error A complete log of this run can be found in: /Users/matthewlin/.npm/_logs/2025-07-16T04_44_38_789Z-debug-0.log

Expected Behavior

I would expect the exact version install to not fail as the install without specifying installs the version I'm specifying anyways.

Steps To Reproduce

Pasted from: https://github.com/matthew-plusprogramming/reproduce-peerdep-issue

Steps to reproduce:

1. Run npm i
2. Run npm i -E @typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin@8.37.0 @typescript-eslint/parser@8.37.0 typescript-eslint@8.37.0

NOTE: This does not happen if instead of running with -E you simply run:

npm i @typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin @typescript-eslint/parser typescript-eslint

but, once you encounter the error caused by #2 above, running even the command without exact versions no longer works even though: package.json and package-lock.json are identical.

Environment

• npm: 11.4.2
• Node.js: 22.14.0
• OS Name: OSX Darwin
• System Model Name: Macbook Pro 2024
• npm config:

; node bin location = /Users/matthewlin/.nvm/versions/node/v22.14.0/bin/node
; node version = v22.14.0
; npm local prefix = /Users/matthewlin/test/reproduce-peerdep-issue
; npm version = 11.4.2
; cwd = /Users/matthewlin/test/reproduce-peerdep-issue
; HOME = /Users/matthewlin
; Run `npm config ls -l` to show all defaults.

[matthew-plusprogramming]

This is the same issue as outlined in: sweepline/eslint-plugin-unused-imports#108

[matthew-plusprogramming]

I have outlined a minimal reproducible example: https://github.com/matthew-plusprogramming/reproduce-peerdep-issue

[milaninfy]

@matthew-plusprogramming Followed steps specified... It's working without error
Am i missing something here ?

~/workarea/rep/test/reproduce-peerdep-issue $ git log --oneline
9adee43 (HEAD -> main, origin/main, origin/HEAD) feat: Minimal reproducable example
a1e6a19 Initial commit
~/workarea/rep/test/reproduce-peerdep-issue $ npm i

added 128 packages, and audited 129 packages in 2s

38 packages are looking for funding
  run `npm fund` for details

found 0 vulnerabilities
~/workarea/rep/test/reproduce-peerdep-issue $ npm i -E @typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin@8.37.0 @typescript-eslint/parser@8.37.0 typescript-eslint@8.37.0

up to date, audited 129 packages in 839ms

38 packages are looking for funding
  run `npm fund` for details

found 0 vulnerabilities

[matthew-plusprogramming]

Oh huh... let me try this again later. What version of everything are you running? (Like npm, node, etc). Also what OS?

[milaninfy]

~ $ npm -v
11.4.2
~ $ node -v
v24.4.0 

[matthew-plusprogramming]

Can't seem to reproduce either. This 100% was producing an issue both on my original repo and when I cloned it after creating a couple days ago. Weird.. I'll close this seems to be a non-issue