Sort Package.json

CLI

Run via npx (npm@5.2+ required)

npx sort-package-json

Install

npm install --global sort-package-json

Usage

$ cd my-project
$ cat package.json
{
  "dependencies": {
    "sort-package-json": "1.0.0",
    "sort-object-keys": "1.0.0"
  },
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "name": "my-awesome-project"
}

$ npx sort-package-json
package.json is sorted!

$ cat package.json
{
  "name": "my-awesome-project",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "dependencies": {
    "sort-object-keys": "1.0.0",
    "sort-package-json": "1.0.0"
  }
}

CLI also supports multi file paths or glob - so you can give it a bunch of package.json file(s) to sort.

$ sort-package-json "my-package/package.json" "other-package/package.json"

$ sort-package-json "package.json" "packages/*/package.json"

--check flag

When you want to check if your files are sorted, you can run CLI with the --check flag (or -c). This will output a list of not sorted files, if any.

$ sort-package-json "**/package.json" --check

# 5 matched files are sorted.


$ sort-package-json "**/package.json" --check
# foo/package.json
# bar/package.json

# 2 of 5 matched files are not sorted.

API

Install

npm install --save-dev sort-package-json

Usage

sortPackageJson(packageJson, options?)

Pass a JSON string, return a new sorted JSON string.
Pass a JSON object, return a new sorted JSON object.

const sortPackageJson = require('sort-package-json')

const packageJsonString = `{
  "dependencies": {
    "sort-package-json": "1.0.0",
    "sort-object-keys": "1.0.0"
  },
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "name": "my-awesome-project"
}`

console.log(sortPackageJson(packageJsonString))
/* => string:
{
  "name": "my-awesome-project",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "dependencies": {
    "sort-object-keys": "1.0.0",
    "sort-package-json": "1.0.0"
  }
}
*/

const packageJsonObject = JSON.parse(packageJsonString)
console.log(sortPackageJson(packageJsonObject))
/* => object:
{
  name: 'my-awesome-project',
  version: '1.0.0',
  dependencies: {
    'sort-object-keys': '1.0.0',
    'sort-package-json': '1.0.0'
  }
}
*/

options.sortOrder

Type: string[] | Function
Default: sortPackageJson.sortOrder

Custom ordering array or comparator function.

If an array, sort keys in ordering of options.sortOrder.

Notice: fields not in this array, will still sort by defaultSortOrder

const sorted = sortPackageJson(packageJsonObject, {
  sortOrder: ['version']
})

console.log(Object.keys(sorted))

// -> [ 'version', 'name', 'dependencies' ]
//                 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
//                 `name` and `dependencies` are sorted by defaultSortOrder

If a function, sort fields by Array#sort(options.sortOrder)

const sorted = sortPackageJson(packageJsonObject, {
  sortOrder(left, right) {
    return left.localeCompare(right)
  }
})

console.log(Object.keys(sorted))

// -> [ 'dependencies', 'name', 'version' ]

Related tools

• ESLint Rule with Autofix
• Prettier Plugin
• Visual Studio Code Extension

Supported Libraries

• AVA
• Babel
• Browserify
• commitlint
• ESLint
• Husky
• Istanbul
• Jest
• lint-staged
• Mocha
• node-pre-gyp
• npm-package-json-lint
• Prettier
• remark
• stylelint
• Tap
• xojs

Alphabetically ordered.

Automatically Sort

The package.json file can be sorted automatically before committing, install husky and lint-staged and add the following to your package.json file:

{
  "husky": {
    "hooks": {
      "pre-commit": "lint-staged"
    }
  },
  "lint-staged": {
    "package.json": [
      "sort-package-json",
      "git add"
    ]
  }
}

PFAQ: Potential Frequently Asked Questions

How does it sort?

It sorts using sort-object-keys. It sorts using the well-known keys of a package.json. For the full list it's just easier to read the code. It sorts sub-keys too - sometimes by a well-known order, other times alphabetically. The initial order was derived from the package.json docs with a few extras added for good measure.

It doesn't sort X?

Cool. Send a PR! It might get denied if it is a specific vendor key of an unpopular project (e.g. "my-super-unknown-project"). We sort keys like "browserify" because it is a project with millions of users. If your project has, say, over 100 users, then we'll add it. Sound fair?

Isn't this just like Project X?

Could be. I wanted this one because at the time of writing, nothing is:

• Zero config
• Able to be used in a library
• Quiet (i.e. not spitting out annoying log messages, when used in a library mode)

What?! Why would you want to do this?!

Well, it's nice to have the keys of a package.json in a well sorted order. Almost everyone would agree having "name" at the top of a package.json is sensible (rather than sorted alphabetically or somewhere silly like the bottom), so why not the rest of the package.json?