Developer Reference

Semantic Versioning

MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH - Rules for versioning software dependencies.

Semantic Versioning (SemVer) is a universal versioning scheme for software. It uses a three-part number format: MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH to convey meaning about the underlying changes.

Format

Standard version format (e.g., 1.0.0)
MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH

Rules

Incompatible API changes (Breaking)
MAJOR
Backwards-compatible functionality (Features)
MINOR
Backwards-compatible bug fixes
PATCH

NPM ranges

Carret: Compatible with 1.2.3 (Allow Minor/Patch updates)
^1.2.3
Tilde: Compatible with 1.2.3 (Allow Patch updates only)
~1.2.3

Tags

Pre-release, unstable
alpha
Feature complete, testing phase
beta

Understanding SemVer ranges (like ^1.2.3 vs ~1.2.3) is critical for managing npm dependencies and avoiding 'it works on my machine' errors.