CLI tool that reads requirements.txt/pyproject.toml/package.json and reports how far behind each dependency is from latest, grouped by severity (patch/minor/major). JSON or terminal table output.

Quick Start • Features • Examples • Contributing

What is this?

DepDrift is a command‑line utility that scans Python and Node dependency files to determine how outdated each package is, categorizing the gap into patch, minor, or major version differences. It helps solo developers quickly assess dependency staleness without needing external services.
Example:

$ depdrift check --format table requirements.txt
+----------+------------+-----------+----------+
| Package  | Current    | Latest    | Severity |
|----------|------------|-----------|----------|
| requests | 2.25.1     | 2.31.0    | minor    |
| django   | 4.0.0      | 4.2.0     | minor    |
| numpy    | 1.22.0     | 2.0.0     | major    |
+----------+------------+-----------+----------+

Problem

Dependency staleness accumulates silently in projects, especially those maintained by solo developers. Existing tools such as Dependabot and Renovate require hosted infrastructure; there is no simple CLI that provides a local staleness report.

Features

Feature	Description
Multi‑format parsing	Reads requirements.txt, pyproject.toml, and package.json
Live version lookup	Queries PyPI and npm registries forlatest versions
Semantic severity grouping	Classifies drift as patch, minor, or major
Flexible output	Human‑readable table or machine‑friendly JSON
Auto‑detect	Finds a dependency file in the current directory if none is given
Graceful unknown‑package handling	Skips packages not present in registries
CI‑friendly JSON mode	Can be forced via DEPDRIFT_OUTPUT=json
Scriptable exit code	Returns non‑zero when any outdated dependency is found

Quick Start

1. Clone the repository:
   git clone https://github.com/<your-user>/DepDrift.git
2. Install the package in editable mode:
   cd DepDrift && pip install -e .
3. Run a basic check:
   depdrift check

Examples

Example 1 – Table output for a Python project
Command:
depdrift check --format table requirements.txt
Output:

+----------+------------+-----------+----------+
| Package  | Current    | Latest    | Severity |
|----------|------------|-----------|----------|
| requests | 2.25.1     | 2.31.0    | minor    |
| django   | 4.0.0      | 4.2.0     | minor    |
| numpy    | 1.22.0     | 2.0.0     | major    |
+----------+------------+-----------+----------+

Example 2 – JSON output for a Node project
Command:
depdrift check --format json package.json
Output:

{
  "lodash": {"current": "4.17.15", "latest": "4.17.21", "severity": "patch"},
  "express": {"current": "4.17.1", "latest": "5.0.0", "severity": "major"},
  "react": {"current": "17.0.2", "latest": "18.2.0", "severity": "major"}
}

Example 3 – Auto‑detect and suppress unknown packages
Command:
depdrift check
Output (when a pyproject.toml is present):

+----------------+------------+-----------+----------+
| Package        | Current    | Latest    | Severity |
|----------------|------------|-----------|----------|
| fastapi        | 0.68.0     | 0.103.0   | minor    |
| pydantic       | 1.8.2      | 2.5.0     | major    |
+----------------+------------+-----------+----------+

File Structure

DepDrift/
├── depdrift/          # Source code (CLI, parsers, version logic, output)
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── __main__.py    # Entry point
│   ├── main.py
│   ├── models.py
│   ├── output.py
│   ├── parsers.py
│   ├── utils.py
│   └── version.py
├── tests/             # Unit tests
│   ├── test_output.py
│   ├── test_parsers.py
│   └── test_version.py
├── assets/            # Infographic used in README
│   └── infographic.png
├── screenshots/       # Verification screenshots (not required for users)
├── .gitignore
├── init.sh            # Setup script
└── README.md

Tech Stack

Technology	Purpose
Python 3.9+	Core language
requests	HTTP client for PyPI and npm registries
packaging	Version parsing and comparison
toml	Parsing pyproject.toml files
json (std‑lib)	JSON output generation

Contributing

1. Fork the repository.
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/foo).
3. Make changes, add tests, and ensure the test suite passes.
4. Submit a pull request for review.

License

MIT

Author

Matthew Snow -- M2AI | @m2ai-portfolio