sindresorhus/log-update log-update

Version: 7.1.0 (1 week ago) Deps: ansi-escapes@^7.1.0, cli-cursor@^5.0.0, slice-ansi@^7.1.2, strip-ansi@^7.1.2, wrap-ansi@^9.0.2 Tags: latest: 7.1.0 (1 week ago)

References: package.json • GitHub Issues • Releases

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npx -y skilld search "query" -p log-update
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API Changes

✨ .persist(...text) — new in v7.0, writes text that stays in scrollback (like console.log) without clearing the update area source

✨ defaultWidth / defaultHeight options — new in v7.0 for createLogUpdate(), controls fallback dimensions when stream lacks columns/rows (default: 80×24) source

✨ Partial diff rendering — v7.0 only redraws changed lines instead of erasing all, reduces flicker source

✨ Synchronized output (?2026h/?2026l) — v7.1 wraps writes in DEC synchronized output sequences on TTYs, eliminates tearing source

⚠️ Node.js 20+ required — v7.0 dropped Node 18 support source

⚠️ logUpdate.create() removed in v5 — use named export createLogUpdate instead source

⚠️ logUpdate.stderr removed in v5 — use named export logUpdateStderr instead source

⚠️ Pure ESM since v5 — no require(), use import logUpdate from 'log-update' source

Best Practices

✅ Use .persist() for permanent output between updating sections — it writes to scrollback history then resets the update region, unlike .done() which just freezes the current frame source

logUpdate('Downloading...')
logUpdate.persist('✓ Download complete')  // stays in scrollback
logUpdate('Installing...')                 // new update region starts

✅ Call .done() when finished to restore the cursor — the default export hides the cursor on first call and only restores it on .done() source

✅ Set showCursor: true via createLogUpdate when your CLI also accepts user input — the default singleton hides the cursor which breaks interactive prompts source

const log = createLogUpdate(process.stdout, { showCursor: true })

✅ Set defaultWidth/defaultHeight when output may be piped or redirected — stream.columns/stream.rows are undefined in non-TTY contexts, defaults are 80×24 source

✅ Output is automatically clipped to terminal height (bottom lines kept, top removed) — cannot be disabled, design your output with the most important info at the bottom source

✅ Content exceeding terminal width is hard-wrapped per-character (not word-wrapped) — ANSI-colored strings are handled correctly but long unbroken lines will split mid-word source

✅ Multiple string arguments are joined with spaces, not newlines — logUpdate('a', 'b') produces "a b", use template literals or \n for multiline source

✅ Use createLogUpdate for multiple independent update regions — the default export is a singleton; two modules sharing it will clobber each other's output. Each createLogUpdate call tracks its own state source

✅ v7.1.0 uses synchronized output (\x1b[?2026h/l) on TTYs to eliminate flicker — no action needed, but be aware this wraps every write in DEC private mode sequences that some non-standard terminals may not support source

✅ Identical consecutive frames are skipped (no-op) — safe to call logUpdate() at high frequency without performance concern, the library diffs and only writes changed lines source