deno upgrade basic usage
The deno upgrade command upgrades Deno to the latest available version. Run it without any options to upgrade to the latest stable release.
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cli commands/upgrade
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deno upgrade --version flag
Use the --version flag to specify a particular version to upgrade to. For example: deno upgrade --version 1.37.0
deno upgrade --dry-run flag
The --dry-run flag shows what version would be upgraded to without actually performing the upgrade. This allows checking available upgrades before installing.
deno upgrade channels: stable, lts, rc, canary
The deno upgrade command works with channels: use 'deno upgrade' or 'deno upgrade' for latest stable (the default), 'deno upgrade lts' for latest long term support release, 'deno upgrade rc' for latest release candidate, or 'deno upgrade canary' for latest canary build.
Version number resolves to stable channel
A bare version number like 'deno upgrade 2.9.3' always installs the stable build of that version, even when the same version number ships on another channel. This means upgrading to a specific version moves you off the LTS channel to stable.
deno upgrade lts installs latest LTS release
The 'deno upgrade lts' command always installs the latest LTS release. There is no version-number form to select a specific LTS build, because a version number always resolves to the stable channel.
deno upgrade --quiet flag
The --quiet flag suppresses diagnostic output during the upgrade process, hiding progress indicators, download information, and success messages. This is useful for scripting environments and CI pipelines.
Deno binary cache location
Downloaded Deno binaries are cached in $DENO_DIR/dl/. If reinstalling the same version later, the cached archive is reused instead of re-downloading. For canary builds, old entries are automatically removed, keeping only the 10 most recent versions.
deno upgrade --checksum flag
Use the --checksum flag to verify a downloaded binary against a known SHA-256 hash. This protects against tampering in CI environments and security-sensitive setups. Example: deno upgrade --checksum=<sha256-hash> 2.7.0
Delta updates in deno upgrade
Starting in Deno 2.8, deno upgrade downloads small binary patches (deltas) instead of the full release archive when upgrading between recent stable versions, typically reducing the download from tens of megabytes to a few megabytes. Deltas are applied automatically when available.
deno upgrade --no-delta flag
Pass the --no-delta flag to force a full download instead of delta patches. This is useful in environments that cache release archives.
deno upgrade --canary flag
Use the --canary flag to upgrade to the latest canary build instead of the default official GitHub releases.
deno upgrade pr subcommand
Starting in Deno 2.8, use 'deno upgrade pr <number>' to download the binary built by CI for a specific Deno PR and install it. The PR number can be prefixed with '#', for example 'deno upgrade pr 12345' or 'deno upgrade pr #12345'. This requires the gh CLI to be installed and authenticated.
deno upgrade pr --output flag
Use 'deno upgrade --output ./deno-test pr 12345' to write the downloaded PR binary to a path instead of replacing the current binary.
deno upgrade pr --dry-run flag
Use 'deno upgrade --dry-run pr 12345' to see what would be downloaded from a PR without replacing the current binary.
deno upgrade pr artifact selection
The 'deno upgrade pr' subcommand uses the gh CLI to look up the PR's CI run and download the matching {profile}-{os}-{arch}-deno artifact, preferring release builds and falling back to debug. The downloaded binary is verified to run before it replaces the current executable.
deno upgrade example: basic upgrade
Example output of basic upgrade: deno upgrade Checking for latest version Version has been found Deno is upgrading to version 1.38.5 downloading https://github.com/denoland/deno/releases/download/v1.38.5/deno-x86_64-apple-darwin.zip downloading 100% Upgrade done successfully
deno upgrade example: specific version
Example of upgrading to a specific version: deno upgrade --version 1.37.0 Checking for version 1.37.0 Version has been found Deno is upgrading to version 1.37.0 downloading https://github.com/denoland/deno/releases/download/v1.37.0/deno-x86_64-apple-darwin.zip downloading 100% Upgrade done successfully
deno upgrade example: dry-run
Example of checking upgrade without installing: deno upgrade --dry-run Checking for latest version Version has been found Would upgrade to version 1.38.5
deno upgrade example: quiet flag
Example of quiet upgrade: deno upgrade --quiet
deno upgrade example: checksum verification
Example of upgrading with checksum verification: deno upgrade --checksum=<sha256-hash> 2.7.0
deno upgrade example: no-delta flag
Example of forcing full download: deno upgrade --no-delta
deno upgrade example: canary flag
Example of upgrading to canary build: deno upgrade --canary
deno upgrade example: pr subcommand basic
Example of installing binary from PR #12345: deno upgrade pr 12345
deno upgrade example: pr with hash prefix
Example of installing binary from PR with hash prefix: deno upgrade pr '#12345'
deno upgrade example: pr with output flag
Example of installing PR binary to a specific path: deno upgrade --output ./deno-test pr 12345
deno upgrade example: pr dry-run
Example of checking PR download without replacing binary: deno upgrade --dry-run pr 12345