node-portfinder is a Node.js tool that finds an open network port or a domain socket on the current machine. It’s useful for dynamically selecting a free port when starting local development servers or other processes, with configurable starting and maximum port ranges.
Project status
- The repository appears quiet rather than actively maintained, with the last observed upstream push on 2025-11-21, and the most recent tagged update on 2025-09-12 (relative to 2026-08-12).
- Update cadence is sporadic, with notable changes around 2025-04-14 and 2025-04-28, followed by a smaller metadata-only update in September 2025, and no observed updates after late 2025.
AI summary generated
Recent updates
v1.0.38
v1.0.38 updates package metadata for the portfinder project. The release notes state this is a fix to the author field format in package.json.
v1.0.37
v1.0.37 changes how portfinder surfaces invalid option values. Instead of throwing synchronously inside getPort, it now returns the error through the provided callback (err-first).
Breakingv1.0.36
v1.0.36 updates portfinder to properly honor the `startPort` option when determining the initial search port. It also adds Promise-based usage for socket lookup, alongside dev dependency updates (jest). Code changes include new TypeScript declarations for `getSocket` Promise support and socket options.
Featuresv1.0.35
v1.0.35 primarily refactors portfinder to support promise-based usage for getPort and getPorts when no callback is provided, and removes the mkdirp dependency. It also updates the npm lockfile accordingly. Most behavioral changes are centered on promise handling and internal restructuring of the exported functions.
Featuresv1.0.34
v1.0.34 modernizes the project build and test setup (migrating tests from vows to jest) and bumps runtime dependencies (async and debug). The actual runtime code diff is small, but it removes the explicit runtime check for native Promise support in the Promise-based APIs.
Breakingv1.0.33
v1.0.33 adds promise support for fetching multiple ports and introduces a basePath mutator. It also fixes timing so callbacks only fire after the test server is fully closed, and corrects how custom hosts are added to the default host list.
Featuresv1.0.32
Release v1.0.32 does not include any published release notes. The code diff indicates a version bump plus a change to the CI TypeScript compilation command for lib/portfinder.d.ts.
v1.0.31
Release v1.0.31 includes a small type definition update for the portfinder API, plus a minor formatting adjustment in the internal port testing logic. The published release notes were not provided, so all behavioral and API impact must be inferred from the code diff.
v1.0.30
Release v1.0.30 updates TypeScript typings for portfinder and changes internal host handling logic in the runtime implementation. It also adjusts the CI workflow to add a dedicated type-check job. No release notes content was provided.
Breakingv1.0.29
Version v1.0.29 makes changes primarily around configurability of the port search range (basePort and highestPort), by adding explicit setter APIs and updating TypeScript typings and README usage examples. It also modernizes the project’s CI setup and updates dependency versions and the lockfile.
Features