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# Why Vercel CLI adds itself to package.json during global version upgrades

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Jacob Ford (@unitof) · 2026-04-02

I have `vercel` installed as a global `npm` package.

Whenever I invoke a `vc` command in a repo and Vercel detects an upgrade is available, it alerts me and prompts to upgrade, which of course makes sense.

What I’m confused and frequently frustrated by, is that the upgrade then insists on adding `vercel` as a dependency to the local `package.json` I happen to be working in, whether or not it is currently there, as well as correspondingly modifying `package-lock.json`.

Is this by design? If so, why?

My understanding is that Vercel is intended to installed globally, and adding it as a local dependency just adds a bunch of installation complexity, and would require `npx` anyway. Even if you wanted to, I don’t understand it’s the default behavior.

If relevant, my `npm` (and `node`) are installed and managed by `Homebrew`.


Jacob Paris (@jacobparis) · 2026-04-03

How are you upgrading it? Are you letting the CLI do it itself? There was one other report in the past few days of vercel adding itself to the package.json but that was upon starting a dev server which shouldn't be related

Homebrew is a possible culprit, if npm checks its global package directory for vercel and doesn't find it, it might assume it's a local package that needs to be installed. If you're using a built in upgrade feature, can you try installing via `npm i -g vercel` instead and see if you get the same behavior?


Jacob Ford (@unitof) · 2026-04-06

It is installed globally via `npm i -g vercel`.

And yes, the upgrade process I’m using is its self-updater, by accepting `y` when `vercel` detects an upgrade available, when I invoke just about any `vc` command while within a project.

So even though my `vercel` is installed globally with NPM, it keeps adding itself locally within its own upgrade process.


Jacob Ford (@unitof) · 2026-04-07

I actually have an old PR which I think will address this, though I had it marked as draft until just now due to an (unrelated?) test failure. Trying again: https://github.com/vercel/vercel/pull/14487