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Update Ember CLI projects
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- 10/23/2026
gem-hunterLanguage: JavaScript
Update Ember CLI projects
Update Ember CLI projects
The 2 use cases are:
app, addon, and glimmer.
ember init command. That command tries to reset your project back to a brand new project. It removes all your changes and additions.Check out the wiki guide for more details.
You can run the CLI either as a global executable available to all projects or an Ember CLI command in a single project.
The CLI attempts to be a thin wrapper of boilerplate-update.
As a global executable:
pnpm add -g ember-cli-update
As an Ember CLI command:
ember install ember-cli-update
(You must commit the change to package.json before running the update command or else you get an error.)
Make sure your git working directory is clean before updating.
Inside your project directory, if you installed globally run
ember-cli-update
or if you installed as an Ember CLI command run
ember update
This will update your app or addon to the latest Ember CLI version. It does this by fetching the latest version and comparing it to your project's Ember CLI version. It then applies a diff of the changes from the latest version to your project. It will only modify the files if there are changes between your project's version and the latest version, and it will only change the section necessary, not the entire file.
This is different from the existing ember init command. That command tries to reset your project back to a brand new project. It removes all your changes and additions.
You will probably encounter merge conflicts, in which the default behavior is to let you resolve conflicts on your own. You can supply the --resolve-conflicts option to run your system's git merge tool if any conflicts are found.
This tool can also run codemods for you. The option --run-codemods will figure out what codemods apply to your current version of Ember.js, and download and run them for you.
(These examples assume you are using the global command.)
To update to the latest version of Ember CLI:
ember-cli-update
To update to a certain version of Ember CLI:
ember-cli-update --to 3.1.0
To run codemods:
(This should be run after running the normal update shown above, and after you've resolved any conflicts.)
ember-cli-update --run-codemods
ember-cli-update
Commands:
ember-cli-update bootstrap saves the detected blueprint state
ember-cli-update codemods Run codemods to help update your code
ember-cli-update compare Show the changes between different versions
without updating
ember-cli-update init initialize a blueprint
ember-cli-update install <addon> install an addon
ember-cli-update reset reset a blueprint
ember-cli-update save save old blueprint state
ember-cli-update stats list blueprint version updates
Options:
--help Show help [boolean]
--version Show version number [boolean]
-p, --package-name, --package Provide a package that can contain many
blueprints ("@glimmer/blueprint", "git+https://
git@github.com/tildeio/libkit.git",
"../blueprint") [string]
-b, --blueprint Provide a custom blueprint for use in the
update ("@glimmer/blueprint", "git+https://git@
github.com/tildeio/libkit.git", "../blueprint")
[string]
--from Use a starting version that is different than
what is in your package.json ("2.9.1") [string]
--to Update to a version that isn't latest
("2.14.1", "~2.15", "latest", "beta") [string]
--resolve-conflicts Automatically run git mergetool if conflicts
found [boolean] [default: false]
--run-codemods Run codemods to help update your code
[boolean] [default: false]
--codemods-source Supply your own codemods manifest via URL
("ember-app-codemods-manifest@*",
"git+https://github.com/ember-cli/ember-app-cod
emods-manifest.git#semver:*") [string]
--codemods-json Supply your own codemods manifest via JSON (`{
/* json */ }`) [string]
--reset Reset your code to the default blueprint at the
new version [boolean] [default: false]
--compare-only Show the changes between different versions
without updating [boolean] [default: false]
--stats-only Show all calculated values regarding your
project [boolean] [default: false]
--list-codemods List available codemods
[boolean] [default: false]
--output-repo An output repository of changes over time
[string]
ember-cli-update bootstrap
saves the detected blueprint state
Options:
--help Show help [boolean]
--version Show version number [boolean]
ember-cli-update codemods
Run codemods to help update your code
Options:
--help Show help [boolean]
--version Show version number [boolean]
-p, --packageName, --package Provide a package that can contain many
blueprints ("@glimmer/blueprint",
"git+https://git@github.com/tildeio/libkit.git",
"../blueprint") [string]
-b, --blueprint Provide a custom blueprint for use in the update
("@glimmer/blueprint",
"git+https://git@github.com/tildeio/libkit.git",
"../blueprint") [string]
--source-json Supply your own codemods manifest via JSON (`{
/* json */ }`) [string]
--list List available codemods
[boolean] [default: false]
ember-cli-update compare
Show the changes between different versions without updating
Options:
--help Show help [boolean]
--version Show version number [boolean]
-p, --packageName, --package Provide a package that can contain many
blueprints ("@glimmer/blueprint",
"git+https://git@github.com/tildeio/libkit.git",
"../blueprint") [string]
-b, --blueprint Provide a custom blueprint for use in the update
("@glimmer/blueprint",
"git+https://git@github.com/tildeio/libkit.git",
"../blueprint") [string]
--to Update to a version that isn't latest ("2.14.1",
"~2.15", "latest", "beta") [string]
ember-cli-update init
initialize a blueprint
Options:
--help Show help [boolean]
--version Show version number [boolean]
-b, --blueprint Provide a custom blueprint for use in the update
("@glimmer/blueprint",
"git+https://git@github.com/tildeio/libkit.git",
"../blueprint") [string]
--to Update to a version that isn't latest ("2.14.1",
"~2.15", "latest", "beta") [string]
--resolveConflicts Automatically run git mergetool if conflicts found
[boolean] [default: false]
--outputRepo An output repository of changes over time [string]
--codemodsSource Supply your own codemods manifest via URL
("ember-app-codemods-manifest@*",
"git+https://github.com/ember-cli/ember-app-codemods-m
anifest.git#semver:*") [string]
ember-cli-update install <addon>
install an addon
Options:
--help Show help [boolean]
--version Show version number [boolean]
-b, --blueprint Provide a custom blueprint for use in the update
("@glimmer/blueprint",
"git+https://git@github.com/tildeio/libkit.git",
"../blueprint") [string]
ember-cli-update reset
reset a blueprint
Options:
--help Show help [boolean]
--version Show version number [boolean]
-p, --packageName, --package Provide a package that can contain many
blueprints ("@glimmer/blueprint",
"git+https://git@github.com/tildeio/libkit.git",
"../blueprint") [string]
-b, --blueprint Provide a custom blueprint for use in the update
("@glimmer/blueprint",
"git+https://git@github.com/tildeio/libkit.git",
"../blueprint") [string]
--to Update to a version that isn't latest ("2.14.1",
"~2.15", "latest", "beta") [string]
ember-cli-update save
save old blueprint state
Options:
--help Show help [boolean]
--version Show version number [boolean]
-p, --packageName, --package Provide a package that can contain many
blueprints ("@glimmer/blueprint",
"git+https://git@github.com/tildeio/libkit.git",
"../blueprint") [string]
-b, --blueprint Provide a custom blueprint for use in the update
("@glimmer/blueprint",
"git+https://git@github.com/tildeio/libkit.git",
"../blueprint") [string]
--from Use a starting version that is different than
what is in your package.json ("2.9.1") [string]
--outputRepo An output repository of changes over time
[string]
--codemodsSource Supply your own codemods manifest via URL
("ember-app-codemods-manifest@*",
"git+https://github.com/ember-cli/ember-app-code
mods-manifest.git#semver:*") [string]
ember-cli-update stats
list blueprint version updates
Options:
--help Show help [boolean]
--version Show version number [boolean]
-p, --packageName, --package Provide a package that can contain many
blueprints ("@glimmer/blueprint",
"git+https://git@github.com/tildeio/libkit.git",
"../blueprint") [string]
-b, --blueprint Provide a custom blueprint for use in the update
("@glimmer/blueprint",
"git+https://git@github.com/tildeio/libkit.git",
"../blueprint") [string]
Let's update from Ember CLI 2.18.2 to Ember CLI 3.1.4
First, make sure you are on the latest ember-cli-update version for good measure.
pnpm add -g ember-cli-update
Then, run all compatible codemods against your current version. Since codemods are downloaded on the fly, they can be updated (and new ones added) without even getting a new version of ember-cli-update. Also, we may add additional codemods targeting your older version of Ember.js.
ember-cli-update --run-codemods
Assuming you are multiple versions behind of Ember CLI, you may want to update in stages. Unless you have a really simple app, updating in stages can help isolate upgrade issues.
ember-cli-update --to 3.0
Once you resolve conflicts and commit, You again want to run codemods. This is because new codemods targeting Ember.js 3.0 will now apply.
ember-cli-update --run-codemods
Now you are ready to update again. (If your final update is going to be the latest version of Ember CLI, you don't need the --to option.)
ember-cli-update --to 3.1
Again, after you resolve conflicts and commit, you want to run codemods because of new Ember.js 3.1 codemods.
ember-cli-update --run-codemods
And then you're done! You have a freshly updated app (or addon). As noted, you can consolidate these steps by doing a direct update, but then you may be confused if you encounter issues which version is to blame.
Need help using git mergetool? Here are some starting points:
If you made a mistake during the update/conflict resolution, run these commands to undo everything and get you back to before the update:
git reset --hard
git clean -f
If you notice ".orig" files lying around after a merge and don't want that behavior, run git config --global mergetool.keepBackup false.
To avoid being prompted "Hit return to start merge resolution tool (vimdiff):" for every conflict, set a merge tool like git config --global merge.tool "vimdiff".
If you run into an error like error: unrecognized input, you may need to update your git config color option like git config --global color.ui auto.
If you are getting an error or unexpected results, running the command with the debug flag:
DEBUG=ember-cli-update,boilerplate-update,git-diff-apply ember-cli-updateset DEBUG=ember-cli-update,boilerplate-update,git-diff-apply && ember-cli-updateDEBUG=ember-cli-update,boilerplate-update,git-diff-apply ember updateset DEBUG=ember-cli-update,boilerplate-update,git-diff-apply && ember updatewill give you more detailed logging.