NPM Package Release Monitor

Store Positioning

Store title: NPM Package Release Monitor

Short description: Monitor NPM package releases, versions, metadata, dependency changes, and release cadence.

SEO title: NPM Package Release Monitor — official public data extraction and monitoring

SEO description: Monitor NPM package releases, versions, metadata, dependency changes, and release cadence. Use it to normalize official public data into clean Apify datasets with source-specific fields and report artifacts.

Categories: SEO_TOOLS, DEVELOPER_TOOLS, AUTOMATION

Keywords: npm, package, release, monitor, data qa, change monitor, official/public-data actor

Fixed-Inclusive PPE Pricing

This actor uses pay-per-event pricing. Event prices include Apify platform usage; users are not expected to pay a separate platform-usage pass-through charge for the configured pricing model.

• Tier: D1 — Official/public-data actor
• Primary event: record-checked at $0.00908 base
• Default max charge: $15.00
• Store discounts: FREE/BRONZE base, SILVER discounted, GOLD deepest approved discount

Event set:

• actor-start: base $0.02000, GOLD $0.01760. npm Package Release Monitor: charged when actor start is completed. The price includes Apify platform usage; no separate usage pass-through is intended.
• record-checked: base $0.00908, GOLD $0.00799. npm Package Release Monitor: charged when record checked is completed. The price includes Apify platform usage; no separate usage pass-through is intended.
• event-detected: base $0.01300, GOLD $0.01140. npm Package Release Monitor: charged when event detected is completed. The price includes Apify platform usage; no separate usage pass-through is intended.
• report-generated: base $0.05000, GOLD $0.04400. npm Package Release Monitor: charged when report generated is completed. The price includes Apify platform usage; no separate usage pass-through is intended.

Public Task Concepts

• Compare previous and current NPM Package Release snapshots
• Monitor NPM Package Release changes for a capped watchlist
• Build an NPM Package Release change digest from supplied evidence
• Prioritize high-impact NPM Package Release changes
• Export NPM Package Release change rows for client review

Monitor NPM package releases, versions, metadata, dependency changes, and release cadence.

What This Actor Does

NPM Package Release Monitor turns explicit watchlists or supplied records into structured Apify dataset rows and a concise report. The capped built-in records make the default run deterministic and avoid network, browser, proxy, LLM, or third-party API costs.

The actor checks each supplied record for source identity, matched watch terms, actor-specific metadata, issue signals, severity, recommendations, and pricing metadata. It writes one dataset row per processed record and, when enabled, key-value-store JSON and Markdown summaries for operational workflows.

What This Actor Does Not Do

• It does not provide legal, medical, financial, investment, safety, or compliance advice.
• It does not guarantee completeness of any public source or third-party dataset.
• It does not collect sensitive personal data by default.
• It does not rely on unsupported private APIs.

Best Use Cases

• package release watchlists
• dependency version monitoring
• metadata cadence reporting

Input Fields Explained

Field	Type	Default	Notes
records	array	two built-in records	Records or snapshots to check. Each item can include title, description, body, entity, category, keywords, and metadata.
urls	array	[]	Reserved for optional source URLs. Defaults do not fetch URLs.
fetchUrls	boolean	false	Enables HTTP fetching for records with sourceUrl and no body. Keep false when records already contain the text to analyze.
watchTerms	array	actor defaults	Terms used to mark relevant records and alerts.
includeReport	boolean	true	Writes JSON and Markdown report artifacts to the key-value store.
maxItems	integer	2	Caps processed records. Maximum is 50.
maxTextBytes	integer	500000	Caps analyzed text per record.
debug	boolean	false	Enables debug logging.

Example Input

{
  "records": [
    {
      "sourceId": "npm-crawlee-3-17",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.npmjs.com/package/crawlee/v/3.17.0",
      "title": "crawlee 3.17.0 released",
      "description": "New Crawlee package release with security fixes and minor crawler improvements.",
      "entityName": "crawlee",
      "category": "npm",
      "date": "2026-06-26",
      "keywords": [
        "security"
      ],
      "metadata": {
        "packageName": "crawlee",
        "version": "3.17.0",
        "previousVersion": "3.16.2",
        "publishedAt": "2026-06-26T13:00:00Z"
      }
    },
    {
      "sourceId": "npm-thin-release",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.npmjs.com/package/example/v/latest",
      "title": "example package update",
      "description": "Release notes mention breaking API behavior but omit version metadata.",
      "entityName": "example",
      "category": "npm",
      "date": "2026-06-25",
      "keywords": [
        "breaking"
      ],
      "metadata": {
        "packageName": "example",
        "publishedAt": "2026-06-25T10:00:00Z"
      }
    }
  ],
  "includeReport": true,
  "maxItems": 2
}

Output Fields Explained

Field	Meaning
auditId	Stable hash for the checked record.
sourceId, sourceUrl	Source identifiers for traceability.
status, severity, score	Normalized outcome and 0-100 quality/risk score.
matchedKeywords	Watch terms found in the record text or metadata.
issues, issueCodes	Actor-specific findings with severity and messages.
recommendations	Next actions for the operator or content/data owner.
metadata	Original metadata plus derived helper fields when applicable.
pricingTemplate, pricingEventName	Pricing source and primary PPE event used by the actor.

Example Output

{
  "auditId": "npmpack_17d01f6f40a9e585",
  "actorSlug": "npm-package-release-monitor",
  "actorName": "NPM Package Release Monitor",
  "sourceType": "fixture",
  "sourceId": "npm-crawlee-3-17",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.npmjs.com/package/crawlee/v/3.17.0",
  "title": "crawlee 3.17.0 released",
  "status": "pass",
  "severity": "none",
  "score": 100,
  "matchedKeywords": [
    "security"
  ],
  "primaryEntity": "crawlee",
  "category": "npm",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-26",
  "summary": "New Crawlee package release with security fixes and minor crawler improvements.",
  "issueCount": 0,
  "issues": [],
  "issueCodes": [],
  "recommendations": [
    "NPM Package Release Monitor did not find immediate risk signals for this record. Re-run after source data changes."
  ],
  "metadata": {
    "packageName": "crawlee",
    "version": "3.17.0",
    "previousVersion": "3.16.2",
    "publishedAt": "2026-06-26T13:00:00Z",
    "sourceSpecific": {
      "releaseRows": [
        {
          "packageName": "crawlee",
          "previousVersion": "3.16.2",
          "currentVersion": "3.17.0",
          "releasedAt": "2026-06-26T13:00:00Z",
          "semverChange": null,
          "yankedOrDeprecated": false
        }
      ]
    },
    "normalizedTextPreview": "npm-crawlee-3-17 https://www.npmjs.com/package/crawlee/v/3.17.0 crawlee 3.17.0 released New Crawlee package release with security fixes and minor crawler improvements.  crawlee npm security {\"packageName\":\"crawlee\",\"version\":\"3.17.0\",\"previ"
  },
  "textBytes": 298,
  "checkedAt": "2026-07-02T00:00:00.000Z",
  "pricingTemplate": "D1 — Official/public-data actor",
  "pricingEventName": "record-checked"
}

Cost-Control Tips

• Keep maxItems small for default and scheduled checks.
• Use supplied records or snapshots for deterministic QA runs.
• Leave fetchUrls off unless live source fetching is explicitly needed.
• Review warning rows before increasing caps.
• Schedule small frequent runs instead of broad one-off sweeps.

Scheduling Examples

• Daily watchlist check with two to five high-value records.
• Weekly QA run before publishing a site, data, or actor update.
• Post-migration or post-release validation using a saved record set.

Public Task Examples

• tiny-default-check - Run a two-record npm package release monitor check with report artifacts enabled.
• watchlist-digest - Process a small supplied watchlist and summarize matched terms.
• risk-triage-report - Return only records with warning or fail status for operator follow-up.
• scheduled-monitor - Run NPM Package Release Monitor on a daily or weekly schedule with tight caps.
• schema-and-billing-preflight - Validate output shape and PPE event names before live setup.

FAQ

Can I schedule recurring checks?

Yes. Save a capped input and use Apify schedules to run it daily or weekly.

Can I use this with live URLs?

Yes. Set fetchUrls to true and provide urls or records with sourceUrl. Failed fetches produce explicit diagnostic rows.

Why does it charge before pushing output?

Pay-per-event actors must charge before paid output is written. If the charge limit is reached, processing stops before another paid row is emitted.

What happens on charge limits?

The actor stops gracefully and writes a summary instead of pushing unpaid result rows.

Is this legal, financial, safety, or compliance advice?

No. The actor produces operational signals and structured data for review. Human owners remain responsible for decisions.

Troubleshooting

• If the dataset is empty, check that maxItems is greater than zero and that records are supplied or defaults are enabled.
• If a record is flagged unexpectedly, inspect issueCodes, matchedKeywords, and the normalized metadata preview.
• If live fetching fails, rerun with supplied record bodies or snapshots and keep fetchUrls false.

Limitations

This actor only sees the records, snapshots, or URLs supplied to it. It does not guarantee complete public-source coverage, private-source access, or all edge-case parsing. Browser and proxy flows are not used by default.

Source And Safety Notes

The built-in records are labeled through sourceType: "fixture" and are intended to show the output contract. When connecting public sources, use official or permissioned endpoints where possible and avoid sensitive personal data. Do not use the output as a substitute for professional advice.

Changelog

• 2026-07-02: Initial actor package with schemas, capped defaults, pricing controls, and runtime validation.