Maintaining Your Contensis React Starter Project

Regular maintenance of your Contensis React Starter project helps keep it secure, stable, and compatible with the latest development tools and dependencies.

This guide covers best practices for maintaining your project's Node.js version and npm dependencies, helping you manage updates with minimal disruption to development.

Node.js provides the runtime environment for your Contensis React Starter project. Keeping it up to date ensures continued access to security updates, performance improvements, and compatibility with supported dependencies.

We recommend using an actively supported Long-Term Support (LTS) version of Node.js and reviewing your project's version regularly.

You can check the official Node.js release schedule to identify supported versions and upcoming end-of-life dates.

Contensis React Starter includes an .nvmrc file in the project root to specify the Node.js version used by the project.

This file works with Node Version Manager (NVM), allowing developers to switch to the correct Node.js version using:

For teams actively developing a project, maintaining the .nvmrc file and consistently using NVM helps prevent differences between local development environments.

NVM can also be configured to automatically switch Node.js versions when navigating between projects.

We recommend performing Node.js upgrades in a dedicated feature branch to avoid disrupting ongoing development.

An upgrade may require changes to Docker configurations, build targets, and other project settings.

For detailed instructions, see our Node.js Upgrade Guide, which covers the configuration changes and validation steps required when upgrading a Contensis React Starter project.

Contensis React Starter uses npm to manage the packages and dependencies required to build and run your project.

Keeping these dependencies up to date helps maintain security, improve performance, and ensure compatibility with newer versions of Node.js and other development tools.

We recommend reviewing dependencies regularly and applying updates incrementally rather than allowing a large number of outdated packages to accumulate.

As with Node.js upgrades, dependency updates should be carried out in a dedicated feature branch to minimise disruption to ongoing development.

npm provides built-in tools to help identify and manage outdated packages.

To check which dependencies have newer versions available, run:

This generates a table showing the installed and available versions of each outdated dependency.

The key columns include:

Reviewing this information helps identify packages that can be updated safely within their existing version constraints.

To update dependencies within the version ranges defined in your package.json file, run:

The default dependencies in Contensis React Starter use semantic versioning (semver) constraints, which generally allow compatible MINOR and PATCH updates.

These updates typically include:

• PATCH updates: Bug fixes and security improvements that should not introduce breaking changes.
• MINOR updates: New functionality and improvements that should remain backward-compatible.
• MAJOR updates: Changes that may introduce breaking changes and require additional development or configuration updates.

While MINOR and PATCH releases are generally intended to be backward-compatible, we recommend testing all dependency updates before deploying them.

Major dependency updates may introduce breaking changes that affect your project's functionality, build process, or configuration.

Before upgrading to a new major version, we recommend reviewing the package's release notes, migration guides, and compatibility requirements.

Where possible, upgrade major dependencies individually to make it easier to identify and resolve any issues.

For more information about npm dependency management, refer to the official documentation for npm outdated and npm update.

After updating dependencies, it's important to verify that your project continues to build and function as expected.

We recommend completing the following checks:

1. Install dependencies: Run npm install to ensure the project's dependencies and lockfile are up to date.
2. Run the build: Execute npm run build to check for compilation errors or compatibility issues.
3. Run automated tests: Execute any available tests to identify potential regressions.
4. Test locally: Review key pages and functionality to confirm the application behaves as expected.
5. Validate CI/CD: Push your feature branch and ensure the project's GitLab pipeline completes successfully.

If Docker is installed locally, you can also build and run your project in a container to validate changes before pushing them to GitLab.

Contensis React Starter includes utility scripts to simplify this process.

Build the Docker image:

Run the container:

Once running, visit http://localhost:3001 to preview your project.

If the build fails, review the error output to identify any dependency or configuration issues.

If Docker isn't available locally, you can use your project's GitLab CI pipeline to validate the build.

To keep your Contensis React Starter project healthy over time, we recommend:

• Review dependencies regularly: Check for available updates and apply compatible changes incrementally.
• Monitor Node.js support: Ensure your project uses a maintained LTS version and plan upgrades before end-of-life dates.
• Use feature branches: Isolate maintenance work to avoid disrupting ongoing development.
• Review release notes: Check for breaking changes and additional requirements before applying major updates.
• Test before deployment: Validate builds, automated tests, and key application functionality following updates.
• Keep environments consistent: Maintain your .nvmrc file and commit changes to package-lock.json alongside dependency updates.

Regular maintenance helps ensure your Contensis React Starter project remains secure, reliable, and compatible with its dependencies.

By keeping Node.js supported, applying dependency updates regularly, and testing changes before deployment, you can reduce the risk of compatibility issues and make future upgrades easier to manage.

For guidance on updating your project's Node.js runtime and build configurations, refer to the Node.js Upgrade Guide.