# Inquirer.js: what changed from 7 to 8

- Product: Inquirer.js (https://whatsnew.fyi/product/inquirer)
- Vendor: Inquirer
- Range: changelog entries numbered after 7.10.1 up to and including 8.7.1, stable releases only
- Entries below: 18 releases (newest first)
- Resolved: 7 is 7.10.1 and 8 is 8.7.1, the newest stable release of each major we track
- Carrying security changes: 0 · CVEs mentioned: 0 · Mentioning breaking changes: 2 · Removing or deprecating something: 1
- Page: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/inquirer/compare/7...8

What's New is an index, not a publisher: every entry below links to the vendor's own release notes, which are the authoritative source. Entries are labelled where they are hand-curated sample data, pre-releases, or drawn from a secondary source such as a developer blog.

Reuse: the summaries, labels and curation here are © What's New. Quote freely with attribution and a link back; wholesale republication of the corpus is not permitted — terms: https://whatsnew.fyi/terms. The vendors' own release notes remain their publishers'.

## What changed (37 changes, grouped by kind)

### Added

#### 8.7.0 (2026-08-26)

- password prompt gains the toggleMask option to reveal typed value with ctrl+t

#### 8.6.0 (2026-08-19)

- Add initialValue option to @inquirer/search to pre-fill the search input

#### 8.5.0 (2026-05-25)

- Read env variable INQUIRER_KEYBINDINGS to enable vim or emacs keybindings as a user preference

#### 8.4.0 (2026-04-06)

- Add a loading message while validating editor prompt input

#### 8.3.0 (2026-02-22)

- Cursor will now hover disabled options of the list while still preventing interaction with them
- Various new theme options to make all prompts content localizable

#### 8.2.0 (2026-01-11)

- Add support for `default` in search prompts
- Add support for `description` of choices in rawlist prompts, displayed under the list when the choice is highlighted

#### 8.1.0 (2025-12-13)

- rawlist now supports default option

### Changed

#### 8.7.0 (2026-08-26)

- confirm prompt now matches localized yes/no answers per-locale
- Prettified prompt and theme types for better IDE display

#### 8.6.0 (2026-08-19)

- Update @inquirer/core to 12.0.0, which makes the useState setter accept a reducer/updater function

#### 8.5.1 (2026-05-29)

- Rolled back mute-stream dependency from v4 to v3 to restore compatibility with supported Node.js versions
- Updated explicit engines field to match the minimum Node.js version already enforced by the tooling

#### 8.5.0 (2026-05-25)

- Search feature in the select prompt is disabled when using vim or emacs keybindings

#### 8.4.0 (2026-04-06)

- Improve type inference with checkbox, search and expand prompts

#### 8.0.0 (2025-11-16)

- Minimum Node.js version is now 20.x (specifically >=23.5.0 || ^22.13.0 || ^21.7.0 || ^20.12.0)
- Replaced yoctocolors with Node.js built-in util.styleText() for terminal colors

### Fixed

#### 8.7.1 (2026-09-02)

- Pin @inquirer/type to exact version in published manifests to prevent downstream TypeScript build failures from semver range changes

#### 8.6.0 (2026-08-19)

- Fix floating-point step errors in @inquirer/number
- Allow @inquirer/number to accept explicit undefined as default
- Allow @inquirer/confirm to accept explicit undefined as default
- Allow @inquirer/editor to accept explicit undefined as default

#### 8.5.0 (2026-05-25)

- Line wraps no longer cause the cursor to be mispositioned relative to the input

#### 8.4.3 (2026-05-10)

- Windows rendering bug
- Preserve exact literal types in choices array (Typescript only)
- Allow input default value to be of type undefined (Typescript only)

#### 8.4.0 (2026-04-06)

- Fix editor prompt not always properly handling editor path on windows

#### 8.3.0 (2026-02-22)

- Keypresses happening before a prompt is rendered are now ignored
- Checkbox elements that are both checked and disabled are now always included in the returned array

#### 8.1.0 (2025-12-13)

- select now infers return type properly when passing a choices array of string literals

#### 8.0.2 (2025-12-02)

- Fix TypeScript not discovering types when moduleResolution is set to commonjs

### Removed

#### 8.0.0 (2025-11-16)

- CommonJS support; all packages are now ESM-only
- list prompt alias from inquirer package; use select instead
- helpMode theme property; use theme.style.keysHelpTip instead
- instructions config property; use theme.style.keysHelpTip instead
- cancel() method on prompt return promise; use AbortSignal instead

_6 releases carry no categorized changes yet: 8.5.2, 8.4.2, 8.4.1, 8.3.2, 8.3.1, 8.2.1._

## Release notes

### 8.7.1

- Date: 2026-09-02
- Version: 8.7.1
- Original notes: https://github.com/SBoudrias/Inquirer.js/releases/tag/%40inquirer/prompts%408.7.1
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/inquirer/releases/8.7.1

- **fixed** — Pin @inquirer/type to exact version in published manifests to prevent downstream TypeScript build failures from semver range changes

##### @inquirer/prompts@8.7.1

###### What's new

- All bundled prompts now pin `@inquirer/type` to an exact version in their published manifests. Since these type definitions leak into consumers' `tsc` runs, a semver range on the types-only dependency could break downstream TypeScript builds without any change to Inquirer.js itself ([#2247](https://github.com/SBoudrias/Inquirer.js/pull/2247), fixes [#2244](https://github.com/SBoudrias/Inquirer.js/issues/2244)).

###### Included

- `@inquirer/checkbox@^5.2.4`
- `@inquirer/confirm@^6.3.1`
- `@inquirer/editor@^5.3.2`
- `@inquirer/expand@^5.1.4`
- `@inquirer/input@^5.1.5`
- `@inquirer/number@^4.2.2`
- `@inquirer/password@^5.2.1`
- `@inquirer/rawlist@^5.3.4`
- `@inquirer/search@^4.3.2`
- `@inquirer/select@^5.2.4`

### 8.7.0

- Date: 2026-08-26
- Version: 8.7.0
- Original notes: https://github.com/SBoudrias/Inquirer.js/releases/tag/%40inquirer/prompts%408.7.0
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/inquirer/releases/8.7.0

- **added** — password prompt gains the toggleMask option to reveal typed value with ctrl+t
- **changed** — confirm prompt now matches localized yes/no answers per-locale
- **changed** — Prettified prompt and theme types for better IDE display

##### @inquirer/prompts@8.7.0

###### What's new

- `password` gains the `toggleMask` option (ctrl+t to reveal the typed value).
- `confirm` now matches localized yes/no answers per-locale.
- Prettified prompt and theme types for better IDE display.
- Added `inquirer-grouped-checkbox` to the community prompts list ([#2236](https://github.com/SBoudrias/Inquirer.js/pull/2236)).

###### Included

- `@inquirer/checkbox@^5.2.3`
- `@inquirer/confirm@^6.3.0`
- `@inquirer/editor@^5.3.1`
- `@inquirer/expand@^5.1.3`
- `@inquirer/input@^5.1.4`
- `@inquirer/number@^4.2.1`
- `@inquirer/password@^5.2.0`
- `@inquirer/rawlist@^5.3.3`
- `@inquirer/search@^4.3.1`
- `@inquirer/select@^5.2.3`

### 8.6.0

- Date: 2026-08-19
- Version: 8.6.0
- Original notes: https://github.com/SBoudrias/Inquirer.js/releases/tag/%40inquirer/prompts%408.6.0
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/inquirer/releases/8.6.0

- **added** — Add initialValue option to @inquirer/search to pre-fill the search input
- **changed** — Update @inquirer/core to 12.0.0, which makes the useState setter accept a reducer/updater function
- **fixed** — Fix floating-point step errors in @inquirer/number
- **fixed** — Allow @inquirer/number to accept explicit undefined as default
- **fixed** — Allow @inquirer/confirm to accept explicit undefined as default
- **fixed** — Allow @inquirer/editor to accept explicit undefined as default

##### @inquirer/prompts@8.6.0

The all-in-one prompts package, re-exporting every individual prompt at its latest version.

###### Highlights

This release rides on **`@inquirer/core@12.0.0`**, which makes the `useState` setter accept a reducer/updater function. It also brings a new `initialValue` option to search, plus fixes for `number`, `confirm`, and `editor`.

###### What's new

- **`@inquirer/search`** — new `initialValue?: string` option to pre-fill the search input ([#2205](https://github.com/SBoudrias/Inquirer.js/pull/2205))

###### What's fixed

- **`@inquirer/number`** — avoid floating-point step errors; accept explicit `undefined` as default ([#2166](https://github.com/SBoudrias/Inquirer.js/pull/2166), [#2182](https://github.com/SBoudrias/Inquirer.js/pull/2182))
- **`@inquirer/confirm`** — accept explicit `undefined` as default ([#2182](https://github.com/SBoudrias/Inquirer.js/pull/2182))
- **`@inquirer/editor`** — accept explicit `undefined` as default ([#2182](https://github.com/SBoudrias/Inquirer.js/pull/2182))

###### Included prompts

- `@inquirer/checkbox@5.2.2`
- `@inquirer/confirm@6.2.0`
- `@inquirer/editor@5.3.0`
- `@inquirer/expand@5.1.2`
- `@inquirer/input@5.1.3`
- `@inquirer/number@4.2.0`
- `@inquirer/password@5.1.2`
- `@inquirer/rawlist@5.3.2`
- `@inquirer/search@4.3.0`
- `@inquirer/select@5.2.2`

> **Note:** This release depends on `@inquirer/core@^12.0.0`, which contains a breaking change to the `useState` setter type (it now accepts a reducer function). See the `@inquirer/core@12.0.0` release notes for details.

### 8.5.2

- Date: 2026-05-31
- Version: 8.5.2
- Original notes: https://github.com/SBoudrias/Inquirer.js/releases/tag/%40inquirer/prompts%408.5.2
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/inquirer/releases/8.5.2

- Fix security warnings in external-editor

### 8.5.1

- Date: 2026-05-29
- Version: 8.5.1
- Original notes: https://github.com/SBoudrias/Inquirer.js/releases/tag/%40inquirer/prompts%408.5.1
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/inquirer/releases/8.5.1

- **changed** — Rolled back mute-stream dependency from v4 to v3 to restore compatibility with supported Node.js versions
- **changed** — Updated explicit engines field to match the minimum Node.js version already enforced by the tooling

- Rolled back `mute-stream` dependency from v4 to v3 to undo breaking compatible `engines`.
- Added tooling to prevent regression of the above in the future. This surfaced our min engines already enforced a higher limit, so adjusted the explicit limits to match the current state.

### 8.5.0

- Date: 2026-05-25
- Version: 8.5.0
- Original notes: https://github.com/SBoudrias/Inquirer.js/releases/tag/%40inquirer/prompts%408.5.0
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/inquirer/releases/8.5.0

- **added** — Read env variable INQUIRER_KEYBINDINGS to enable vim or emacs keybindings as a user preference
- **changed** — Search feature in the select prompt is disabled when using vim or emacs keybindings
- **fixed** — Line wraps no longer cause the cursor to be mispositioned relative to the input

- Feat: Read env variable `INQUIRER_KEYBINDINGS` to enable `vim` or `emacs` keybindings; making this a user preference instead of a library author preference. One caveat is doing so disable the search feature in the select prompt. Syntax: `INQUIRER_KEYBINDINGS=vim,emacs`.
- Fix: Line wraps would sometime cause the cursor to be mispositioned relative to the input.
- Chore: Bump dependencies.

### 8.4.3

- Date: 2026-05-10
- Version: 8.4.3
- Original notes: https://github.com/SBoudrias/Inquirer.js/releases/tag/%40inquirer/prompts%408.4.3
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/inquirer/releases/8.4.3

- **fixed** — Windows rendering bug
- **fixed** — Preserve exact literal types in choices array (Typescript only)
- **fixed** — Allow input default value to be of type undefined (Typescript only)

* Fix: Windows rendering bug
* Fix: Preserve exact literal types in `choices` array (Typescript only)
* Fix: Allow input `default` value to be of type `undefined` (Typescript only)
* Bump dependencies

### 8.4.2

- Date: 2026-04-19
- Version: 8.4.2
- Original notes: https://github.com/SBoudrias/Inquirer.js/releases/tag/%40inquirer/prompts%408.4.2
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/inquirer/releases/8.4.2

- Fix: some Windows terminals would freeze and not react to keypresses.

### 8.4.1

- Date: 2026-04-07
- Version: 8.4.1
- Original notes: https://github.com/SBoudrias/Inquirer.js/releases/tag/%40inquirer/prompts%408.4.1
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/inquirer/releases/8.4.1

* Improve `expand` prompt type inferrence.

### 8.4.0

- Date: 2026-04-06
- Version: 8.4.0
- Original notes: https://github.com/SBoudrias/Inquirer.js/releases/tag/%40inquirer/prompts%408.4.0
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/inquirer/releases/8.4.0

- **added** — Add a loading message while validating editor prompt input
- **changed** — Improve type inference with checkbox, search and expand prompts
- **fixed** — Fix editor prompt not always properly handling editor path on windows

- Feat: Added a loading message while validating editor prompt input.
- Type improvement: Better type inference with checkbox, search and expand prompts.
- Fix: `editor` prompt not always properly handling editor path on windows.

### 8.3.2

- Date: 2026-03-15
- Version: 8.3.2
- Original notes: https://github.com/SBoudrias/Inquirer.js/releases/tag/%40inquirer/prompts%408.3.2
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/inquirer/releases/8.3.2

- Fix broken 8.3.1 release process.

### 8.3.1

- Date: 2026-03-15
- Version: 8.3.1
- Original notes: https://github.com/SBoudrias/Inquirer.js/releases/tag/%40inquirer/prompts%408.3.1
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/inquirer/releases/8.3.1

- Bump dependencies

### 8.3.0

- Date: 2026-02-22
- Version: 8.3.0
- Original notes: https://github.com/SBoudrias/Inquirer.js/releases/tag/%40inquirer/prompts%408.3.0
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/inquirer/releases/8.3.0

- **fixed** — Keypresses happening before a prompt is rendered are now ignored
- **fixed** — Checkbox elements that are both checked and disabled are now always included in the returned array
- **added** — Cursor will now hover disabled options of the list while still preventing interaction with them
- **added** — Various new theme options to make all prompts content localizable

- Fix: Keypresses happening before a prompt is rendered are now ignored.
- Fix (checkbox): Element who're both checked and disabled are now always included in the returned array.
- Feat (select/checkbox): Cursor will now hover disabled options of the list; but they still cannot be interacted with. This prevents the cursor jumping ahead in ways that can be confusing.
- Feat: various new theme options to make all prompts content localizable.

Finally, see our new [`@inquirer/i18n` package](https://github.com/SBoudrias/Inquirer.js/tree/main/packages/i18n)!

### 8.2.1

- Date: 2026-02-14
- Version: 8.2.1
- Original notes: https://github.com/SBoudrias/Inquirer.js/releases/tag/%40inquirer/prompts%408.2.1
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/inquirer/releases/8.2.1

- chore: Switch `wrap-ansi` with `fast-wrap-ansi`

### 8.2.0

- Date: 2026-01-11
- Version: 8.2.0
- Original notes: https://github.com/SBoudrias/Inquirer.js/releases/tag/%40inquirer/prompts%408.2.0
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/inquirer/releases/8.2.0

- **added** — Add support for `default` in search prompts
- **added** — Add support for `description` of choices in rawlist prompts, displayed under the list when the choice is highlighted

- feat(`search`): Add support for `default`.
- feat(`rawlist`): Add support for `description` of choices. That information is displayed under the list when the choice is highlighted.
- Bump dependencies

### 8.1.0

- Date: 2025-12-13
- Version: 8.1.0
- Original notes: https://github.com/SBoudrias/Inquirer.js/releases/tag/%40inquirer/prompts%408.1.0
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/inquirer/releases/8.1.0

- **added** — rawlist now supports default option
- **fixed** — select now infers return type properly when passing a choices array of string literals

* Feat: `rawlist` now supports `default` option.
* Fix: `select` now infer return type properly when passing a `choices` array of string literals.

### 8.0.2

- Date: 2025-12-02
- Version: 8.0.2
- Original notes: https://github.com/SBoudrias/Inquirer.js/releases/tag/%40inquirer/prompts%408.0.2
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/inquirer/releases/8.0.2

- **fixed** — Fix TypeScript not discovering types when moduleResolution is set to commonjs

* Fix Typescript not discovering types when `moduleResolution` is set to `commonjs` (you probably want to fix that in your project if it's still in your tsconfig)

### 8.0.0

- Date: 2025-11-16
- Version: 8.0.0
- Original notes: https://github.com/SBoudrias/Inquirer.js/releases/tag/%40inquirer/prompts%408.0.0
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/inquirer/releases/8.0.0

- **removed** — CommonJS support; all packages are now ESM-only
- **changed** — Minimum Node.js version is now 20.x (specifically >=23.5.0 || ^22.13.0 || ^21.7.0 || ^20.12.0)
- **removed** — list prompt alias from inquirer package; use select instead
- **removed** — helpMode theme property; use theme.style.keysHelpTip instead
- **removed** — instructions config property; use theme.style.keysHelpTip instead
- **removed** — cancel() method on prompt return promise; use AbortSignal instead
- **changed** — Replaced yoctocolors with Node.js built-in util.styleText() for terminal colors

#### Release Notes

##### 🚨 Breaking Changes

This is a major release that modernizes the codebase for Node.js ≥ 20.

###### ESM Only - No More CommonJS Support

**Impact:** All packages are now ESM-only. CommonJS imports are no longer supported.

If you're on modern Node versions (≥ 20), this should be transparent and have no impact.

###### Node.js Version Requirement

**Minimum Node.js version is now 20.x**

Node.js versions below 20 are no longer supported. Please upgrade to Node.js 20 or later.

Node min versions: `>=23.5.0 || ^22.13.0 || ^21.7.0 || ^20.12.0`

###### Deprecated APIs Removed

The following deprecated APIs have been removed after being deprecated in previous releases:

###### `list` prompt alias removed (affects `inquirer` package only)

The `list` alias has been removed from the `inquirer` package. This only impacts users of the legacy `inquirer` package, not users of `@inquirer/prompts` or individual prompt packages.

```js
// ❌ No longer available (inquirer package only)
import inquirer from 'inquirer';
const answer = await inquirer.prompt([
  { type: 'list', name: 'choice', message: 'Pick one:', choices: ['a', 'b'] }
]);

// ✅ Use 'select' instead
import inquirer from 'inquirer';
const answer = await inquirer.prompt([
  { type: 'select', name: 'choice', message: 'Pick one:', choices: ['a', 'b'] }
]);
```

###### `helpMode` theme property removed
```js
// ❌ No longer available
const answer = await select({
  theme: { helpMode: 'never' }
});

// ✅ Use theme.style.keysHelpTip instead
const answer = await select({
  theme: {
    style: {
      keysHelpTip: () => undefined // or your custom styling function
    }
  }
});
```

This affects the following prompts:
- `@inquirer/checkbox`
- `@inquirer/search`
- `@inquirer/select`

###### `instructions` config property removed
```js
// ❌ No longer available
const answer = await checkbox({
  instructions: 'Custom instructions'
});

// ✅ Use theme.style.keysHelpTip instead
const answer = await checkbox({
  theme: {
    style: {
      keysHelpTip: (text) => 'Custom instructions'
    }
  }
});
```

This affects the following prompts:
- `@inquirer/checkbox`
- `@inquirer/search`
- `@inquirer/select`

###### `cancel()` method removed

The `cancel()` method on prompt return custom `Promise` has been removed.

```js
// ❌ No longer available
const answerPromise = input({ message: 'Name?' });
answerPromise.cancel();
const answer = await answerPromise;

// ✅ Use AbortSignal instead
const controller = new AbortController();
const answer = await input(
  { message: 'Name?' },
  { signal: controller.signal }
);
controller.abort();
```

###### Color Library Change: yoctocolors → Node.js `styleText`

**Internal change:** The project now uses Node.js built-in `util.styleText()` instead of the `yoctocolors` package for terminal colors. This makes Inquirer smaller and reduces risks of vulnerabilities coming from transitive dependencies.