# What changed in chalk

> 7 changes in chalk 6 from its official release notes, upgrade guides and advisories: 3 breaking, 1 new APIs and options. Each one cited. Sources checked 2026-10-18. HTML: https://unstale.sh/npm/chalk/

To see which of these apply to a repository, run `npx @unstale/cli init` in it.

## chalk 6

### Breaking changes

- At color level 1, ansi256() is downsampled to 16 colors. (6.0.0) — [release notes](https://github.com/chalk/chalk/releases/tag/v6.0.0)
- At color level 1, bgAnsi256() is downsampled to 16 colors. (6.0.0) — [release notes](https://github.com/chalk/chalk/releases/tag/v6.0.0)
- Chalk now requires Node.js 22. (6.0.0) — [release notes](https://github.com/chalk/chalk/releases/tag/v6.0.0)

### New APIs and options

- Adds underline styles and underline colors. (6.0.0) — [release notes](https://github.com/chalk/chalk/releases/tag/v6.0.0)

### Performance

- Improves performance. (6.0.0) — [release notes](https://github.com/chalk/chalk/releases/tag/v6.0.0)

### Behavior and default changes

- A numeric FORCE_COLOR value is now treated as an exact color level. (6.0.0) — [release notes](https://github.com/chalk/chalk/releases/tag/v6.0.0)

### Fixes and other changes

- Fixes inconsistent coercion of two arguments. (6.0.1) — [release notes](https://github.com/chalk/chalk/releases/tag/v6.0.1)