# What changed in webpack-cli

> 20 changes in webpack-cli 7 from its official release notes, upgrade guides and advisories: 4 breaking, 1 new APIs and options. Each one cited. Sources checked 2026-10-17. HTML: https://unstale.sh/npm/webpack-cli/

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

## webpack-cli 7

### Breaking changes

- This argument replaces the removed `--node-env` argument. (7.0.0) — [release notes](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-cli/releases/tag/webpack-cli%407.0.0)
- The minimum supported Node.js version is now 20.9.0. (7.0.0) — [release notes](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-cli/releases/tag/webpack-cli%407.0.0)
- The `--node-env` argument was removed in favor of `--config-node-env`. (7.0.0) — [release notes](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-cli/releases/tag/webpack-cli%407.0.0)
- The deprecated API was removed; users importing or requiring `webpack-cli` as `cli` may need to change their usage. (7.0.0) — [release notes](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-cli/releases/tag/webpack-cli%407.0.0)

### New APIs and options

- Configuration files can now use JSON5, YAML or TOML; the corresponding parser package must be installed by the user. (7.1.0) — [release notes](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-cli/releases/tag/webpack-cli%407.1.0)

### Performance

- Enables the Node.js compile cache to speed up CLI startup; it is available on Node.js >= 22.8.0. (7.2.2) — [release notes](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-cli/releases/tag/webpack-cli%407.2.2)
- CLI startup uses less CPU and memory, so commands start more efficiently. (7.0.3) — [release notes](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-cli/releases/tag/webpack-cli%407.0.3)
- Performance improved. (7.0.0) — [release notes](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-cli/releases/tag/webpack-cli%407.0.0)

### Behavior and default changes

- The help output now has branded headers, section dividers, colorized terms and a clearer footer; colors and chrome become plain text when output is piped or --no-color is used. (7.1.0) — [release notes](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-cli/releases/tag/webpack-cli%407.1.0)
- The file protocol is now supported for the --config and --extends configuration options. (7.0.1) — [release notes](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-cli/releases/tag/webpack-cli%407.0.1)
- Configuration freezing is now allowed. (7.0.0) — [release notes](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-cli/releases/tag/webpack-cli%407.0.0)
- The CLI uses graceful shutdown when file system cache is enabled. (7.0.0) — [release notes](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-cli/releases/tag/webpack-cli%407.0.0)
- The command now outputs versions only. (7.0.0) — [release notes](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-cli/releases/tag/webpack-cli%407.0.0)
- The CLI uses dynamic import to load the configuration, falling back to interpretation when dynamic import cannot load it; this allows use of Node.js's built-in TypeScript support. (7.0.0) — [release notes](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-cli/releases/tag/webpack-cli%407.0.0)

### Tooling

- Allow toml@5 as a peer dependency for TOML configuration files. (7.2.3) — [release notes](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-cli/releases/tag/webpack-cli%407.2.3)
- tsx is used as a fallback loader for TypeScript and JSX configuration files when no loader known to interpret, such as ts-node, is installed. (7.2.0) — [release notes](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-cli/releases/tag/webpack-cli%407.2.0)
- webpack-dev-server v6 is now supported as an optional peer dependency, alongside v5. (7.2.0) — [release notes](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-cli/releases/tag/webpack-cli%407.2.0)

### Fixes and other changes

- Resolve the webpack-dev-server type from its default export so the types work with both v5 and v6. (7.2.3) — [release notes](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-cli/releases/tag/webpack-cli%407.2.3)
- Fixes dynamic import interop for CLIPlugin under Bun. (7.2.1) — [release notes](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-cli/releases/tag/webpack-cli%407.2.1)
- Resolves the configuration path for cache build dependencies. (7.0.2) — [release notes](https://github.com/webpack/webpack-cli/releases/tag/webpack-cli%407.0.2)