Semantic versioning constraints

12 Dec, 2024 • 124 words • 1 min • updated 05 Sep, 2025

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When working with semantic versioning a.k.a. semver, it’s often useful to use range constraints¹ to express the versions you’re interested in.

The most useful ones are the tilde (~) and the circumflex / hat / caret (^)²:

Popular software tooling that uses them include:

Sometimes I use https://jubianchi.github.io/semver-check to double-check³, or to teach teammates how the range constraints work.

Or constraint ranges? 🤔 ↩︎
In Portuguese we say “acento circunflexo” (circumflex accent). In English, AFAIK, “caret” is the most precise term however people typically refer to it as “hat”. ↩︎
Example. ↩︎