Pseudo-state Selectors

Pseudo-state selectors match packages based on their relationship to the project or their dependency type. Unlike pseudo-classes, they don’t take arguments.

Graph structure states

Selector	Description
`:root`	The root package (top-level `package.json`)
`:scope`	The current scope of the selector
`:project`	Root node plus all workspaces
`:workspace`	Workspace packages (listed in `vlt.json`)

`:root`

Returns the root node — the package defined at the top-level package.json of your project.

$ vlt query ':root'

Commonly used with combinators to select direct dependencies:

$ vlt query ':root > *'

`:scope`

Returns the current scope of the selector. Useful when using the --scope CLI flag to limit the query context.

`:project`

Returns the root node along with any workspaces declared in your project. Useful for selecting “your code” vs. third-party dependencies.

$ vlt query ':project > *'

`:workspace`

Matches workspace packages defined in your vlt.json.

$ vlt query ':workspace'

Find workspaces that have changed since main:

$ vlt query ':workspace:diff(main)'

Dependency type states

Selector	Description
`:prod`	Production dependencies
`:dev`	Development-only dependencies
`:optional`	Optional dependencies
`:peer`	Peer dependencies
`:missing`	Dependencies declared but not installed
`:overridden`	Dependencies with an override applied

`:prod`

Matches production dependencies:

$ vlt query ':prod'

`:dev`

Matches packages that are only used as dev dependencies:

$ vlt query ':dev'

Find all dev dependencies that are outdated:

$ vlt query ':dev:outdated'

`:optional`

Matches optional dependencies:

$ vlt query ':optional'

`:peer`

Matches peer dependencies:

$ vlt query ':peer'

`:missing`

Matches edges (dependency declarations) that are not resolved to any installed package. This selector returns edges only — no nodes.

$ vlt query ':missing'

`:overridden`

Matches dependencies that have an override applied (via the overrides field in package.json):

$ vlt query ':overridden'

Package property states

Selector	Description
`:private`	Packages with `"private": true`
`:empty`	Packages with no dependencies
`:link`	Linked packages
`:prerelease`	Packages with prerelease versions
`:built`	Packages successfully built during reify
`:scanned`	Packages with security metadata

`:private`

Matches packages with "private": true in their package.json:

$ vlt query ':private'

`:empty`

Matches packages that have no dependencies installed:

$ vlt query ':empty'

`:link`

Matches linked packages only:

$ vlt query ':link'

`:prerelease`

Matches packages whose version contains prerelease identifiers (e.g., 1.0.0-beta.1, 2.0.0-rc.1+rev.2, 0.0.0-canary):

$ vlt query ':prerelease'

Find direct prerelease dependencies:

$ vlt query ':root > :prerelease'

`:built`

Matches packages that have been successfully built during the reify process (have buildState set to 'built'):

$ vlt query ':built'

`:scanned`

Matches packages that have Socket security metadata. See Security Insights for security-specific selectors.

$ vlt query ':scanned'

What gets selected

Given a monorepo:

my-monorepo (root)
├── packages/core (workspace, private)
│   ├── react@18.2.0 (prod)
│   └── vitest@1.0.0 (dev)
├── packages/utils (workspace)
│   └── lodash@4.17.21 (prod)
└── typescript@5.3.0 (dev)

Query	Selected
`:root`	my-monorepo
`:workspace`	core, utils
`:project`	my-monorepo, core, utils
`:private`	core
`:dev`	vitest, typescript
`:prod`	react, lodash
`:root > :dev`	typescript
`:workspace:private`	core
`:prerelease`	(packages with pre-versions)
`:missing`	(edges with no resolved pkg)

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