Find a file or directory by walking up parent directories or down descendant directories

npm install find-up

/
└── Users
    └── sindresorhus
        ├── unicorn.png
        └── foo
            └── bar
                ├── baz
                └── example.js

example.js

import path from 'node:path';
import {pathExists} from 'path-exists';
import {findUp, findDown} from 'find-up';

console.log(await findUp('unicorn.png'));
//=> '/Users/sindresorhus/unicorn.png'

console.log(await findUp(['rainbow.png', 'unicorn.png']));
//=> '/Users/sindresorhus/unicorn.png'

console.log(await findUp(async directory => {
	const hasUnicorn = await pathExists(path.join(directory, 'unicorn.png'));
	return hasUnicorn && directory;
}, {type: 'directory'}));
//=> '/Users/sindresorhus'

// Find .git (could be a file or directory, common in submodules)
console.log(await findUp('.git', {type: 'both'}));
//=> '/Users/sindresorhus/.git'

Returns a Promise for either the path or undefined if it could not be found.

Returns a Promise for either the first path found (by respecting the order of names) or undefined if none could be found.

Returns a Promise for either an array of all paths found or an empty array if none could be found.

Note: You can limit the number of matches by setting the limit option.

Returns a Promise for either an array of all paths found (by respecting the order of names) or an empty array if none could be found.

Note: You can limit the number of matches by setting the limit option.

Returns a path or undefined if it could not be found.

Returns the first path found (by respecting the order of names) or undefined if none could be found.

Returns an array of all paths found or an empty array if none could be found.

Returns an array of all paths found (by respecting the order of names) or an empty array if none could be found.

Note: You can limit the number of matches by setting the limit option.

Find a file or directory by walking down descendant directories from cwd.

Returns a Promise for either the path or undefined if it could not be found.

import {findUp, findDown} from 'find-up';

// Find the nearest parent directory that contains a specific file
// in its direct children (useful for monorepo roots)
console.log(await findUp(async directory => {
	return findDown('example.js', {cwd: directory, depth: 1});
}));
//=> '/Users/sindresorhus/foo'

Synchronous version of findDown.

Returns the path or undefined if it could not be found.

Type: string

The name of the file or directory to find. Can be an array of names to search for multiple files.

Type: Function

Called for each directory in the search. Return a path or findUpStop to stop the search. Useful if you want to match files with certain patterns, set of permissions, or other advanced use-cases.

Type: object

Type: URL | string
Default: process.cwd()

The directory to start from.

Type: string
Default: 'file'
Values: 'file' | 'directory' | 'both'

The type of path to match.

Type: boolean
Default: true

Allow symbolic links to match if they point to the chosen path type.

Only for findUp functions

Type: URL | string
Default: Root directory

A directory path where the search halts if no matches are found before reaching this point.

Only for findUpMultiple and findUpMultipleSync

Type: number
Default: Infinity

The maximum number of matches to return. Useful for limiting results when searching for multiple files.

A Symbol that can be returned by a matcher function to stop the search and cause findUp to immediately return undefined. Useful as a performance optimization in case the current working directory is deeply nested in the filesystem.

import path from 'node:path';
import {findUp, findUpStop} from 'find-up';

await findUp(directory => {
	// Stop searching if we've reached a 'work' directory
	if (path.basename(directory) === 'work') {
		return findUpStop;
	}

	// Look for package.json in this directory
	return 'package.json';
});

Type: object

Type: URL | string
Default: process.cwd()

The directory to start from.

Type: number
Default: 1

Maximum number of directory levels to traverse below cwd.

Type: string
Default: 'file'
Values: 'file' | 'directory' | 'both'

The type of path to match.

Type: boolean
Default: true

Allow symbolic links to match if they point to the chosen path type.

Type: string
Default: 'breadth'
Values: 'breadth' | 'depth'

Search strategy to use:

• 'breadth': Breadth-first search, finds shallower matches first.
• 'depth': Depth-first search, fully explores each branch before moving to the next.

• find-up-cli - CLI for this module
• package-up - Find the closest package.json file
• package-directory - Find the root directory of an npm package
• resolve-from - Resolve the path of a module like require.resolve() but from a given path