How to Update from Angular v19 to Angular v20 | Explore a New Angular v20 app | Compare Side by Side
Angular version 20 has arrived with new features and improvements that every Angular developer will want to explore. Whether you’re maintaining an existing Angular project or starting fresh, it’s important to understand how to properly move from Angular v19 to v20.
In the video below, I demonstrate the step-by-step process to update an existing Angular v19 project to Angular v20 using the Angular CLI. I also show you how to create a brand-new Angular v20 app using npx, which allows you to generate the latest Angular project without updating your global Angular CLI installation.
A quick note on terminology: Many developers, especially those new to Angular, casually say "upgrade" when referring to moving between Angular versions. I used to do this as well.
However, the correct term is "update" and it corresponds to the Angular CLI command that performs this process: ng update. When you encounter someone using the term "upgrade" instead of "update," keep in mind this might indicate they haven't actually run the process before. Once you've been running it regularly - especially for an extended period like I have - the distinction becomes ingrained and you naturally use the correct terminology.
Post Update Project Cleanup
After updating your project with the Angular CLI, there are some additional changes you might want to make to fully align with Angular v20 conventions and the new style guide. I’ve created a CLI tool called angular-v20-bulk-file-refactor to help automate this cleanup.
For a step-by-step guide on this refactoring process and tool usage, check out my detailed blog post and video.
