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package version [^ / ~]

In package.json's dependencies section, we can see some packages are prefixed with ^ or ~.

{
  "dependencies": {
    "react": "^17.0.2",
    "react-dom": "^17.0.2",
    "react-scripts": "~4.0.3",
    "web-vitals": "^1.1.2"
  }
}

So what does ^ and ~ mean?

^: Major version domain​

"dependencies": {
  "react": "^17.0.2"
}

It means that any version from 17.0.2 up to, but not including, 18.0.0 can be automatically installed when you run npm install or npm update. If 17.0.3, 17.1.0, or 17.9.5 is available, npm will update to the latest patch or minor version within the 17.x.x range.

~: Minor version domain​

"dependencies": {
  "react": "~17.0.2"
}

It means that any version from 17.0.2 up to, but not including, 17.1.0 can be automatically installed when you run npm install or npm update. If 17.0.3 or 17.0.4 is available, npm will update to the latest patch version. If 17.1.0 is available, it won't update to that version since it represents the next minor version.