Platform Pinning

Cordova CLI 12.x & Higher

Starting from Cordova CLI 12.0.0, the CLI no longer maintains a list of pinned Apache Cordova platforms.

When you run the cordova platform add <PLATFORM> command, it will always fetch the latest available platform from the npm registry. This ensures immediate access to newly released platforms.

If you want to consistently fetch a specific version, you need to modify the command and include the version pinning. For example, use cordova platform add <PLATFORM>@<VERSION>.

The cordova platform list command displays the list of platforms without their versions. However, it will continue to show the versions of the installed platforms.

Example Output:

$ cordova platform list
Installed platforms:
  android 12.0.0
Available platforms:
  browser
  electron
  ios

Cordova CLI 11.x & Lower

Cordova CLI 11.x and lower versions still use platform pinning but won't receive further updates since Cordova CLI 12.0.0 has been released. Platforms are pinned with a ^ symbol, allowing the CLI to fetch new minor and patch releases for the pinned platforms.

To view the pinned platforms for your CLI version, run the command cordova platform list in a new project directory.

Example Output:

$ cordova platform list
Installed platforms:

Available platforms:
  android ^10.1.1
  browser ^6.0.0
  electron ^3.0.0
  ios ^6.2.0
  osx ^6.0.0 (deprecated)

Based on the above information, executing cordova platform add android will fetch the latest minor/patch release version starting from 10.1.1 or higher. If you specify a version, it will fetch the specified version. For example, cordova platform add ios@5.0.1 will fetch Cordova iOS 5.0.1.

Note: After installing a platform, the "Installed platforms:" section will display the actual installed platform version. The installed platform will no longer appear in the "Available platforms:" section until it is removed from the project.