Why is Homebrew cask stuck at 2.1.81 while npm latest is 2.1.89?

Question / Inquiry

Hi team,

I noticed a version discrepancy between the Homebrew cask and the npm package:

| Source | Version |
|--------|---------|
| Homebrew cask | 2.1.81 |
| npm stable tag | 2.1.81 |
| npm latest tag | 2.1.89 |
| Latest GitHub release | v2.1.89 |

Observations

• The Homebrew cask appears to be tracking the npm stable tag (2.1.81) rather than latest (2.1.89).
• There are 8 versions between the two (v2.1.82 → v2.1.89), with v2.1.89 released today.
• Users installing via brew install --cask claude-code or updating via brew upgrade are getting 2.1.81, potentially missing bug fixes and features from the last 8 releases.

Questions

1. Is this intentional? Does Homebrew intentionally track the stable npm tag instead of latest?
2. What is the distinction between stable and latest on npm? Are versions published to latest considered experimental/pre-release?
3. When will the Homebrew cask be updated to 2.1.89? Is there a manual process or delay involved?
4. Should users prefer npm install over Homebrew if they want the most up-to-date version?

Context

Users relying on Homebrew as their package manager (common on macOS) may be unaware they are running an outdated version. This could be confusing, especially since brew upgrade returns "already up-to-date" while a newer version exists.

Thanks for the clarification!