Templates scaffolded by wxt@latest init don't use the latest WXT version

[InvictusNavarchus]

Describe the bug

When a user runs npx wxt@latest init, it initializes a WXT project with a chosen pre-made template. The problem is, the WXT version is hardcoded in the template (currently 0.20.6). Even the auto upgrader script explicitly ignores upgrading the WXT version.

        if (
          name === 'wxt' ||
          version.startsWith('workspace:') ||
          IGNORED_PACKAGES.includes(name)
        )
          return;

This is probably intentional, as highlighted in the CONTRIUBTING.md:

Note that templates are hardcoded to a specific version of `wxt` from NPM, they do not use the local version

However, it contradicts the latest directive in wxt@latest. When a user runs that command, they will expect to get the current latest WXT version, not an outdated one, let alone 7 months out of date.

I've proposed a PR #2019 that updates the WXT version in the templates to 0.20.13 (current latest), but that's just a temporary fix. A better approach would be to either

1. stop hardcoding WXT in the templates and just use the latest version. One approach would be to apply special exclusion criteria for WXT in the auto-upgrade script to allow auto-upgrade for the templates, not internal packages.
2. if auto-latest is truly unwanted, consider renaming @latest directive to something more accurate

Reproduction

Steps to reproduce

1. Run npx wxt@latest init
2. See package.json
3. You get the exact WXT version currently hardcoded in the templates

System Info

System:
    OS: Linux 6.6 Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS 24.04.3 LTS (Noble Numbat)
    CPU: (12) x64 AMD Ryzen 5 6600H with Radeon Graphics
    Memory: 1.70 GB / 6.65 GB
    Container: Yes
    Shell: 5.2.21 - /bin/bash
  Binaries:
    Node: 22.20.0 - /home/invictus/.nvm/versions/node/v22.20.0/bin/node
    npm: 10.9.3 - /home/invictus/.nvm/versions/node/v22.20.0/bin/npm
    pnpm: 10.15.1 - /home/invictus/.nvm/versions/node/v22.20.0/bin/pnpm
    bun: 1.3.1 - /home/invictus/.bun/bin/bun

Used Package Manager

bun

Validations

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• The provided reproduction is a minimal reproducible example of the bug.

[PatrykKuniczak]

IMHO it should be auto-update on bump WXT itself. before release, to be up to date, for newest change.
Because most of the time, people want to try sth new/learn on example with current version

[InvictusNavarchus]

IMHO it should be auto-update on bump WXT itself. before release, to be up to date, for newest change. Because most of the time, people want to try sth new/learn on example with current version

Yeah exactly. The only reason why would you want to pin it to specific version is for stability, but that's a different concern entirely, one that requires a dedicated maintenance schedule. As of now, there doesn't seem to be apparent pattern or clear schedule regarding template updates. It's just manually updated at seemingly random times with long intervals (about half a year?). So why not just auto-update to latest version anyway.

[PatrykKuniczak]

@InvictusNavarchus Overall i think, this issue, should be feature not bug.

And other case is, maintainers don't have enough time for this project, maybe that's why we have "gaps" like what you reported.
There's a loooot of bug reports, and i hope somebody want to work on some of that, e.g me, but i have been waiting for review half of the year #1787

I don't want to attack anybody(it's non profil project, of course), but you know, it's snowball effect, if maintainers are active, more contributors are eager to start work on sth and they merges it PR and next, next, so on. :)

TLDR; We need more active maintainers, to be able to check and accept our work