diff --git a/spec/package.json.spec.ts b/spec/package.json.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..abd09a22
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/package.json.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+import packageJSON from '../package.json';
+
+// from https://docs.npmjs.com/files/package.json#dependencies
+const nonExactPrefixes = ['~', '^', '>', '>=', '<', '<='];
+
+describe('package.json', () => {
+  it('dependencies should not contain any non-exact versions', () => {
+    const deps = Object.values(packageJSON.dependencies);
+    deps.forEach(depVersion => {
+      nonExactPrefixes.forEach(badPrefix => {
+        expect(depVersion.includes(badPrefix)).toBeFalsy();
+      });
+    });
+  });
+  it('devDependencies should not contain any non-exact versions', () => {
+    const deps = Object.values(packageJSON.devDependencies);
+    deps.forEach(depVersion => {
+      nonExactPrefixes.forEach(badPrefix => {
+        expect(depVersion.includes(badPrefix)).toBeFalsy();
+      });
+    });
+  });
+});