diff --git a/lib/fund.js b/lib/fund.js
index 3a3b223b47cc4..a4986f3c473f7 100644
--- a/lib/fund.js
+++ b/lib/fund.js
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ class Fund extends BaseCommand {
   }
 
   printHuman (fundingInfo) {
-    const color = this.npm.config.get('color')
+    const color = !!this.npm.color
     const unicode = this.npm.config.get('unicode')
     const seenUrls = new Map()
 
diff --git a/lib/ls.js b/lib/ls.js
index d89165caaf8e9..3b73f4d1e4cc5 100644
--- a/lib/ls.js
+++ b/lib/ls.js
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ class LS extends BaseCommand {
 
   async ls (args) {
     const all = this.npm.config.get('all')
-    const color = !!this.npm.config.get('color')
+    const color = !!this.npm.color
     const depth = this.npm.config.get('depth')
     const dev = this.npm.config.get('dev')
     const development = this.npm.config.get('development')
diff --git a/lib/outdated.js b/lib/outdated.js
index 835aa407d159f..6a7b4e7b3e9e3 100644
--- a/lib/outdated.js
+++ b/lib/outdated.js
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ class Outdated extends BaseCommand {
         outHead.push('Package Type', 'Homepage')
       const outTable = [outHead].concat(outList)
 
-      if (this.npm.config.get('color'))
+      if (this.npm.color)
         outTable[0] = outTable[0].map(heading => styles.underline(heading))
 
       const tableOpts = {
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ class Outdated extends BaseCommand {
       columns[7] = homepage
     }
 
-    if (this.npm.config.get('color')) {
+    if (this.npm.color) {
       columns[0] = color[current === wanted ? 'yellow' : 'red'](columns[0]) // current
       columns[2] = color.green(columns[2]) // wanted
       columns[3] = color.magenta(columns[3]) // latest
diff --git a/test/lib/fund.js b/test/lib/fund.js
index c1623ecbf57c5..bd600dbf75c01 100644
--- a/test/lib/fund.js
+++ b/test/lib/fund.js
@@ -780,14 +780,14 @@ test('fund colors', t => {
       },
     },
   })
-  config.color = true
+  npm.color = true
 
   fund.exec([], (err) => {
     t.ifError(err, 'should not error out')
     t.matchSnapshot(result, 'should print output with color info')
 
     result = ''
-    config.color = false
+    npm.color = false
     t.end()
   })
 })
diff --git a/test/lib/ls.js b/test/lib/ls.js
index 97d227c1d5304..5367dec688658 100644
--- a/test/lib/ls.js
+++ b/test/lib/ls.js
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ t.test('ls', (t) => {
   })
 
   t.test('with filter arg', (t) => {
-    config.color = true
+    npm.color = true
     npm.prefix = t.testdir({
       'package.json': JSON.stringify({
         name: 'test-npm-ls',
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@ t.test('ls', (t) => {
     ls.exec(['lorem'], (err) => {
       t.ifError(err, 'npm ls')
       t.matchSnapshot(redactCwd(result), 'should output tree contaning only occurrences of filtered by package and colored output')
-      config.color = false
+      npm.color = false
       t.end()
     })
   })
@@ -431,7 +431,7 @@ t.test('ls', (t) => {
   })
 
   t.test('colored output', (t) => {
-    config.color = true
+    npm.color = true
     npm.prefix = t.testdir({
       'package.json': JSON.stringify({
         name: 'test-npm-ls',
@@ -446,7 +446,7 @@ t.test('ls', (t) => {
     ls.exec([], (err) => {
       t.equal(err.code, 'ELSPROBLEMS', 'should have error code')
       t.matchSnapshot(redactCwd(result), 'should output tree containing color info')
-      config.color = false
+      npm.color = false
       t.end()
     })
   })
@@ -752,7 +752,7 @@ t.test('ls', (t) => {
   })
 
   t.test('invalid deduped dep', (t) => {
-    config.color = true
+    npm.color = true
     npm.prefix = t.testdir({
       'package.json': JSON.stringify({
         name: 'invalid-deduped-dep',
@@ -782,7 +782,7 @@ t.test('ls', (t) => {
     })
     ls.exec([], () => {
       t.matchSnapshot(redactCwd(result), 'should output tree signaling mismatching peer dep in problems')
-      config.color = false
+      npm.color = false
       t.end()
     })
   })
@@ -836,7 +836,7 @@ t.test('ls', (t) => {
   })
 
   t.test('unmet optional dep', (t) => {
-    config.color = true
+    npm.color = true
     npm.prefix = t.testdir({
       'package.json': JSON.stringify({
         name: 'test-npm-ls',
@@ -862,7 +862,7 @@ t.test('ls', (t) => {
       t.match(err.code, 'ELSPROBLEMS', 'should have ELSPROBLEMS error code')
       t.match(err.message, /invalid: optional-dep@1.0.0/, 'should have invalid dep error msg')
       t.matchSnapshot(redactCwd(result), 'should output tree with empty entry for missing optional deps')
-      config.color = false
+      npm.color = false
       t.end()
     })
   })
@@ -905,7 +905,7 @@ t.test('ls', (t) => {
   })
 
   t.test('cycle deps with filter args', (t) => {
-    config.color = true
+    npm.color = true
     npm.prefix = t.testdir({
       'package.json': JSON.stringify({
         name: 'test-npm-ls',
@@ -938,7 +938,7 @@ t.test('ls', (t) => {
     ls.exec(['a'], (err) => {
       t.ifError(err, 'npm ls')
       t.matchSnapshot(redactCwd(result), 'should print tree output containing deduped ref')
-      config.color = false
+      npm.color = false
       t.end()
     })
   })
@@ -1042,7 +1042,7 @@ t.test('ls', (t) => {
   })
 
   t.test('with args and dedupe entries', (t) => {
-    config.color = true
+    npm.color = true
     npm.prefix = t.testdir({
       'package.json': JSON.stringify({
         name: 'dedupe-entries',
@@ -1085,7 +1085,7 @@ t.test('ls', (t) => {
     ls.exec(['@npmcli/b'], (err) => {
       t.ifError(err, 'npm ls')
       t.matchSnapshot(redactCwd(result), 'should print tree output containing deduped ref')
-      config.color = false
+      npm.color = false
       t.end()
     })
   })
diff --git a/test/lib/outdated.js b/test/lib/outdated.js
index ea108bdb80c1b..39379265f56fd 100644
--- a/test/lib/outdated.js
+++ b/test/lib/outdated.js
@@ -91,9 +91,9 @@ const outdated = (dir, opts) => {
     },
   })
   const npm = mockNpm({
+    ...opts,
     prefix: dir,
     globalDir: `${globalDir}/node_modules`,
-    config: opts,
     output,
   })
   return new Outdated(npm)
@@ -175,8 +175,9 @@ t.test('should display outdated deps', t => {
 
   t.test('outdated global', t => {
     outdated(null, {
-      global: true,
+      config: { global: true },
     }).exec([], () => {
+      console.log(logs)
       t.matchSnapshot(logs)
       t.end()
     })
@@ -184,7 +185,9 @@ t.test('should display outdated deps', t => {
 
   t.test('outdated', t => {
     outdated(testDir, {
-      global: false,
+      config: {
+        global: false,
+      },
       color: true,
     }).exec([], () => {
       t.matchSnapshot(logs)
@@ -194,9 +197,11 @@ t.test('should display outdated deps', t => {
 
   t.test('outdated --omit=dev', t => {
     outdated(testDir, {
-      global: false,
+      config: {
+        global: false,
+        omit: ['dev'],
+      },
       color: true,
-      omit: ['dev'],
     }).exec([], () => {
       t.matchSnapshot(logs)
       t.end()
@@ -205,9 +210,11 @@ t.test('should display outdated deps', t => {
 
   t.test('outdated --omit=dev --omit=peer', t => {
     outdated(testDir, {
-      global: false,
+      config: {
+        global: false,
+        omit: ['dev', 'peer'],
+      },
       color: true,
-      omit: ['dev', 'peer'],
     }).exec([], () => {
       t.matchSnapshot(logs)
       t.end()
@@ -216,9 +223,11 @@ t.test('should display outdated deps', t => {
 
   t.test('outdated --omit=prod', t => {
     outdated(testDir, {
-      global: false,
+      config: {
+        global: false,
+        omit: ['prod'],
+      },
       color: true,
-      omit: ['prod'],
     }).exec([], () => {
       t.matchSnapshot(logs)
       t.end()
@@ -227,8 +236,10 @@ t.test('should display outdated deps', t => {
 
   t.test('outdated --long', t => {
     outdated(testDir, {
-      global: false,
-      long: true,
+      config: {
+        global: false,
+        long: true,
+      },
     }).exec([], () => {
       t.matchSnapshot(logs)
       t.end()
@@ -237,8 +248,10 @@ t.test('should display outdated deps', t => {
 
   t.test('outdated --json', t => {
     outdated(testDir, {
-      global: false,
-      json: true,
+      config: {
+        global: false,
+        json: true,
+      },
     }).exec([], () => {
       t.matchSnapshot(logs)
       t.end()
@@ -247,9 +260,11 @@ t.test('should display outdated deps', t => {
 
   t.test('outdated --json --long', t => {
     outdated(testDir, {
-      global: false,
-      json: true,
-      long: true,
+      config: {
+        global: false,
+        json: true,
+        long: true,
+      },
     }).exec([], () => {
       t.matchSnapshot(logs)
       t.end()
@@ -258,8 +273,10 @@ t.test('should display outdated deps', t => {
 
   t.test('outdated --parseable', t => {
     outdated(testDir, {
-      global: false,
-      parseable: true,
+      config: {
+        global: false,
+        parseable: true,
+      },
     }).exec([], () => {
       t.matchSnapshot(logs)
       t.end()
@@ -268,9 +285,11 @@ t.test('should display outdated deps', t => {
 
   t.test('outdated --parseable --long', t => {
     outdated(testDir, {
-      global: false,
-      parseable: true,
-      long: true,
+      config: {
+        global: false,
+        parseable: true,
+        long: true,
+      },
     }).exec([], () => {
       t.matchSnapshot(logs)
       t.end()
@@ -279,7 +298,9 @@ t.test('should display outdated deps', t => {
 
   t.test('outdated --all', t => {
     outdated(testDir, {
-      all: true,
+      config: {
+        all: true,
+      },
     }).exec([], () => {
       t.matchSnapshot(logs)
       t.end()
@@ -288,7 +309,9 @@ t.test('should display outdated deps', t => {
 
   t.test('outdated specific dep', t => {
     outdated(testDir, {
-      global: false,
+      config: {
+        global: false,
+      },
     }).exec(['alpha'], () => {
       t.matchSnapshot(logs)
       t.end()