diff --git a/lib/outdated.js b/lib/outdated.js
index 13567f358abbb..a436059e9e2da 100644
--- a/lib/outdated.js
+++ b/lib/outdated.js
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ class Outdated extends BaseCommand {
       : edge.dev ? 'devDependencies'
       : 'dependencies'
 
-    for (const omitType of this.npm.config.get('omit') || []) {
+    for (const omitType of this.npm.config.get('omit')) {
       if (node[omitType])
         return
     }
diff --git a/test/fixtures/mock-npm.js b/test/fixtures/mock-npm.js
index 01f482bde291b..aa8d44020ee36 100644
--- a/test/fixtures/mock-npm.js
+++ b/test/fixtures/mock-npm.js
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 // npm.config You still need a separate flatOptions but this is the first step
 // to eventually just using npm itself
 
+const realConfig = require('../../lib/utils/config')
+
 const mockLog = {
   clearProgress: () => {},
   disableProgress: () => {},
@@ -25,10 +27,10 @@ const mockNpm = (base = {}) => {
     config: {
       // for now just set `find` to what config.find should return
       // this works cause `find` is not an existing config entry
-      find: (k) => config[k],
-      get: (k) => config[k],
+      find: (k) => ({...realConfig.defaults, ...config})[k],
+      get: (k) => ({...realConfig.defaults, ...config})[k],
       set: (k, v) => config[k] = v,
-      list: [config]
+      list: [{ ...realConfig.defaults, ...config}]
     },
   }
 }
diff --git a/test/lib/dist-tag.js b/test/lib/dist-tag.js
index 701bdc6e48c35..6bc17168cdce0 100644
--- a/test/lib/dist-tag.js
+++ b/test/lib/dist-tag.js
@@ -68,10 +68,9 @@ const DistTag = t.mock('../../lib/dist-tag.js', {
   },
 })
 
+const config = {}
 const npm = mockNpm({
-  config: {
-    global: false,
-  },
+  config,
   output: msg => {
     result = result ? [result, msg].join('\n') : msg
   },
@@ -349,6 +348,10 @@ t.test('add using valid semver range as name', (t) => {
 
 t.test('add missing args', (t) => {
   npm.prefix = t.testdir({})
+  config.tag = ''
+  t.teardown(() => {
+    delete config.tag
+  })
   distTag.exec(['add', '@scoped/another@7.7.7'], (err) => {
     t.matchSnapshot(err, 'should exit usage error message')
     t.end()
diff --git a/test/lib/view.js b/test/lib/view.js
index eb2beb9ff5864..3816ce02352b4 100644
--- a/test/lib/view.js
+++ b/test/lib/view.js
@@ -248,7 +248,7 @@ t.test('should log package info', t => {
     },
   })
   const npm = mockNpm({
-    config: { global: false },
+    config: { unicode: false },
   })
   const view = new View(npm)
 
@@ -268,10 +268,7 @@ t.test('should log package info', t => {
     },
   })
   const unicodeNpm = mockNpm({
-    config: {
-      global: false,
-      unicode: true,
-    },
+    config: { unicode: true },
   })
   const viewUnicode = new ViewUnicode(unicodeNpm)
 
@@ -358,7 +355,6 @@ t.test('should log info of package in current working dir', t => {
     prefix: testDir,
     config: {
       tag: '1.0.0',
-      global: false,
     },
   })
   const view = new View(npm)
@@ -389,7 +385,6 @@ t.test('should log info by field name', t => {
   const jsonNpm = mockNpm({
     config: {
       json: true,
-      global: false,
     },
   })
 
@@ -400,9 +395,7 @@ t.test('should log info by field name', t => {
       packument,
     },
   })
-  const npm = mockNpm({
-    config: { global: false },
-  })
+  const npm = mockNpm()
   const view = new View(npm)
 
   t.test('readme', t => {
@@ -489,7 +482,6 @@ t.test('throw ENOENT error if package.json misisng', (t) => {
   const View = t.mock('../../lib/view.js')
   const npm = mockNpm({
     prefix: testDir,
-    config: { global: false },
   })
   const view = new View(npm)
   view.exec([], (err) => {
@@ -506,7 +498,6 @@ t.test('throw EJSONPARSE error if package.json not json', (t) => {
   const View = t.mock('../../lib/view.js')
   const npm = mockNpm({
     prefix: testDir,
-    config: { global: false },
   })
   const view = new View(npm)
   view.exec([], (err) => {
@@ -523,7 +514,6 @@ t.test('throw error if package.json has no name', (t) => {
   const View = t.mock('../../lib/view.js')
   const npm = mockNpm({
     prefix: testDir,
-    config: { global: false },
   })
   const view = new View(npm)
   view.exec([], (err) => {
@@ -541,7 +531,6 @@ t.test('throws when unpublished', (t) => {
   const npm = mockNpm({
     config: {
       tag: '1.0.1',
-      global: false,
     },
   })
   const view = new View(npm)
@@ -581,6 +570,7 @@ t.test('workspaces', t => {
     },
   })
   const config = {
+    unicode: false,
     tag: 'latest',
   }
   let warnMsg
@@ -684,7 +674,6 @@ t.test('completion', async t => {
   const npm = mockNpm({
     config: {
       tag: '1.0.1',
-      global: false,
     },
   })
   const view = new View(npm)
@@ -700,7 +689,6 @@ t.test('no registry completion', async t => {
   const npm = mockNpm({
     config: {
       tag: '1.0.1',
-      global: false,
     },
   })
   const view = new View(npm)