@monorepo-utilities/install-dependencies 🧱 📦

Installs dependencies from a config to a destination with control!

Install

pnpm install @monorepo-utilities/build-node-modules

Usage

As a CLI

install-dependencies run <config> <dest>
# => installs packages (node_modules) from a config (like package.json) to a specified path

As a function

import { installDependencies } from '@monorepo-utilities/install-dependencies'

const dependencies = installDependencies({ <config>, <dest> })
// => installs dependencies from a package.json (<config>) to the specified destination (<dest>)
// => returns an object with installedDependencies, config, dest

CLI API

  Usage
    $ install-dependencies <command> [options]

  Available Commands
    run    installs a package.json's dependencies to a specificied path

  For more info, run any command with the `--help` flag
    $ install-dependencies run --help

  Options
    -v, --version    Displays current version
    -h, --help       Displays this message

Arguments

<config>: a string path to a config file (a package.json file)
<path>: a string path to the desired destination of the installed dependencies

Added Specificity Options

Within a config (package.json) an installDepedencies object can optionally be added. It can optionally include an ignore array or an include object.

"installDependencies": {
    "include": {
      "react": "17.0.1",
      "@babel/core": "7.12.10",
      "typescript": "4.1.2",
      "@foo/bar": "@latest"
    },
    "ignore": [
      "ramda"
    ]
  }

Why

When using various project managers for monorepos, like yarn workspaces and lerna, there are drawbacks in the Developer Experience (DX) versus Deployment Experience of module installation.

By manually providing a way to specifically install packages (node_modules) to a specified location, developors can enjoy module hoisting and local package referencing and not have to worry about what's in node_modules folders when deploying un-bundled node apps.

Benefits

Listed below are a few benefits to using install-dependencies.

Developer Experience (DX)
Build deploys sizes
Build deploys build times
Deployment package security
Deployment package debugging
Deployment package versions

Use Case

Consider the following paragraphs to decide whether install-dependencies can assist your project!

Deployment Node App Woos

Deploying a node app with it's corresponding node_modules produces a large build artifact! Now imagine a monorepo which has multiple node apps and uses yarn workspaces. Yarn Workspaces greatly helps with developer experience by hoisting node_modules making package install times faster and linking local packages automatically.

However, when building a build artifact for deployment, those same gains from Yarn Workspace Hoisting will product a large node_module directory! On top of that, an extra build step may be required for including local package dependencies ("@foo/bar": "file:../packages/bar/dist").

The results of the scenerio described above are build artifacts that are too big to be deployed and long cumbersome build times while waiting for a node app's local dependencies to build. Furthermore, dependencies specified in the node app's package.json's dependencies may be a different version based on hoisting.

install-dependencies to the rescue! By using install-dependencies, we can specify exactly what dependencies must be installed!

How install-dependencies helps

Here's a short list of how install-dependencies helps!

install-dependencies installs all dependencies specific to a config (a package.json)'s dependencies.
install-dependencies will optionally ignore dependencies specified in a config (a package.json)'s installDependencies.ignore array.
install-dependencies will optionally override dependencies or add dependencies specified in a config (a package.json)'s installDependencies.include object.

Here's an example config (package.json) with the installDependencies object included:

"dependencies": {
  "@foo/bar": "file:..packages/bar/dist",
    "ramda": "0.27.1",
    "typescript": "4.1.3",
    "ink": "^3.0.8",
  },
  "installDependencies": {
    "include": {
      "react": "17.0.1",
      "@babel/core": "7.12.10",
      "typescript": "4.1.2",
      "@foo/bar": "@latest"
    },
    "ignore": [
      "ramda"
    ]
  }

The resulting node_modules directory will include:

// note: NO ramda!
@babel/core@7.12.10
@foo/bar@0.1.2 // note: example which equals the latest version of @foo/bar
ink@^3.0.8
react@17.0.1
typescript@4.1.2 // note: NOT 4.1.3

Roadmap

Here are a few features that will be added momentarily:

a tested config that is not a package.json
the option to add devDependencies
the option to add peerDependencies
potentially more flags to improve the build time/size
a white goat with one horn that is mistaken for a unicorn constantly 🦄

Thanks

Thanks Luke Edwards for Sade.
Thanks Geoff Golliher for constant mentorship.