Local Dependencies

Via npm install ../other-repo.

When you have local dependencies (installed via npm install ../other-repo), nudeps automatically handles propagation between them, but there are a few things you need to know about it.

• You only need Nudeps on your side. other-repo needs nothing installed, only a dependencies hook that runs npx nudeps dependents, which is enough to notify you. Set wireLocalDeps and Nudeps adds that hook for you. A library with no frontend of its own never has to take on Nudeps as a dependency.
• Instead of copying other-repo to client_modules/other-repo@<version> by default it creates a symlink. You can tweak the symlink option to change this.
• Since the npm dependencies hook does not fire when the dependencies of other-repo change (see npm bug #8984), other-repo will run npm run dependencies --if-present in each of its dependents to trigger nudeps in them.

Registration

Each time nudeps runs, it registers each of its local dependencies, nested ones included, with the package that links it: it writes that package’s relative path to the dep’s .nudeps/local-dependents.json. A local dependency in devDependencies is skipped, along with everything it links: Nudeps never installs it, so it has nothing to propagate.

With wireLocalDeps: true, it also makes sure each of them can notify back: if none of its dependencies, predependencies or postdependencies scripts mention nudeps, "dependencies": "npx nudeps dependents" is added to its package.json, preserving that file’s existing formatting. Without the option, Nudeps never edits another repo’s package.json: it warns instead, and you can add the hook yourself. Set it to false to drop the warning. A package rule can set it for one dependency, and the setting then covers that dependency’s own local dependencies too. A dependency that already runs the full npx nudeps is left alone — it notifies its dependents anyway, and a second command would notify them twice.

Workspace siblings

A package in the same npm workspace shares your lockfile, and the workspace root’s dependencies hook already runs every child’s. Nudeps still registers you as a dependent of the sibling, but leaves its package.json alone rather than adding a hook that would duplicate the root’s.

Propagation

When the dependencies of package B change, every repo that depends on B locally regenerates its import map, and so does every repo above it in the chain. Circular local dependencies (A depends on B and B depends on A) terminate: the change stops when it comes back to a repo it has already passed through.

Chains

Local dependencies can be nested: your app depends on ../lib, which itself depends on ../util. Your app’s run registers util with lib and, with wireLocalDeps: true, gives both their hook. npx nudeps dependents also registers as a dependent of its own local dependencies before notifying its dependents, so a link added later is picked up too — a change in util reaches lib, and lib passes it on to your app. None of the intermediate packages need Nudeps installed, and one that has it still passes the change on.