monodeps

monodeps

Deprecated. This package is no longer maintained. Modern workspace tooling covers its use cases more completely. See Alternatives below.

Previously: load a dependency-sorted array of package objects from a monorepo folder tree. Built to assist with publishing multiple packages where in-repo packages depend on each other — especially when maintaining cross-dependencies with lock files.

That workflow predates npm workspaces (npm 7+). With workspaces, a single root lockfile and local package linking replace per-package installs and manual ordering.

Alternatives

Pick based on what you were using monodeps for.

Cross-package dependencies and lockfiles

Use a workspace-aware package manager so all packages share one install graph and one lockfile.

npm workspaces (built into npm 7+):

{
  "name": "my-monorepo",
  "private": true,
  "workspaces": ["packages/*"]
}

npm install

Reference sibling packages with workspace:* in dependencies:

{
  "dependencies": {
    "@my-org/utils": "workspace:*"
  }
}

Docs: npm workspaces

pnpm workspaces — faster installs, strict dependency isolation, strong monorepo support:

# pnpm-workspace.yaml
packages:
  - "packages/*"

Docs: pnpm workspaces

Yarn workspaces (Classic or Berry):

{
  "private": true,
  "workspaces": ["packages/*"]
}

Docs: Yarn workspaces

Publishing packages in dependency order

monodeps sorted packages so you could publish dependents after their in-repo dependencies. Use one of these instead:

Changesets (works with npm, pnpm, or yarn workspaces):

npm install -D @changesets/cli
npx changeset init
# After merging version PR:
npx changeset publish

Docs: changesets/changesets

pnpm recursive publish:

pnpm publish -r --access public

pnpm publish -r publishes in dependency order and resolves workspace:* to the local version.

Note: Plain npm publish --workspaces does not publish in dependency order. If you stay on npm workspaces without Changesets or Lerna, publish in explicit tiers or switch to pnpm/Changesets.

Build, test, and lint in dependency order

If you used the sorted package list to run scripts in order (build utils before api), use a task orchestrator:

Turborepo example — build runs upstream packages first:

{
  "pipeline": {
    "build": {
      "dependsOn": ["^build"]
    }
  }
}

npx turbo run build

Circular dependency detection

Workspace tools surface cycles during install or via graph commands:

# pnpm
pnpm list -r --depth 0

# npm (inspect the dependency tree)
npm ls --workspaces

For CI, most orchestrators (Nx, Turborepo) fail when the task graph contains a cycle.

Migration checklist

1. Add a root package.json with "workspaces" (or a pnpm-workspace.yaml).
2. Replace file:../ sibling references with workspace:*.
3. Remove per-package npm install loops; run one install at the repo root.
4. Replace custom publish scripts that called monodeps with Changesets or pnpm publish -r.
5. Replace ordered build scripts with Turborepo, Nx, or explicit -w workspace flags.
6. Remove monodeps from your dependencies.

Legacy API (deprecated)

npm install monodeps

const monodeps = require('monodeps')

/*
where folder example contains 3 packages: a,b,c.
c depends on b and a, b depends on a, a has no cross dependency.
*/
try {
  let packages = await monodeps.loadPackagesAsync('/example')

  console.log(packages[0].package.name) // -> 'a'
  console.log(packages[1].package.name) // -> 'b'
  console.log(packages[2].package.name) // -> 'c'

  console.log(packages[0].path) // -> /example/a
  console.log(packages[1].path) // -> /example/b
  console.log(packages[2].path) // -> /example/c
} catch (err) {
  console.error(err) // -> "Error: circular dependency"
}

Publishing this deprecation to npm

After merging these changes and releasing a new version, mark the package deprecated on the registry:

npm deprecate monodeps "Deprecated: use npm/pnpm/yarn workspaces with Changesets or pnpm publish -r. See https://github.com/turbofoxwave/deps#alternatives"

To deprecate all versions:

npm deprecate monodeps "*" "Deprecated: use npm/pnpm/yarn workspaces with Changesets or pnpm publish -r. See https://github.com/turbofoxwave/deps#alternatives"