pkgmon v1.0.1

pkgmon

Automatically updates node packages whenever the lock file changes in the repository.

Why?

Usually, when you add a 3rd party package to a node application, the steps are

1. Install the package locally and implement your feature using the package
2. Check it into source control along with the updated package-lock.json file
3. Tell all your team members that they need to run npm ci next time they pull the code
4. Get questions from the team members that missed the message, why your code isn't working

What if you could automatically run npm ci whenever you pull code with an updated package-lock.json?

How it works

pkgmon calculates an md5 checksum of your local package-lock.json and saves that checksum to disk. Before you run your code, it checks the package-lock.json against the saved checksum and runs an npm ci if they are different.

How to add pkgmon to your project

1. Add pkgmon as a library (or dev-library) to your project:

npm i -D pkgmon

2. Add a pkgmon check to your start script in package.json

{
  "scripts": {
    "start": "pkgmon run && your-start-script"
  }
}

3. Add package.md5 to your .gitignore. This file should only be local.

Documentation

pkgmon supports the following modes:

pkgmon run

This command compares the local checksum against the package-lock.json. If they differ or no checksum is saved, it will perform an npm ci. Use this command each time before you run your project

pkgmon reset

Use this command if you know that an npm ci is not required. It will set the checksum to the current package-lock.json. Use this command after you installed a new package locally.

pkgmon check

This works the same as pkgmon run except it will not execute the npm ci but only report it on the console. A dry run if you like.

pkgmon install

Runs an npm install and saves the checksum. This is a good command for initial setup.