[rush] Correct workflow for installing dependencies in one of the project

[MartynasZilinskas]

Working in mono-repo becomes really painful when installing additional dependencies in the project.

# cd ../../to/repo/root
$ npx rush unlink
# cd ./to/project/directory
$ npm install dependency
# cd ../../to/repo/root
$ npx rush update

Is there a better way to install dependency and not to do this repetitively?

rush already handles projects dependencies, why not adding an additional command that installs dependency in the selected project?

[octogonz]

We had been relying on VS Code for this, although that feature has seemed to stop working recently for me.

Can you propose a syntax/design for rush add or whatever the command would be?

It's probably not much work to implement.

[MartynasZilinskas]

I am thinking something similar to this:

rush add <dependency> [--save-dev, -D] [--project <project-name>, -p <project-name>]

Optional arguments

--save-dev, -D: Install as devDependencies. (Default saves only to dependencies)
--project, -p: Installs in selected project from rush.json.
--skip-install: Adds dependency to the project, but skips rush update.

Examples

CWD: / (Repository root)

$ rush add react -p @simplr/react-forms

CWD: /packages/react-forms (Resolves that you're in @simplr/react-forms project.)

$ rush add react

Installing multiple dependencies:

$ rush add typescript tslint tslint-language-service -D

What do you think?

[octogonz]

How important is [--project <project-name>, -p <project-name>]? Seems like in most cases it should just add to the project of the current working folder where the command is invoked.

I'm assuming that rush install should be automatically invoked as part of this command. When people are adding multiple packages, it might be useful to have a --skip-install option to defer that.

[MartynasZilinskas]

How important is [--project , -p ]? Seems like in most cases it should just add to the project of the current working folder where the command is invoked.

This flag is more nice-to-have.

I'm assuming that rush install should be automatically invoked as part of this command.

That's correct.

When people are adding multiple packages, it might be useful to have a --skip-install option to defer that.

I think rush add should handle multiple dependencies, like npm does.

$ rush add typescript tslint tslint-language-service -D

And for --skip-install, will it update npm-shrinkwrap file? Or it only updates package.json?

[octogonz]

And for --skip-install, will it update npm-shrinkwrap file? Or it only updates package.json?

The usage scenario I was envisioning might be:

$ cd project1
$ rush add react --skip-install
$ cd ../project2
$ rush add react react-dom --skip-install
$ cd ../project3
$ rush add react # <-- the "rush update" operation happens here

With PNPM the rush update is pretty cheap, but in a large repo it can take a relatively long time for NPM or Yarn.

[MartynasZilinskas]

Sounds good to me. 👍

[octogonz]

This will be implemented in #843

[octogonz]

@MartynasZilinskas this was published today as Rush 5.3.0. Give it a try!

[olivierlacan]

Is there any progress towards @MartynasZilinskas's suggestion of this multi-package flow:

rush add -p typescript tslint tslint-language-service

Seems odd (and a poor experience) to set up rush with more than a single package when creating a new project.