Julien Danjou • 5/19/2026

How Much Of A Library Do You Actually Use?

This article examines the trade-offs between using small libraries versus writing code yourself, especially in light of recent supply-chain attacks and AI advancements. The author argues that many transitive dependencies aren't worth the maintenance burden, and with LLMs able to generate small utility functions quickly, the cost-benefit has shifted. It critiques simple unused-dependency checkers for only seeing imports, not actual usage, and suggests deeper analysis is needed. The piece is relevant to software engineering, dependency management, and modern development practices.

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#npm #dependency management #Supply Chain Security