How to create usable and maintainable npm packages

• nest-next

  2 634 0.0 TypeScript

  Render Module to add Nextjs support for Nestjs

Analysing my usage of npm packages I discovered that it is best to start with a small introduction of your package - what it does, what it helps to achieve. For example, package nest-next starts by saying that it is a "Render Module to add Nextjs support for Nestjs". This is an example of a good short description that would come up in search. Also do not forget to add this description to your VCS hosting (likely GitHub) and package.json so that it comes up in search better. The actual README file could have a more detailed introduction.

• semver

  720 7,008 2.3

  Semantic Versioning Specification

  

Another simple thing that is somehow hard to get right. Always employ Semantic Versioning. Invest in making your commits both human and machine readable. Conventional Commits can help you with that.

• SurveyJS

  surveyjs.io sponsored

  Open-Source JSON Form Builder to Create Dynamic Forms Right in Your App. With SurveyJS form UI libraries, you can build and style forms in a fully-integrated drag & drop form builder, render them in your JS app, and store form submission data in any backend, inc. PHP, ASP.NET Core, and Node.js.

  

• parcel-resolver-ts-base-url

  2 13 0.0 JavaScript

  Resolve tsconfig baseUrl and paths imports with Parcel

Employ type-checking to make your code safer to change. You might not even use TypeScript or actual .ts files. You may use JSDoc typings and JS checks to leverage some type-safety without need to compile your code. I used this strategy in one of my packages and found it really useful. And having types through TypeScript annotations or JSDoc is a must for any exported functions.

• bump-package-version-action

  1 0 0.0 JavaScript

  A simple GitHub Action to automatically bump npm versions

Luckily such workflows are largely reusable and I have a few public Gists with GitHub Actions workflows for different types of projects. More serious project with tests and linting may employ this multi-stage workflow and smaller packages would be fine with a simple publish-on-push workflow. Both workflows employ bump-package-version-action of my own, check documentation for more details on it.

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