Add npm dependencies?

Continuing discussion from https://github.com/fable-compiler/Fable/issues/1649#issuecomment-440917740

There are currently two issues for Fable users and authors. Would it be possible to fix both by adding npm dependencies to Paket?

• Fable users need to handle two package managers: Paket/Nuget and npm
• Sometimes Fable lib authors need npm dependencies and they have no way to specify that, so users need to check the docs and remember what they should install.

Note I’m not talking about Fable.React because it’s loosely coupled to React (can be used with preact, or in a netcore app), but about other libs where the npm dependency is more transparent to the user (Fulma, Zaid’s bindings…).

What would Paket do with npm dependencies?

• I assume Paket won’t take care of the actual installation, just adding the packages to package.json (translating the semver syntax used by Paket to npm’s one).
• Should Paket run npm install automatically after restore/install if it detects npm dependencies?

[nojaf]

@alfonsogarciacaro I’m like the biggest fan of Paket .NET Core, install via

dotnet tool install --tool-path “.paket” Paket --add-source https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json

[ericnewton76]

Just my 2c:

Paket is not npm, and npm is not paket. I wouldn’t expect npm to run paket install if it happened to see a paket.references file locally. That’s for the developer and documentation of how to build the project.

If Fable is used to nuget/paket and npm, then it’s part of the ecosystem already. Create a build.sh or build.cmd which invokes both if you need to.