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Local development against a consuming app

Change library code and see it in the consuming app right away, without publishing a new version each time. We use yalc: it swaps your local build into the app in place of the installed package.

Setup (once)

yalc is stable and heavily used but no longer actively maintained, so we pin the last published version:

npm i -g yalc@1.0.0-pre.53

Daily use

In the library, two terminals:

# terminal 1: rebuild the library every time you save
npm run dev

# terminal 2: send each new build into the linked apps
npx nodemon --watch dist --exec "yalc push"

In the consuming app, link the library once. Use yalc link, not yalc add: it swaps in your local build via a symlink and leaves package.json untouched, so there is nothing to accidentally commit.

yalc link @aerius/vue-geo-components

Now save a file in the library and the app updates on screen.

Keep it linked (no teardown needed)

You can leave the app linked to your local library permanently. There is no daily setup/teardown - the two watchers above keep it fresh while you work. You only unlink when you want the app back on the published version:

yalc remove @aerius/vue-geo-components && npm install

The one thing to get right: keep yalc's local files out of the app's git. yalc link creates a .yalc/ folder and a yalc.lock (it does not touch package.json). Add both to the app's .gitignore.

Windows

It all works on Windows. Set these up:

  • Node 24. nvm-windows ignores .nvmrc. Run nvm install 24 && nvm use 24 yourself, or use fnm or Volta, which pick the version for you.
  • Line endings. The repo has a .gitattributes file that forces LF, which keeps Prettier and the lint check happy. If you cloned before it existed, run git add --renormalize . once.
  • Two terminals. Use two tabs, one for each command above.
  • If saving doesn't rebuild (antivirus, OneDrive, or a network drive can cause this), turn on polling in that terminal:
    • PowerShell: $env:CHOKIDAR_USEPOLLING=1; npm run dev
    • cmd: set CHOKIDAR_USEPOLLING=1 && npm run dev

Sharing changes with others

yalc only works on your machine. To give your changes to teammates or CI, push to main: that publishes a new dev snapshot to Nexus automatically. See versioning.md.