The usage of `npm link`

[Roger Qiu]

The npm link can be useful when developing multiple packages together without having to go through publishing overhead. The exact steps for our system is a bit complicated.

Tasks

• 1. Add export npm_config_prefix=~/.npm to shell.nix, this ensures that ~/.npm is used for these links, and so it doesn't try to write it to the read-only path in /nix/store.
• 2. Provide instructions that you must then provide tsconfig paths for the relevant package like with the package @matrixai/db (this unfortunately must be done manually)

    "paths": {
      "@": ["index"],
      "@/*": ["*"],
      "@matrixai/db": ["../node_modules/@matrixai/db/src"],
      "@matrixai/db/*": ["../node_modules/@matrixai/db/src/*"]
    },
  

• 3. Explain how you now use npm link ../js-db, or use npm link in the js-db, then go back to js-polykey and use npm link @matrixai/db

Then you don't need to use npm run build, and you can reload window in vscode in case types must be updated.

[Roger Qiu]

@tegefaulkes this is what I'm doing right now with testnetprep.

[Roger Qiu]

Important that once your development process is over, to remove those properties from tsconfig.json as they no longer apply.