question: Is syncpack support respect mainApp as a main reference?

[flixyudh]

Question

Does syncpack support to treat MainApp as a source of truth dependencies while the other packages must respect the MainApp? I don't know what this structure should be called.

---

Usecase

Let say I have this tree structure:

monorepo/
  apps/
    myApp/package.json
  packages/
    a/package.json
    c/package.json

with detail dependencies like this:

apps/myapp/package.json:

{
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "name": "myapp",
  "main": "index.js",
  "private": true,
  "dependencies": {
    "lodash": "^4.17.21",
  }
}

packages/a/package.json:

{
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "name": "@packages/a",
  "main": "index.js",
  "private": true,
  "peerDependencies": {
    "zustand": "*"
  }
}

packages/b/package.json:

{
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "name": "@packages/b",
  "main": "index.js",
  "private": true,
  "peerDependencies": {
    "lodash": "*",
    "axios": "*"
  }
}

as you see the apps/myapp/package.json only has lodash, but packages/a has zustand as peerDep, and packages/b also has axios as peerDep.

How do i make apps/myapp/ as the main deps, so other packages that have library but not yet added on myapp appear when run syncpack?

I want to make the unlisted peerDependencies on packages/* to be listed on apps/myapp first. so the expected apps/myapp/package.json is:

{
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "name": "myapp",
  "main": "index.js",
  "private": true,
  "dependencies": {
    "axios": "latest-version",
    "lodash": "^4.17.21",
    "zustand": "latest-version",
  }
}

I've tried to search relevan issue about my case, but i'm not found it yet.

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow the Code of Conduct

[JamieMason]

Hey @flixyudh, this doesn't quite exist yet but could be added.

The closest thing to it is https://jamiemason.github.io/syncpack/version-groups/snapped-to/ but that will only sync versions to follow the ones app/myapp uses in dependencies they both already have in common, it won't add dependencies that are missing.

[flixyudh]

Hi @JamieMason , I just exploring trial the config.

Currently I have this config:

{
  "sortPackages": true,
  "semverGroups": [
    {
      "packages": ["@packages/*"],
      "range": "~"
    }
  ],
  "versionGroups": [
    {
      "label": "Always use the versions of react brought in by the Mobile App",
      "dependencies": ["react", "react-native"],
      "snapTo": ["mainApp"]
    }
  ]
}

I'm curious why when I run yarn syncpack fix-mismatches, the mainApp/package.json changes like this:

  "dependencies": {
    "@packages/feature-auth": "workspace:*", => "@packages/feature-auth": "1.0.0", 
    "@packages/feature-home": "workspace:*", => "@packages/feature-home": "1.0.0", 
    "@packages/navigation": "workspace:*", => "@packages/navigation": "1.0.0", 
    "@packages/theme": "workspace:*", => "@packages/theme": "1.0.0", 
    "@react-navigation/native": "^7.1.24", => "@react-navigation/native": "*", 
    "@react-navigation/native-stack": "^7.8.5", => "@react-navigation/native-stack": "*", 
    "react-native-safe-area-context": "^5.6.2", => "react-native-safe-area-context": "*", 
    "react-native-screens": "^4.18.0", => "react-native-screens": "^4.18.0", 
    "zustand": "^5.0.9" => "zustand": "*"
  },

is specifying version recommended instead of using workspace:*? also why the specific version changes to *?

[flixyudh]

I found something weird @JamieMason.

if I used versionGroups.dependencies with value ["react", "react-native"]
the react and react-native dependencies is not changes (still used specific version)

but when I used versionGroups.dependencies with value ["*"].
some of my dependencies is not changes except the packages start with @, like @react-navigation/native changes to *

result:

   "dependencies": {
-    "@packages/feature-auth": "workspace:*",
-    "@packages/feature-home": "workspace:*",
-    "@packages/navigation": "workspace:*",
-    "@packages/theme": "workspace:*",
-    "@react-navigation/native": "^7.1.24",
-    "@react-navigation/native-stack": "^7.8.5",
+    "@packages/feature-auth": "1.0.0",
+    "@packages/feature-home": "1.0.0",
+    "@packages/navigation": "1.0.0",
+    "@packages/theme": "1.0.0",
+    "@react-navigation/native": "*",
+    "@react-navigation/native-stack": "*",
     "react": "19.1.0",
     "react-native": "^0.81.5",
     "react-native-safe-area-context": "^5.6.2",

is it expected result? I expect packages that not related to monorepo should keep use version even if the packages used @.

[JamieMason]

1. versions set to workspace:*

For the workspace:* dependencies, without any context given in the form of configuration, syncpack v13 will treat them as version mismatches when they are also installed as regular dependencies (e.g. ^1.0.0 !== workspace:*).

This is a common gotcha in v13, there is a discussion here and this is not an issue in the upcoming v14, but here is how to teach syncpack about your repo:

Option 1: Use workspace:* to reference local packages

{
  "versionGroups": [
    {
      // for packages developed in your monorepo
      "dependencies": ["$LOCAL"],
      // when they are installed as prod or dev dependencies
      "dependencyTypes": ["dev", "prod"],
      // always use the workspace protocol to reference them
      "pinVersion": "workspace:*",
    },
  ],
}

Option 2: Ignore local packages

{
  "versionGroups": [
    {
      // for packages developed in your monorepo
      "dependencies": ["$LOCAL"],
      // when they are installed as prod or dev dependencies
      "dependencyTypes": ["dev", "prod"],
      // ignore local packages
      "isIgnored": true,
    },
  ],
}

2. versions set to *

The Peer Dependencies Guide should hopefully explain this.

---

For your last comment please revisit that one after addressing the above, then we can go from there.

[flixyudh]

I just tried the stackblitz to repro my case here https://stackblitz.com/edit/stackblitz-starters-e4urjdd6 , but I think stackblitz not support yarn berry, so i need to change all local package to specific version instead of workspace:*

when running yarn syncpack lint on stackblitz, @react-navigation packages suggested changes to *

is there any config i need to adjust?