dependency manager best practice

[alvinyusuf]

Is it best practice to use Soldeer as a dependency manager, or just use forge install?

[BhariGowda]

Hi Mate. Both are valid but serve different needs:

forge install (Git submodules) — current standard, works out of the box:

forge install OpenZeppelin/openzeppelin-contracts --no-commit
forge install smartcontractkit/chainlink-brownie-contracts --no-commit

• Dependencies live in lib/
• Set remappings in foundry.toml
• Battle-tested, widely documented, most tutorials use this

Soldeer — newer native package manager built into Foundry:

forge soldeer install @openzeppelin-contracts~5.0.0

• Dependencies live in dependencies/
• Cleaner versioning (semver)
• No git submodule headaches
• Still maturing, fewer community examples

Recommendation:

• Learning / following tutorials → use forge install (more resources available)
• New production project → consider Soldeer (cleaner long-term)
• Mixing both in one project is possible but messy — pick one

The Foundry team is pushing Soldeer as the future standard, but forge install is still dominant in production codebases today.