Don’t Let the Package Ruin the Party: Securing Dependencies While Vibe Coding

🎯 Introduction: One Install Away from Vulnerability

There’s nothing like rapid prototyping or flow-state coding—where you're installing packages left and right to test an idea quickly.

But here’s the problem: every time you install a dependency, you’re trusting someone else’s code to run in your app—and potentially in your users' environments. That’s why dependency hygiene is essential, even when you're coding at full speed.

⚠️ 1. Think Before You Install

It’s tempting to install a package just because it solves your problem in one line. But some things to check first:

• Is the package actively maintained?
• Does it have recent commits and releases?
• How many weekly downloads does it have?
• Any open security advisories?

You can use:

npm audit

or

bun audit

to check for known vulnerabilities.

🐍 2. Beware of Typosquatting

Attackers often upload malicious packages with names that are very close to popular libraries, like:

• react-routerd instead of react-router-dom
• expresss instead of express

Double-check the package name before you install it. One misplaced character can infect your entire app.

🧱 3. Avoid Overstacking the Stack

Installing 10 tiny libraries for trivial things can bloat your app and increase attack surface.

Examples:

• Using lodash.get is fine. Using the entire lodash for one _.get isn’t.
• For basic slugification, consider writing your own small function instead of pulling in a full package.

Rule of thumb: If it's under 10 lines, maybe don't install a package.

🔐 4. Lock Dependencies, Especially in Production

When you’re deploying, always:

• Use lockfiles (package-lock.json, bun.lockb, or yarn.lock)
• Avoid latest tags in production
• Pin versions during CI builds

This ensures you're deploying exactly what you tested—no surprises.

⚙️ 5. Automate Dependency Audits

Make audits part of your workflow:

• GitHub Dependabot can open PRs for outdated or vulnerable packages.
• Snyk, Socket.dev, or npm audit can scan your codebase regularly.

You can even run audits in your CI/CD pipeline:

npm audit --production

📦 Bonus: Understand What You’re Importing

Many devs use large libraries for small tasks without realizing the baggage:

Bad: pulling the whole moment.js for one format import moment from 'moment' // Better: import { format } from 'date-fns'

Some libraries let you tree-shake, others don’t. Know what’s coming into your bundle.

🧩 Conclusion: Creativity Is Cool, But So Is Caution

When you're deep in the zone, it’s easy to say “I’ll clean it up later.” But messy dependencies are harder to clean up than you think—and one bad package can break or exploit your entire project.

So next time you vibe code and run bun add or npm install, do it with your developer brain and security hat on.