Lean by need, not count
Lean by need, not count
The build-gate principle — "top-3 results must have a defect" before we ship — generalizes from features to dependencies. There is no target floor for the number of npm deps in a project, and no ceiling. Each dep stands on its own: does it solve a real problem that we can't solve cheaper inline? If yes, pull it in. If no, drop it. The total count is an output, never an input.
This means: don't pad a package.json to look "serious," and don't artificially slim it to look "lean." Both moves optimize for the wrong target. The right target is each dep individually clearing the same defect-justification bar that features clear.
Captured 2026-06-25 when user said "no minimum" on the blog's deps after I asked if 100+ was a floor or a target. The clarification: deps follow the same justify-or-drop rule as everything else; the count is incidental.
Related:
build-gate-top3-must-have-defect— the parent rule this generalizes from