/
2025-06-05 Frontend Working Group Meeting Notes: frontend-build as dev and optional peer dependency

2025-06-05 Frontend Working Group Meeting Notes: frontend-build as dev and optional peer dependency

 Date, time, location

 Discussion topic(s)

  • Continuing the “lighter prod dependencies” discussion

  • Jun 18, 2025is when Designs Tokens are landing on master for all Tutor-supported MFEs

🎥Recording

 Participants

  • Adam Stankiewicz

  • Adolfo Brandes

  • Brian Smith

  • Mohamed Rafeeh Ibrahim

🤖 Summary

Primary Focus: Frontend Build Dependency Handling

Problem Context

  • The group examined a PR aiming to move frontend build dependencies from direct to dev dependencies in order to reduce unnecessary installs during micro-frontend (MF) builds.

  • There is a recurring issue where frontend-build ends up in production bundles due to being a peer dependency of frontend-platform, despite being intended as a dev-only requirement for most MFs.

Key Technical Discussion

  • Current behavior:

    • frontend-platform lists frontend-build as a peer dependency.

    • This results in MFs pulling in frontend-build as a direct dependency, even when it's meant only for development.

  • Proposal by Adam:

    • Make frontend-build an optional peer dependency in frontend-platform.

    • This prevents automatic installation unless explicitly declared in the MF’s package.json.

  • Testing & Results:

    • Adam tested the optional peer dependency setup.

    • In MFs where frontend-build is listed explicitly as a dev dependency, it appears correctly as dev: true in package-lock.json.

    • Without it, it’s excluded entirely, which is desirable and flags missing dependencies clearly.

  • Decision Points:

    • The current PR suggesting moving frontend-build dependencies to dev dependencies was rejected.

    • The group agreed Adam's approach with optional peer dependencies is a better fit and more maintainable.

Next Steps & Responsibilities

  • ✅ Brian will update the PR discussion stating that the working group approved moving forward with Adam’s strategy.

  • 🔧 Adam will clean up the PR (name, version, metadata) and make it ready for broader review.

  • 🔍 The team plans to test and document three MF scenarios:

    1. Dev dependency present and valid ✅

    2. Dev dependency present but version too old ⚠️

    3. Dev dependency missing ❌

Design Tokens Launch Reminder

  • Date: June 18, 2025

  • Action: Design token branches will be merged into master for all tutor-supported Open edX MFs.

  • Clarification:

    • This update does not affect enterprise MFs.

    • Adam is coordinating with team members (e.g., Robert) for PR reviews to support this merge.

    • Brian will perform a sync post-merge and wants to ensure all necessary fixes are in frontend-platform before the sync.

Miscellaneous Development Items

  • Modal/Button Overrides in Paragon:

    • Adam is still working on configuring selectors for new overrides (e.g., modals, buttons).

    • Expected to discuss/land during next week’s Paragon working group.

  • Coordination and QA:

    • Adam offered to share a Google Doc from Max containing minor QA items.

    • Brian confirmed willingness to assist with any issues that may affect the upcoming release.

Final Conclusions

  • The group unanimously supports moving forward with Adam’s optional peer dependency strategy.

  • Emphasis on using npm’s existing tooling to validate dependency compatibility.

  • Clear understanding that minimizing unintended production dependencies is key.

 Action items

 Decisions