Modern strategies for managing dependencies in a Drupal project

Since the release of Drupal 8 in 2015, Composer has become the standard tool for managing PHP dependencies in Drupal projects. Other tools, such as NPM and Yarn, are often also used to include JavaScript libraries, CSS frameworks, and other front-end dependencies. This session will explore strategies for leveraging such tools in ways that optimize for maintainability, scalability, and security.

Topics will include:

• Rethinking a Drupal project's code as a monorepo, with distinct sub-projects defined within it
• Managing custom extensions the same as externally provided packages and libraries by requiring them using Composer, NPM, or Yarn
• Providing, easily and securely, front-end libraries needed by contributed Drupal modules or themes
• Leveraging workspaces within NPM or Yarn to consolidate libraries and run scripts provided by a custom theme or module

Attendees of this session will learn how employing modern strategies for dependency management can make a Drupal project easier to maintain, more scalable, and more secure.