I'm pretty happy with the projects I've managed to ship as a solo developer using minimal dependencies. Over my career I've tried every level of dependency from

I'm pretty happy with the projects I've managed to ship as a solo developer using minimal dependencies. Over my career I've tried every level of dependency from left-pad to NIH. The sweet spot for me is somewhere in the middle, but leaning towards NIH. Typically my approach is to attempt implementing something myself before using a library, unless it's something I already know I'm going to need one. If I notice myself going too far down the rabbit hole, I back up and use a lib. At the very least I end up with a greater appreciation for what the dependency is saving me. But often I find you don't actually need more than a small subset of a given library, and my homemade solution keeps chugging along for years. I still mostly agree with my thoughts from a couple years ago: https://apitman.com/11/#dependencies https://apitman.com/11/#dependencies