My understanding is that the zero-dependency approach was both 1) to require no transitive dependencies on install, compared to installing hundreds of packages

My understanding is that the zero-dependency approach was both 1) to require no transitive dependencies on install, compared to installing hundreds of packages to run some of the current standard JS tooling, and 2) to have maximum control over performance and size. It’s an extreme approach that intended to get extreme results. One could definitely argue that you can get just good results with a good approach (like using a bundler to produce a single output, writing perf-sensitive code, continually testing for perf regression), that’s just not the path they chose from the start.