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docs: improve devEngines note #1535

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Merged
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Apr 4, 2025
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docs: improve devEngines note #1535

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8e6a4ca
fix: improve `devEngines` note
styfle Apr 2, 2025
e012ff6
fix: revise note
styfle Apr 2, 2025
ffbb248
apply suggestion from ljharb
styfle Apr 4, 2025
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2 changes: 1 addition & 1 deletion content/cli/v10/configuring-npm/package-json.mdx
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Expand Up @@ -903,7 +903,7 @@ The `devEngines` field aids engineers working on a codebase to all be using the

You can specify a `devEngines` property in your `package.json` which will run before `install`, `ci`, and `run` commands.

> Note: `engines` and `devEngines` differ in object shape. They also function very differently. `engines` is designed to alert the user when a dependency uses a differening npm or node version that the project it's being used in, whereas `devEngines` is used to alert people interacting with the source code of a project.
> Note: `engines` and `devEngines` differ in object shape and functionality. `engines` is designed to alert the user when a dependency uses a different npm or node version than the project it's being used in, whereas `devEngines` is used to alert people interacting with the source code of a project.
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this isn’t quite accurate - engines is for a package to declare what npm and/or node versions it’s compatible with.

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Are you suggesting to get rid of the word alert or something else?

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Suggested change
> Note: `engines` and `devEngines` differ in object shape and functionality. `engines` is designed to alert the user when a dependency uses a different npm or node version than the project it's being used in, whereas `devEngines` is used to alert people interacting with the source code of a project.
> Note: `engines` and `devEngines` differ in object shape and functionality. `engines` is intended for a package to declare the node and/or npm versions it is compatible with (the default for both is `*`), whereas `devEngines` is used to declare the intended runtime (node, etc) and/or package manager (npm, etc) to be used by developers working directly in the source code of a project.

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Thanks! I think I see what you're saying now 👍

What do you think of e012ff6?

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That's certainly correct! It would be nice to have the nuance that's contained in my suggestion, though :-)

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@styfle I like the nuance from @ljharb as well. If you want to update it with that I can see about getting this merged :)

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Sounds good. Please take a look at ffbb248

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Looks good to me. The part about the default value is documented elsewhere, so it doesn't need to be here, but it seemed useful to reinforce.

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@styfle styfle Apr 4, 2025 •
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The reason I left out the default value is because this section of the docs is about devEngines, not engines.

We should keep the NOTE short(ish) or else move it out of the NOTE and into a normal paragraph.

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Makes sense.


The supported keys under the `devEngines` property are `cpu`, `os`, `libc`, `runtime`, and `packageManager`. Each property can be an object or an array of objects. Objects must contain `name`, and optionally can specify `version`, and `onFail`. `onFail` can be `warn`, `error`, or `ignore`, and if left undefined is of the same value as `error`. `npm` will assume that you're running with `node`. Here's an example of a project that will fail if the environment is not `node` and `npm`. If you set `runtime.name` or `packageManager.name` to any other string, it will fail within the npm CLI.

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2 changes: 1 addition & 1 deletion content/cli/v11/configuring-npm/package-json.mdx
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -928,7 +928,7 @@ The `devEngines` field aids engineers working on a codebase to all be using the

You can specify a `devEngines` property in your `package.json` which will run before `install`, `ci`, and `run` commands.

> Note: `engines` and `devEngines` differ in object shape. They also function very differently. `engines` is designed to alert the user when a dependency uses a differening npm or node version that the project it's being used in, whereas `devEngines` is used to alert people interacting with the source code of a project.
> Note: `engines` and `devEngines` differ in object shape and functionality. `engines` is designed to alert the user when a dependency uses a different npm or node version than the project it's being used in, whereas `devEngines` is used to alert people interacting with the source code of a project.

The supported keys under the `devEngines` property are `cpu`, `os`, `libc`, `runtime`, and `packageManager`. Each property can be an object or an array of objects. Objects must contain `name`, and optionally can specify `version`, and `onFail`. `onFail` can be `warn`, `error`, or `ignore`, and if left undefined is of the same value as `error`. `npm` will assume that you're running with `node`. Here's an example of a project that will fail if the environment is not `node` and `npm`. If you set `runtime.name` or `packageManager.name` to any other string, it will fail within the npm CLI.

Expand Down