Blog

Deep dives on JSON, data formats, and developer tools.

What React's package.json Tells You About Its Build Toolchain

React's root manifest ships zero runtime dependencies — every entry is a build tool. 28 Babel plugins, two type checkers, Rollup, Google Closure Compiler, and a blocked Jest runner. Here's what it all means.

Auditing React's package.json: Version Pinning, Dependency Debt, and What Meta Ships

A forensic read of React's devDependencies — why eslint-plugin-jest is exact-pinned, why jsdom is frozen at 22.1.0, what two Prettier versions coexist for, and what the Babel version drift reveals about the project's history.

The Absolute Minimum Tokens: TOON (Token-Oriented Object Notation)

JSON repeats every key on every row. TOON declares keys once. For arrays of structured objects — analytics events, user records, LLM batch inputs — the token savings are substantial and the parser fits in 20 lines.