PNPM is mandatory and this is problematic

[PaulRBerg]

Problem

We prefer to use Bun for managing our package dependencies, but the Envio CLI force-feeds PNPM. For example, when I run this command:

bun run envio codegen

The CLI starts using PNPM, entirely ignoring my Bun setup. The CLI even proceeds to install PNPM on my local machine:

bun run envio codegen
Installing packages... 
Checking for pnpm package...
Package pnpm is not installed. Installing now...

added 1 package in 476ms

This is problematic because we use Envio in a monerepo where PNPM is not our package manager of choice.

Solutions

Temporary Solution

Clarify in your documentation site that this is the behavior of the Envio CLI. At the moment, PNPM is 'recommended' - but what happens in practice is that PNPM is enforced, not just recommended.

Permanent Solution

Allow users to install the Envio CLI as a Node.js dependency and run it from node_modules. I don't see why you have to enforce PNPM?

More Context

We (cc @razgraf) previously discussed this issue with your team in ~Jan 2024 in our private chat group on Telegram.

At that time, @DenhamPreen said this:

I asked this internally and we did make some progress on this but were limited by a blocker and so opinionatedly decided to keep the support to pnpm for now. Bun was a little more complicated, let me get the response to that.

Both these issues where the blocker, however both look closed and so we can explore again. Will share with the team the user feedback for usage with yarn...

Do you have any updates on support for other package managers? Can't you simply load envio from the user's own node_modules?

• Using pino with pino-pretty results in a TypeError at runtime oven-sh/bun#4280
• Implement PerformanceObserver oven-sh/bun#4708

[PaulRBerg]

Related: enviodev/hyperindex#499

[PaulRBerg]

As an alternative, recommend users to use a Dockerized version of Envio, and provide a template repo that users can quickly fork and start prototyping with.

[DZakh]

We have it as a required prerequisite https://docs.envio.dev/docs/HyperIndex/getting-started#prerequisites. Your link is for HyperSync client project. But we'll try to make it more clear.

As for removing the dependency on pnpm this is possible, but it is a bigger project than it seems, since we actually rely on pnpm for packages linking. We have it on our list, but without actual estimates.

[PaulRBerg]

Oh, alright. Sorry, I have just started learning to know my way around Envio.

Until you remove the dependency on pnpm, would you like to throw a warning in the CLI when you detect that the user runs it with Bun, Yarn, or NPM?

Also, could you confirm that instead of running Envio through a Node.js package manager, it should be possible to do it via a Dockerized version?

[PaulRBerg]

Link to our repo:

https://github.com/sablier-labs/indexers/tree/07b3166a41bda559f94ac5026f038efdbd8fb6fc/apps/flow-envio

[PaulRBerg]

Hey @DZakh just following up on my question above — it'd be helpful to know if we could run Envio through a Dcokerized version so we can get rid of the forceful PNPM installation. Thank you.

[DZakh]

Yes, it's possible. HyperIndex is a simple Node.js process, so it can be dockerized. I don't have a docker file at hand, but it should be similar to a normal node.js app using pnpm.

[PaulRBerg]

Is PNPM still required after the v2.22 release? I know that pnpm-workspaces.yaml and .npmignore are no longer required.

[DZakh]

Yes. It's still required.

[DZakh]

Started working on it