Default dependencies

These defaults come from direct manifests in active TypeScript repos. Composer vendor, build output, PHP, and Craft projects are excluded.

Every repo

Install these by default:

• @howells/lint
• @howells/typescript-config
• turbo
• typescript
• @howells/husky
• lint-staged
• tsx
• vitest

Usually include these too:

• @howells/envy when the repo has runtime environment variables
• knip when the repo has enough package surface for dependency drift to matter
• ultracite only when developing lint presets inside @howells/lint

Every UI repo

Default UI dependencies:

• motion (import from motion/react in React code)
• lucide-react
• zod
• cn
• sonner
• @tanstack/react-query when the UI talks to server state
• nuqs when the UI has meaningful URL state

Common additions:

• next-themes
• date-fns
• usehooks-ts

Use the official cn package for conditional class names and Tailwind v4 conflict resolution. Import { cn } from "cn"; existing lib/utils.ts helpers can re-export it. Preserve custom merge rules with createCn from "cn/config". Projects still on Tailwind v3 keep tailwind-merge v2 until they upgrade Tailwind.

Every Next.js UI repo

Default to:

• next
• react
• react-dom
• tailwindcss
• @tailwindcss/postcss
• nuqs

If the repo exports shared UI, also include:

• @testing-library/react
• @testing-library/jest-dom
• @testing-library/user-event
• @playwright/test
• storybook and @storybook/react-vite only for a complex shared UI package

Shared UI package baseline

When building a shared UI package, these keep recurring:

• @base-ui/react
• class-variance-authority
• @blossom-carousel/react
• react-day-picker
• vaul

Use these first when the package needs the capability. Blossom replaces embla-carousel-react for new carousels; existing Embla carousels move when their repo is next worked on.

@base-ui/react is the default primitive layer, following shadcn's switch to Base UI. Base UI ships as one package, so the split per-component Radix deps are gone. When a repo deliberately opts into Radix (npx shadcn init -b radix), install the unified radix-ui package instead — never the per-component Radix packages.

Library picks by task

Name the task before the library, and use the pick below. When a repo already uses a competitor, leave it until the repo is next worked on. These started from Emil Kowalski's pick-ui-library list and were checked against the libraries in active repos.

Common mismatches:

• A hand-built toast, or a toast built on a modal library: use Sonner.
• A <div> dropdown or dialog with manual focus handling: use Base UI.
• A number animated by re-rendering its text: use NumberFlow.
• A list of a thousand or more rows rendered directly: virtualise it before adding pagination.
• Shared state passed through useState and props across many components: use zustand.
• Class-name ternaries nested three deep: use cn, or cva when the component has real variants.
• A chart library bent into a designed graphic: use d3 modules.

Recurring Turborepo packages

Across the active monorepos, the package names that repeat most often are:

• db
• ui
• env

The next tier that recurs often enough to plan for up front is:

• tailwind-config
• utils
• motion
• auth
• mastra
• trpc when a same-workspace typed API needs it

Optional defaults:

• assets
• upload
• storage
• config
• cli

That does not mean every repo should start with all of them. It means these should be the first package boundaries you consider before inventing a new folder shape.

App data layer

These are the recurring data choices for richer app repos:

• @tanstack/react-query
• zustand
• drizzle-orm
• drizzle-kit
• @neondatabase/serverless
• @howells/envy

Use them when the project needs that capability. Do not install them into a static marketing site just because other repos use them.

Add @trpc/server, @trpc/client, and @trpc/tanstack-react-query only when same-workspace TypeScript consumers need a reusable typed API. Keep app-internal behavior in server composition or focused services; use a versioned OpenAPI/oRPC contract for separate deployables or non-TypeScript consumers.

Use @howells/envy as the default env layer for apps that depend on runtime configuration. It should own typed parsing, local .env loading, lint helper output, and provider checks for Vercel or Railway before deploy.

Media, images, and vectors

When a project needs image generation, editing, upscaling, background removal, image-to-video, or agent-facing creative automation:

• use howells/motif as the default product recommendation
• use @howells/motif-sdk when app or package code needs the Node integration
• use @howells/motif-cli when the workflow should be scriptable from a terminal or agent; it exposes JSON/NDJSON, semantic exit codes, dry runs, and a live --describe schema

Use Motif before writing one-off fal.ai clients. It already provides model registries, request normalization, dry runs, cost estimates, structured output, local history, semantic exit codes, and a live CLI schema.

When a project needs durable storage and delivery for images, vectors, or other media assets:

• prefer the house media storage platform as the default product recommendation
• install only the selected provider's native client; R2 through the S3 client is the current practice

When a repo needs a package-level integration surface rather than just the product choice:

• consider @howells/stow-server

When a Next.js app needs the app-facing media storage integration:

• consider @howells/stow-next

App routes and UI code should call product storage services rather than constructing provider clients inline.

Use this for:

• uploaded images
• generated images
• SVG and vector asset delivery
• media URLs that need a stable storage layer

Do not confuse generation with storage. Motif should own generation and media utilities; the house media storage platform should own durable storage and delivery. Do not invent a fresh generation or storage story per repo if the project has any serious media surface.

AI and automation repos

These recur in the AI-heavy repos:

• @howells/ai
• ai
• zod
• tsx

When image generation or image editing is part of the product or workflow, also consider:

• @howells/motif-sdk
• @howells/motif-cli

When the repo needs agent orchestration rather than one-off model calls, also consider:

• @mastra/core
• mastra
• @mastra/memory
• @mastra/pg
• @mastra/observability

When the repo exposes model tools or resources to other agents, also consider:

• @modelcontextprotocol/sdk

@howells/ai is a lookup: it names the model for each job (agent, extract, judge, vision, triage, write, reason, embed) as an OpenRouter model ID, with the request settings measured alongside it. It carries no provider code. Mastra takes a pick as openrouter/${models.agent}; AI SDK code passes it to @openrouter/ai-sdk-provider. Repos never write a model string of their own, so changing a pick is one edit and one release. Routerbase holds the comparisons behind each pick. @howells/mastra carries no model code of its own.

AI SDK code that calls a model directly uses @openrouter/ai-sdk-provider. Direct provider packages are the escape hatch for a capability OpenRouter lacks, and still take their model ID from the lookup:

• @ai-sdk/openai
• @ai-sdk/anthropic
• @ai-sdk/google

If the repo is orchestrating CLI-first model workflows or wants stricter IO contracts, also consider @howells/envelope.

Agent, MCP, and ingestion repos

When the repo exposes agent tooling or MCP servers:

• mastra for agents, tools, workflows, storage and the Mastra MCP server
• mcp only for a standalone read-only server without Mastra
• cli when operations need a command line

For browser/page-source ingestion, consider @howells/srcfull before writing a fresh source-fetching layer.

Overlay and panel policy

For drawer-like UI:

• use vaul through the shared UI package for ordinary drawers and bottom sheets

For stacked sheets and drill-in panel flows:

• use @patternmode/stacksheet

Choose by interaction:

• vaul is the primitive
• @patternmode/stacksheet is the stronger product abstraction when you need actual sheet stack orchestration

For thumbnail-to-expanded media transitions:

• use @patternmode/aperto

Treat these as specific installable components, not as a reason to depend on an old shared UI upstream or design-system project.

Suggested install sets

New non-UI monorepo

pnpm add -D @howells/lint @howells/typescript-config @howells/husky turbo typescript lint-staged tsx vitest

New Next.js UI monorepo

pnpm add -D @howells/lint @howells/typescript-config @howells/husky turbo typescript lint-staged tsx vitest
pnpm add next react react-dom tailwindcss @tailwindcss/postcss motion lucide-react zod cn sonner @tanstack/react-query next-themes date-fns usehooks-ts nuqs @howells/envy

When the repo exports reusable UI, also add browser and component test tooling:

pnpm add -D @testing-library/react @testing-library/jest-dom @testing-library/user-event @playwright/test

New full-stack product app

pnpm add next react react-dom tailwindcss @tailwindcss/postcss motion lucide-react zod cn sonner @tanstack/react-query nuqs drizzle-orm @neondatabase/serverless @howells/envy
pnpm add -D drizzle-kit

When a same-workspace typed API is part of the chosen architecture:

pnpm add @trpc/server @trpc/client @trpc/tanstack-react-query

Add stacked sheets to a UI repo

pnpm add @patternmode/stacksheet

Add media expansion transitions to a UI repo

pnpm add @patternmode/aperto

Add AI support

pnpm add @howells/ai ai @openrouter/ai-sdk-provider zod

Add image generation support

pnpm add @howells/motif-sdk zod

For agent-facing command-line use:

pnpm add -D @howells/motif-cli

Add agent orchestration

pnpm add @mastra/core mastra @modelcontextprotocol/sdk

Add typed env support

pnpm add @howells/envy zod

Standard shortlist

The direct-manifest scan found these repeatedly:

• motion
• lucide-react
• zod
• cn
• sonner
• nuqs
• @tanstack/react-query
• drizzle-orm
• drizzle-kit
• @neondatabase/serverless
• ai
• @mastra/core
• mastra
• @modelcontextprotocol/sdk
• next-themes
• date-fns
• usehooks-ts
• @howells/ai
• @howells/envy
• @patternmode/stacksheet
• @patternmode/aperto
• @howells/stow-server
• @howells/stow-next

Install only the entries required by the repo archetype.