dep-blame: Understand how your dependencies changed

Have you ever looked at a dependency and wondered when it was added, how its version changed, or which commit introduced an update?

I built dep-blame to make those questions easier to answer.

The inspiration came from git-pkgs, a standalone Git tool for exploring dependency history. I wanted to bring that idea into a focused tool for JavaScript and TypeScript projects, with a CLI and a simple local dashboard.

What does it do?

dep-blame reads your repository’s Git history and shows dependency additions, updates, and removals.

You can explore:

• When a dependency first appeared in the available history.
• How its versions changed over time.
• The commit author, date, and message behind each change.
• Dependency changes across workspace manifests.
• Declared requirements in package.json and resolved versions in lockfiles.

The dashboard includes a searchable table, filters, a calendar, and a history view for individual dependencies.

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The dep-blame dashboard makes dependency changes easier to browse and inspect.

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Why is it useful?

Imagine your application starts behaving differently after a dependency upgrade. dep-blame helps you locate the version change and its commit, giving you a starting point for investigating the problem.

It also helps when reviewing dependency updates, joining an unfamiliar project, or understanding how an older codebase evolved.

The goal is simple: make dependency history easier to find, read, and understand.

Try it

With Node.js 20+ and Git installed, run these commands inside your project’s Git repository:

# View dependency history in the terminal
npx dep-blame

# Open the local dashboard
npx dep-blame ui

If you’ve ever searched through a long lockfile diff to understand one package update, dep-blame might be useful to you.

Explore the project: GitHub · npm