Fix @leanspec/ui standalone packaging issue

Status: ✅ Complete · Priority: High · Created: 2025-11-18 · Tags: packaging, bug-fix

Project: lean-spec
Team: Core Development

Overview

The published @leanspec/ui@0.2.4 package fails to run with error Cannot find module 'next'. This occurs because Next.js standalone build creates symlinks in node_modules/, but npm pack doesn't follow symlinks by default, resulting in missing dependencies in the published package.

Root Cause: The files field in package.json included .next/standalone/node_modules/ which only contains symlinks pointing to .next/standalone/node_modules/.pnpm/. When npm packs the tarball, these symlinks aren't resolved.

Impact: Users running lean-spec ui via the published npm package cannot start the UI server.

Design

Solution: Update the files field in packages/ui/package.json to include the actual pnpm store location:

"files": [
  "bin/",
  ".next/standalone/packages/",
  ".next/standalone/node_modules/.pnpm/",  // Changed from .next/standalone/node_modules/
  ".next/static/",
  "public/",
  "README.md",
  "LICENSE"
]

This ensures actual dependency files (not just symlinks) are included in the published package.

Version Alignment: All packages bumped to 0.2.5:

@leanspec/ui: 0.2.4 → 0.2.5
@leanspec/core: 0.2.4 → 0.2.5
lean-spec: 0.2.4 → 0.2.5
@leanspec/mcp: Already at 0.2.5

Plan

Update packages/ui/package.json files field
Bump all package versions to 0.2.5
Update cross-package dependencies
Build and test locally
Publish updated packages

Test

Verification Steps:

Build the UI package: pnpm --filter @leanspec/ui build
Pack locally: npm pack --dry-run and verify next module is included

Test installation in separate directory:

cd /tmp/test-leanspec-ui
npm install @leanspec/ui@0.2.5
npx leanspec-ui --specs /path/to/specs

Verify UI starts without "Cannot find module 'next'" error

Notes

Package Size: With this change, the published package is ~18.3 MB compressed (65 MB unpacked), which is reasonable for a Next.js standalone app.

Future Improvement: Consider documenting version alignment strategy in CONTRIBUTING.md or creating a release script to ensure versions stay in sync.