Installs into .claude/skills of the current project.
Are you the author of Dependency Hygiene?
Add the live security badge to your README. It updates with every re-scan.
[](https://www.skillsdirectory.com/skills/andersseen-dependency-hygiene)
---
name: dependency-hygiene
description: Keep the dependency graph small, current and pointing one way.
---
# Dependency hygiene
Every dependency is a commitment: to its API, its release cadence and its own dependencies.
## Justify each addition
Prefer the standard library and existing project dependencies. Adding a package for a function you
could write in a few lines trades a small cost now for an upgrade obligation forever.
## Keep direction one way
Module dependencies should form a directed acyclic graph. A cycle means the two modules are really
one, and it blocks testing, reuse and independent change.
## Depend on abstractions at boundaries
Isolate third-party clients behind an interface you own so a replacement touches one place. Apply
this where the risk is real, not to every import — an indirection layer for its own sake is cost
without benefit.
## Remove what is unused
Unused dependencies still carry vulnerabilities, install time and upgrade noise. Prune them
deliberately, since no tool will decide for you that a package is no longer wanted.
## Watch the transitive graph
Direct dependency count understates the real surface. Review what a package brings with it before
adding it, and prefer libraries with a small, well-maintained tree.
