What are the benefits of adding configs to package.json?

Question

I have always placed different "tooling configurations" in their own files in my front-end projects.

For example: babel in babel.config.js, jest in jest.config.js, eslint in an .eslintrc.json, etc.

I have noticed recently however that it is possible to place many of these configurations directly in a projects package.json file instead.

I did some digging around online and asked a few colleagues but no-one can seem to give me a definitive answer as to why one might prefer one approach over the other.

Is it purely a matter of preference?

Answer 1

My suggestion is to avoid stuffing package.json with custom configs mainly for two reasons.

First is regarding developer expectations. Putting yourself in the position of a person that is just getting off with JavaScript and NPM ecosystem, you see something that's not documented, at least not where you expect it to be. This kind of experience could easily drive folks away especially if they come from more strict developer platforms and languages.

Second, keyword collision or more importantly the thought of such being possible. We don't expect NPM to consider not using some keyword in the future just because some shiny new lib is using it too, do we?

On the other hand having dedicated files for babel, browserlist, postcss is such more simple, self-explanatory approach and every single of those projects already recommends using dedicated files for configurations.