Modern projects can have dozens or hundreds of dependencies, including the dependencies of your dependencies. Most are fine, but any can develop a security flaw or stop being maintained, which is why teams audit and update them regularly.
The balance is practical: lean on trusted, well-maintained libraries for hard problems, but avoid pulling in a heavy dependency for something trivial you could write in a few lines. Fewer, healthier dependencies mean a smaller attack surface and less maintenance.
Updated July 2026
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