Building SaaS with a Zero-Dependency Mindset
“Zero dependency” does not mean you write every line yourself. It means you treat every dependency as a cost and only pay when the benefit is clear. For SaaS, that mindset reduces supply-chain risk, keeps bundles small, and makes upgrades and audits tractable.
Dependency as liability
Every dependency can break, change license, or go unmaintained. In Node, left-pad showed how a tiny package can take down the ecosystem. In front-end, heavy frameworks and UI libraries lock you into their release cycle and their bugs. The more you depend on, the more you have to track, test, and upgrade. So the default should be: do we need this?
When to add a dependency
Add a dependency when: (1) the problem is well-defined and the library solves it correctly, (2) the maintenance burden of doing it yourself is higher than the burden of upgrading the library, and (3) the license and security posture are acceptable. For example: cryptography, date/time edge cases, and complex parsing are often worth a dependency. A button component or a shallow clone utility usually is not.
How to minimize
- Prefer the platform: use the Fetch API, CSS Grid, native modules. You get updates with the runtime.
- Prefer small, focused packages over frameworks when you can. One function to do one thing is easier to replace than a whole ecosystem.
- Audit regularly: run
npm outdated, check for security advisories, and remove what you no longer use. - Abstract the dependency behind your own interface. If you ever need to swap or remove it, you have one place to change.
Zero-dependency as strategy
In practice, “zero dependency” is a direction, not a literal count. The goal is to own your critical path and to keep optional dependencies optional. For a content site, that might mean static HTML and a tiny script. For a SaaS app, it might mean a minimal runtime and a small set of well-chosen libraries. The mindset is: every dependency should earn its place. That keeps the system understandable, fast, and under your control.