a fast rust-based package manager for javascript/node! :3
vee is currently available only on linux and macos!
i made it because i got into an interesting disagreement with my friends (@meghanam4, @neongamerbot-qk, @froppii and @tanmayrajk) about which is the best package manager and they kept saying pnpm but i do NOT like pnpm (we have our differences </3) so i made my own so they can use this instead of pnpm.
curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/v1peridae/vee/main/install.sh | shgit clone https://github.com/v1peridae/vee
cargo install --path vee/veevee create vite my-app
cd my-app
vee install
vee run dev# global flags
vee -v, --verbose # verbose logs
vee -S, --simulate # prints what it would do
# project + dependencies
vee install # install dependencies (alias - vee i)
vee install -P, --production # install production dependencies only
vee install --frozen-lockfile # error if vee.lock missing/outdated
vee install --ignore-scripts # skip package lifecycle scripts
vee add <pkg> # add dependency
vee add -D, --dev <pkg> # add dev dependency
vee add <pkg>@<version> # pin version (supported way)
vee remove <pkg> # remove dependency
vee update [pkgs...] # update all dependencies, or only named ones
# scripts / running
vee run <script> [-- args...] # run a package.json script
vee <script> [-- args...] # shorthand for `vee run <script>`
vee run <file.js> [-- args...]# run a JS file directly (if it exists)
# scaffolding
vee init [-y, --yes] # create package.json
vee create <name> [args...] # runs create-<name> (supports <name>@<ver> too)
# one-off executables
vee exec <pkg> [args...] # run a package binary without installing (alias - vee dlx)
vee exec <pkg>@<ver> [args...]# versioned exec
# inspection
vee list [--prod] [--dev] # list direct dependencies (alias - vee ls)
vee list --tree # show dependency tree
vee outdated # show outdated dependencies
# cache
vee cache clean # clear ~/.vee cache
vee cache info # show cache size + locationspecs: macOS 15.7.3 / apple m4 / 16gb ram
versions: vee 0.1.1, bun 1.2.19, pnpm 10.30.3, npm 11.5.1
110 packages (see TESTS.md)
note:tests 1 + 2 depend on your network speed so they may vary
| test | vee | bun | pnpm | npm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1. clean install - no cache, no lockfile, no node_modules |
~9.5s | ~5.4s | ~7.4s | ~32s |
| 2. with lockfile, no cache | ~3.6s | ~3.2s | ~3.5s | ~3.4s |
note: tests 3 + 4 are local-only, run with hyperfine (7–10 runs, mean ± standard deviation):
| test | vee | bun | pnpm | npm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
3. with cache + lockfile, no node_modules |
44ms ± 4ms | 51ms ± 17ms | 491ms ± 32ms | 1.01s ± 0.02s |
| 4. warm install (everything already installed) | 3.0ms ± 0.2ms | 6.6ms ± 0.4ms | 202ms ± 17ms | 1.02s ± 0.02s |
tldr; for the cold installs bun is faster but once the cache is warm, vee is the fastest (2x bun, ~68x pnpm, ~340x npm on warm installs)
wanna reproduce this? check out TESTS.md
vee works with your package.json, uses the npm registry (configurable via .npmrc) + produces a node_modules layout with symlinks that node will understand. so your existing vite, next or whatever should work (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶)
MIT - do whatever you want
this was one of my most complex projects and i got some help from claude's sonnet and opus 4.6 especially with testing + fixing a shit load of unompimised code and fixing my install.sh code bc it just wouldn't work when i did it :')
made with :3 and <3 by @v1peridae ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡