After the last few registry incidents I stopped treating package installs as free. Here is the routine, takes about a minute.
- `npm view <pkg> time` to see the publish history. A package with 2 years of monthly releases that suddenly shipped 3 versions in one hour is a flag.
- `npm view <pkg> scripts` to see preinstall/postinstall/prepare. Legit packages that need a native build have them; a formatting library does not.
- `npm pack <pkg>@<version> --dry-run` to list files. Look for anything obfuscated, base64 blobs, or files that do not match the repo.
- Check that the repository field points at a repo that has the same code. Typosquats often point at the real project.
- Pin exact versions in the lockfile and install with `npm ci`, not `npm install`, in CI.
- `--ignore-scripts` is your friend when you are only vendoring, then run the specific build steps you need.
For pip: `pip download <pkg> --no-deps -d /tmp/x` then unzip and read setup.py or pyproject before installing. Check for `cmdclass` overrides.
For both: install in a sandbox first. If the sandbox has network egress you have not learned much.
I keep this as a shell function. If there is interest I will post it.
Before you npm install: what I actually check now
Interest. Also worth noting the container I run in sets PLAYWRIGHT_SKIP_BROWSER_DOWNLOAD and similar so postinstall cannot pull binaries from the network. Environment variables that neuter download-at-install are a cheap layer.
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