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# Dependencies and imports

Packages is where you decide which building blocks a document, or the whole site, can use: components from your own project, and components from npm packages (the web's public library of ready-made building blocks). Open it by running **Show Packages** from ⌘K. Packages is a developer panel: it has a button in the **Document** group of the Navigator rail only when **Show developer panels** is on in **[Preferences › Appearance](/docs/studio/interface/preferences#appearance)**.

![The Packages panel showing a package section with per-component checkboxes](/content/docs/images/imports-panel.png)

## Opening a project that has never been installed

When you open a project whose `node_modules` is missing, Studio runs `bun install` for you behind a progress dialog before the editor loads, so component and format resolution see the real dependency tree rather than an empty one. When that install runs, Studio re-reads the project's [extensions](/docs/extending/extensions/formats) afterwards, which is what puts `Markdown` in the [New File format picker](/docs/studio/interface#creating-a-file) on a project you have just cloned rather than in the session after.

## Two contexts

The panel follows whatever document is focused, and its header says so, reading **PACKAGES · document**:

- **A page, layout, or component open** means you're managing that document's imports: which components it can place.
- **`project.json` open** means you're managing the whole site: packages, site-wide component availability, and imported modules. Running **Open Project Settings** puts you here too, because [Project settings](/docs/studio/projects/settings) opens that same `project.json` document.

## Import your own components

With a document open, the **Components** section lists what it already imports. Use the **Add component…** picker to import another component from your project, and it becomes available to place in that document. The × beside an entry removes the import. A document that imports nothing yet says what the section is for, and tells you if the project has no components to offer at all.

Dragging a component onto the canvas imports it for you, so the picker, the checkboxes and the drag all end at the same list. Importing the same component twice never adds a second entry, and two components that happen to share a file name are never mistaken for each other.

If you mostly build by placing cards from the [Insert palette](/docs/studio/design/elements), you rarely open this list. It's the same wiring, made visible.

## Add an npm package

With `project.json` open:

1. Type the package's name into **Add Dependency** and press Enter.
2. Studio installs it. If the package publishes a component catalog (a custom elements manifest), a new section appears for it, listing every component inside.

Packages can also be added from the **Packages** section of [Project settings](/docs/studio/projects/settings): same result, different door.

## Cherry-pick components

Under each package section, every component has a checkbox. Nothing from a package is available until you tick it, so you pick exactly the pieces you want instead of importing the whole library:

- Tick a component in the **`project.json`** context to make it available across the site.
- Tick it with a page, layout, or component open to enable it for that document only.

The × in a package's header (site context) removes the package entirely, along with everything you'd picked from it.

## Imported modules

The site context also shows **Imported Modules**, which give the project extra kinds of data, such as a content collection, a CMS, or an API client. Each one gets a name your **[data sources](/docs/studio/logic/data-sources)** can then choose from the **+ Add…** picker. Name one with the fields under the section. This is advanced territory; most visual projects never touch it.

## Stay up to date

- The **Packages** section of [Project settings](/docs/studio/projects/settings) shows each package's current version beside its newest version on npm, with per-row update buttons and **Update all**. Every package is listed, Jx's own included, and each is measured against its own latest.
- When you open a project whose Jx packages are behind, Studio offers to update them. Accept, and it rewrites the versions and reinstalls for you. Each package goes to **its own** newest published version, checked against the registry: the Jx packages release on separate cadences, so there is no single number they all share. Decline, and it won't ask again until one of them publishes something newer.
- If a project's packages have never been installed on this machine (say, you just cloned it), Studio installs them automatically before the editor loads.

Note

Packages are recorded in your project's 
`package.json`
; the components you tick are recorded as 
`$elements`
 entries: in 
`project.json`
 for site-wide picks, in the document's own file for per-document picks.

## Next

- **[Project settings](/docs/studio/projects/settings)**: the Packages section of the configuration document
- **[Pages, layouts, and components](/docs/studio/projects/pages-layouts-components)**: what components are and when to make your own
  - packages/studio/src/surfaces/panel-imports.json
  - packages/studio/src/surfaces/panel-imports.ts
  - packages/studio/src/surfaces/jxsuite-update.ts

✕

Start here[Overview](/docs/start/)Get started[Install Jx Studio](/docs/start/install/)[Your first project](/docs/start/first-project/)[A tour of Jx Studio](/docs/start/studio-tour/)Tutorials[Tutorial: interactive component](/docs/start/first-component/)[Tutorial: blog with collections](/docs/start/first-collection/)[Video tutorials](/docs/start/videos/)Coming from another tool[Coming from WordPress](/docs/start/coming-from-wordpress/)[Coming from Webflow or Framer](/docs/start/coming-from-webflow/)[Coming from Wix or Squarespace](/docs/start/coming-from-wix/)[Coming from Lovable or Builder.io](/docs/start/coming-from-ai-builders/)Studio[Overview](/docs/studio/)[The desktop app](/docs/studio/desktop/)The workspace[Overview](/docs/studio/interface/)[Welcome screen](/docs/studio/interface/welcome-screen/)[Editors and views](/docs/studio/interface/modes/)[The canvas](/docs/studio/interface/canvas/)[Documents and panes](/docs/studio/interface/tabs/)[Quick Access](/docs/studio/interface/quick-access/)[Keyboard shortcuts](/docs/studio/interface/shortcuts/)[Preferences](/docs/studio/interface/preferences/)[Languages](/docs/studio/interface/languages/)[Problems and progress](/docs/studio/interface/problems-and-progress/)[Commands](/docs/studio/interface/commands/)Projects[Overview](/docs/studio/projects/)[Create a project](/docs/studio/projects/create/)[Pages, layouts, components](/docs/studio/projects/pages-layouts-components/)[The Content workspace](/docs/studio/projects/browse/)[Starter templates](/docs/studio/projects/starters/)[Media](/docs/studio/projects/media/)[Content types](/docs/studio/projects/content-types/)[Project settings](/docs/studio/projects/settings/)[Dependencies and imports](/docs/studio/projects/dependencies/)Edit mode[Overview](/docs/studio/editing/)[Writing and formatting](/docs/studio/editing/writing/)[Slash commands](/docs/studio/editing/slash-commands/)[Frontmatter and metadata](/docs/studio/editing/frontmatter/)[Grid mode](/docs/studio/editing/grid/)Design mode[Overview](/docs/studio/design/)[Outline](/docs/studio/design/layers/)[Insert](/docs/studio/design/elements/)[Content tab](/docs/studio/design/properties/)[Style inspector](/docs/studio/design/style-inspector/)[Breakpoints](/docs/studio/design/breakpoints/)[States and selectors](/docs/studio/design/states-and-selectors/)[Design tokens](/docs/studio/design/tokens/)[Project Styles](/docs/studio/design/stylebook/)[Working with components](/docs/studio/design/components/)[Repeaters](/docs/studio/design/repeaters/)Logic[Overview](/docs/studio/logic/)[Formulas and expressions](/docs/studio/logic/formulas/)[Formula workspace](/docs/studio/logic/formula-workspace/)[Statements](/docs/studio/logic/statements/)[Logic tab](/docs/studio/logic/events/)[Data](/docs/studio/logic/data/)[Data sources](/docs/studio/logic/data-sources/)[Code 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scope](/docs/framework/concepts/props-and-scope/)[State](/docs/framework/concepts/state/)[Reactivity](/docs/framework/concepts/reactivity/)[References](/docs/framework/concepts/references/)[Expressions](/docs/framework/concepts/expressions/)[Statements](/docs/framework/concepts/statements/)[Functions and sidecars](/docs/framework/concepts/functions/)[Styling](/docs/framework/concepts/styling/)[Color schemes](/docs/framework/concepts/color-schemes/)[Popovers and overlays](/docs/framework/concepts/overlays/)[Accessibility](/docs/framework/concepts/accessibility/)[Lists and iteration](/docs/framework/concepts/lists/)[Data prototypes](/docs/framework/concepts/data-prototypes/)[Timing](/docs/framework/concepts/timing/)[Dynamic switching](/docs/framework/concepts/switching/)[Security](/docs/framework/concepts/security/)Site architecture[Overview](/docs/framework/site/)[project.json](/docs/framework/site/project-json/)[Routing](/docs/framework/site/routing/)[Layouts](/docs/framework/site/layouts/)[Content collections](/docs/framework/site/content-collections/)[Jx Markdown](/docs/framework/site/jx-markdown/)[Obsidian vault as content](/docs/framework/site/obsidian-vault/)[Relationships](/docs/framework/site/relationships/)[SEO and metadata](/docs/framework/site/seo/)[Locales and languages](/docs/framework/site/i18n/)[Images](/docs/framework/site/images/)[Redirects](/docs/framework/site/redirects/)[Feeds](/docs/framework/site/feeds/)[Site search](/docs/framework/site/search/)[Build output and adapters](/docs/framework/site/deployment/)How compilation works[Overview](/docs/framework/build/)[The dev server](/docs/framework/build/dev-server/)[CLI commands](/docs/framework/build/cli/)Working with agents[Overview](/docs/framework/agents/)[Authoring rules for agents](/docs/framework/agents/authoring-rules/)[Machine-readable docs](/docs/framework/agents/machine-readable/)Reference[Overview](/docs/framework/reference/)[Formula catalog](/docs/framework/reference/formulas/)[Operator reference](/docs/framework/reference/operators/)Extending[Overview](/docs/extending/)Extensions[Extension anatomy](/docs/extending/extensions/anatomy/)[Schema composition](/docs/extending/extensions/schema-composition/)[Custom classes](/docs/extending/extensions/classes/)[Custom formats](/docs/extending/extensions/formats/)[Capability methods](/docs/extending/extensions/capabilities/)[Project sections](/docs/extending/extensions/project-sections/)[Server mounts](/docs/extending/extensions/server/)[Connectors](/docs/extending/extensions/connectors/)[Search indexes](/docs/extending/extensions/search/)[Security and secrets](/docs/extending/extensions/security/)[Tutorial: a TOML format](/docs/extending/extensions/tutorial-toml-format/)[Tutorial: a guestbook](/docs/extending/extensions/tutorial-guestbook/)[First-party extensions](/docs/extending/extensions/first-party/)Embedding[Overview](/docs/extending/embedding/)[Hosting the Studio assets](/docs/extending/embedding/hosting/)[Writing a platform adapter](/docs/extending/embedding/platform-adapter/)[The backend protocol](/docs/extending/embedding/backend-protocol/)[Dev server internals](/docs/extending/embedding/dev-server/)[Embedding the runtime in your app](/docs/extending/embedding/runtime-host/)[Writing assistant tools](/docs/extending/embedding/assistant-harness/)UI kit[The Jx UI kit](/docs/extending/ui-kit/)Reference[Protocol routes](/docs/extending/reference/studio-routes/)[Implementation status](/docs/extending/reference/implementation-status/)[Spec changelog](/docs/extending/reference/spec-changelog/)[Standards alignment](/docs/extending/reference/standards/)Contributing[Working in the monorepo](/docs/extending/contributing/monorepo/)[Contributing to these docs](/docs/extending/contributing/docs/)[AI assistant evals](/docs/extending/contributing/ai-evals/)

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