# New package manager available in beta

> A shiny new package manager is out now in Beta!

Source: https://orbitalhq.com/blog/2024-02-05-new-package-manager
Date: 2024-02-05

We are thrilled to announce the beta of a new package 
manager for [Taxi](https://taxilang.org), the powerful language designed for 
specifying APIs and domain models with precision and clarity.

The new package manager is a rebuild of Taxi's existing package tooling,
bringing support for things like Transitive dependencies, better
local repository management, and git-backed dependency publishing.

## Sync from Git

The new package manager supports consuming dependencies directly 
from a git repository, meaning you can deploy without additional
infrastructure, such as Nexus:

```hocon  taxi.conf
  name: org.taxilang/test-project-b
  version: 0.1.0
  sourceRoot: src/
  dependencies: {
>      "org.taxilang/test-project-a" : "https://gitlab.com/taxi-lang/test-project-a.git"  
  }
```


Of course, pinning to a specific branch or tag is supported too:

```hocon  taxi.conf
  name: org.taxilang/test-project-b
  version: 0.1.0
  sourceRoot: src/
  dependencies: {
       # Pinned to the tag v2.0.0
>      "org.taxilang/test-project-a" : "https://gitlab.com/taxi-lang/test-project-a.git#v2.0.0"  
  }
```

## Improved Nexus support
Although git-backed repos are new and shiny, our Nexus support isn't going anywhere.
We've rebuilt the engine that consumes from Nexus, to ensure those who prefer to deploy packages to a dedicated artifact manager are covered.

The deployment experience feels largely the same, but it's better now. Promise.

## Better local caching
We've rebuilt our local cache, to support both our git and nexus infrastructure.

Caches now live at `~/.taxi/repository` by default.

## VSCode tooling
The new package manager is integrated tightly into VSCode.

Adding a dependency in your `taxi.conf` file and saving automatically downloads the required dependencies to 
your local cache, and triggers recompilation:

_Image: Dependencies are automatically fetched on save_

### Navigate to definition
Ctrl+Click to navigate to definition is supported for files loaded from packages too, as you'd expect.

## New command: `taxi install`
When you're working with local projects that aren't yet published, you need a way to deploy them locally,
so that other teams can consume them.  That's where `taxi install` comes in - just like `mvn install` or `npm install`.

`taxi install` will fetch any dependencies (including transitive dependencies) to your local repo, as well
as publishing your dev project into your local repo, so that other projects can depend on it.

```bash
> taxi install

Taxi 1.49.0-SNAPSHOT @8f6d8a9 
Building org.taxilang/test-project-b/0.1.0 
Fetching dependencies for org.taxilang/test-project-b/0.1.0 
Compilation succeeded 
No sources were generated. Consider adding a source generator in the taxi.conf  
Installing org.taxilang/test-project-b/0.1.0 
Installing org.taxilang/test-project-b/0.1.0 to /home/martypitt/dev/vyne-sandbox/taxi-test-projects/test-project-b 
Installed  org.taxilang/test-project-b/0.1.0 at /home/martypitt/.taxi/repository/org/taxilang/test-project-b/0.1.0 
```

## Getting it
The new package manager is available in the beta releases of Taxi 1.49.0.

### Grab the new CLI
As always, pre-release versions of the Taxi CLI are available via our [install script](https://gitlab.com/taxi-lang/taxi-lang#trying-a-pre-release-version) 

```bash
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/taxilang/taxilang/develop/get-taxi-preview.sh
chmod +x get-taxi-preview.sh
./get-taxi-preview 1.49.0     
```

### Grab the VSCode plugin
Grab the latest build of our VSCode plugin from [here](https://gitlab.com/taxi-lang/taxi-lang/-/jobs/artifacts/develop/browse?job=build-plugin-beta), then:

 * Click Download artifacts archive
 * Unzip the archive. Inside the zip there should be a file at `/language-server/vscode-extension/taxi-language-server-1.49.0-SNAPSHOT.vsix`
 * Open VSCode
 * Open the command bar, by pressing Ctrl+Shift P
 * Type VSIX, then choose "Extensions: Install from VSIX..."
 * Select the VSIX file from the unzipped directory
 
## Feedback, please!
This is a beta release of the plugin, and we expect teething issues.

Please [join our slack channel](https://join.slack.com/t/orbitalapi/shared_invite/zt-697laanr-DHGXXak5slqsY9DqwrkzHg) and share any feedback or issues you have!