Researching Dependencies
Before writing any code, it's worth spending time choosing the right libraries for your project's key features. Claude Code is actually a great tool for this — you can have a conversation about your options before committing to anything.
This page shows how to use Claude Code to research and pick libraries for your project.
Why not just let Claude pick?
When you tell Claude Code to build something, it'll choose libraries on its own. Most of the time that's totally fine — you don't need to personally evaluate every utility package.
But for core features — things that are hard to rip out and replace later — it's worth doing the research yourself. If your app has a key feature (like data visualization, real-time updates, or a rich text editor), you want to make sure you're using the right tool for it, not just the first one Claude reaches for.
Using Claude Code to research
You can ask Claude Code open-ended questions just like you'd ask a knowledgeable friend. You don't need to know the right terminology or library names going in — just describe what you need.
Here's how the conversation might go.
Start broad: describe the feature
Open Claude Code in your project and ask:
I need to build [describe your feature]. What are the best React libraries for this?
For example, if you're building a data visualization:
I need to build an interactive graph visualization for this project. Nodes connected by lines, with interactivity like clicking and dragging. What are the best React libraries for this?
Claude will come back with a list of options. It'll typically suggest a few libraries and explain the differences between them — things like what rendering engine they use, how popular they are, and what their APIs look like.
Get specific: ask about your use case
Once you see the options, ask follow-up questions that are specific to your project:
My data is pretty simple — I'll probably have at most a few hundred items. Which of those options has the simplest API for that kind of data?
This kind of question helps Claude narrow things down. Instead of comparing every feature, it focuses on what actually matters for your scale and data model.
Ask about tradeoffs
If you're torn between two options, just ask:
What's the downside of going with [option A] over [option B]? What would I be giving up?
Claude will explain the tradeoffs honestly — maybe one has better built-in theming but a smaller community, or one is more performant but harder to set up. You don't need to be a developer to weigh those tradeoffs.
Ask about community and maintenance
This is an easy one to overlook but it matters a lot:
How actively maintained is [library name]? How many people use it?
A library with lots of users and recent updates is safer than one that hasn't been touched in a year. More users also means Claude Code has seen more examples of it in the wild, so it'll write better code with it.
Once you've decided, tell Claude to remember it
After you pick a library, the most important thing is to make sure Claude Code uses it consistently. You do that by adding it to your CLAUDE.md file (which we'll set up later in the guide). You'd include a line like:
- [library-name] for [feature]
That way, every time Claude Code starts a session in your project, it knows which library to use. No risk of it suggesting something different next time.
The same approach works anytime you need to pick a package. Just open Claude Code, describe what you need in plain English, ask follow-up questions, and then lock in the decision in CLAUDE.md. It takes a few minutes and saves you from rework later.
What's next?
Now that you know how to evaluate libraries, head to the Prerequisites section to get your tools installed.