Dependencies (and their specific versions) are already managed explicitly via package.json.<p>The shift to a flat dependency hierarchy in NPMv3 will make managing dependencies of dependencies much more explicit and straightforward to manage.<p>JSPM already uses a flat structure and shows how simple dependency management can be.<p>I&#x27;m not sure what you mean by &quot;the dynamic nature of the tooling&quot;. The JS development ecosystem doesn&#x27;t attempt to provide an end-all-be-all monolithic core lib. It&#x27;s a good thing and one of the primary reasons why advances in the JS evosystem are happening at breakneck pace.