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How do I opt out of Meta packages?

By default, projects created using the SAFE template depend on the SAFE.Meta packages. This package provides functionality, but mainly exists to simplify dependency management; a standard SAFE app might very well exist with only two dependencies, being the SAFE.Client and SAFE.Server packages.

If your app starts deviating a lot from the standard SAFE app, you might want to uninstall the SAFE.Meta packages, so that you can remove packages it pulls in. This recipe explains how to do so.

1. Add the SAFE dependencies explicitly to your SAFE app.

Add the packages that SAFE.Meta relies on as explicit dependencies:

Instead of using the snippets here, you can also copy these sections from the SAFE.Meta repository, to make sure you have the most up-to-date versions

paket.dependencies
  source https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json
  framework: net8.0
  storage: none

  nuget Expecto ~> 9

- nuget SAFE.Server ~> 5
- nuget SAFE.Client ~> 5
+ nuget FSharp.Core ~> 8
+ 
+ nuget Fable.Remoting.Giraffe ~> 5
+ nuget Saturn ~> 0
+ 
+ nuget Fable.Core ~> 4
+ nuget Fable.Elmish ~> 4
+ nuget Fable.Elmish.React ~> 4
+ nuget Fable.Elmish.HMR ~> 7
+ nuget Fable.Mocha ~> 2
+ nuget Fable.Remoting.Client ~> 7
+ nuget Fable.SimpleJson
+ nuget Feliz ~> 2

  nuget Fake.Core.Target ~> 5
  nuget Fake.IO.FileSystem ~> 5
  nuget Farmer ~> 1
src/Client/paket.references
- SAFE.Client
+ FSharp.Core
+ Fable.Core
+ Fable.Elmish
+ Fable.Elmish.React
+ Fable.Elmish.HMR
+ Fable.Mocha
+ Fable.Remoting.Client
+ Feliz
+ Fable.SimpleJson
src/Server/paket.references
- Safe.Server
+ FSharp.Core
+ Saturn
+ Fable.Remoting.Giraffe

And re-install the paket dependencies

dotnet paket install

This will remove the Meta packages from paket.lock, and may, depending on how up-to-date your project is, update any out-of-date packages.

paket.lock
  ...
-     SAFE.Client (5.1.1)
-       Fable.Core (>= 4.5 < 5.0)
-       Fable.Elmish (>= 4.2 < 5.0)
-       Fable.Elmish.HMR (>= 7.0 < 8.0)
-       Fable.Elmish.React (>= 4.0 < 5.0)
-       Fable.Mocha (>= 2.17 < 3.0)
-       Fable.Remoting.Client (>= 7.32 < 8.0)
-       Fable.SimpleJson (>= 3.24)
-       Feliz (>= 2.9 < 3.0)
-       FSharp.Core (>= 8.0.403 < 9.0)
-     SAFE.Server (5.1.1)
-       Fable.Remoting.Giraffe (>= 5.21 < 6.0)
-       FSharp.Core (>= 8.0.403 < 9.0)
-       Saturn (>= 0.17 < 1.0)
  ...

2. Copy SAFE.Meta functionality into your own project

If you are using any of the code supplied by the Meta packages, you need to copy the code into your own project:

Navigate to the SAFE.Meta repository and copy the following files into your repository:

  • src/SAFE.Client/SAFE.fs -> src/Client/SAFE.fs
  • src/SAFE.Server/SAFE.fs -> src/Server/SAFE.fs

and update the corresponding project files:

Client.fsproj
  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  <Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
      <PropertyGroup>
          <TargetFramework>net8.0</TargetFramework>
          <DefineConstants>FABLE_COMPILER</DefineConstants>
      </PropertyGroup>
      <ItemGroup>
          <None Include="postcss.config.js" />
          <None Include="tailwind.config.js" />
          <None Include="index.html" />
          <None Include="paket.references" />
+         <Compile Include="SAFE.fs" />
          <Compile Include="Index.fs" />
          <Compile Include="App.fs" />
          <None Include="vite.config.mts" />
      </ItemGroup>
      <ItemGroup>
          <ProjectReference Include="..\Shared\Shared.fsproj" />
      </ItemGroup>
      <Import Project="..\..\.paket\Paket.Restore.targets" />
  </Project>
Server.fsproj
  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  <Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Web">
    <PropertyGroup>
      <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
      <TargetFramework>net8.0</TargetFramework>
      <AutoGenerateBindingRedirects>true</AutoGenerateBindingRedirects>
    </PropertyGroup>
    <ItemGroup>
      <None Include="paket.references" />
+     <Compile Include="SAFE.fs" />
      <Compile Include="Server.fs" />
    </ItemGroup>
    <ItemGroup>
      <ProjectReference Include="..\Shared\Shared.fsproj" />
    </ItemGroup>
    <Import Project="..\..\.paket\Paket.Restore.targets" />
  </Project>

3. Use Paket to remove any redundant dependencies

You're now able to remove any dependencies you do not need with Paket.

dotnet paket remove <package-name>