Fix package.json dependency migration when moving from Swagger to TypeSpec modular by Copilot · Pull Request #3811 · Azure/autorest.typescript

Copilot · 2026-03-04T02:33:14Z

When tsp-client runs against an existing Swagger-generated package, it preserves package.json, causing generateMetadata: false. The emitter skips regenerating package.json entirely, leaving AutoRest-specific dependencies in place and causing compile errors in the newly generated modular code.

Background

When migrating a library originally generated by AutoRest (from Swagger) to TypeSpec generation via tsp-client, the existing package.json contains AutoRest-specific dependencies that differ from what the TypeSpec emitter produces. For example:

AutoRest-generated (original):

"@azure/core-client": "^1.9.3"

TypeSpec-generated (expected):

"@azure-rest/core-client": "^2.3.1"

Changes

packages/rlc-common/src/metadata/buildPackageFile.ts — updatePackageFile now handles the full Swagger→TypeSpec migration internally:
- Added AUTOREST_ONLY_DEPS constant listing AutoRest-specific deps (@azure/core-client, @azure/core-tracing, @azure/core-paging)
- For Azure monorepo modular packages: reads the existing file, detects AutoRest-specific deps (including @azure/core-lro ^2.x), builds AzureMonorepoInfoConfig from the model, calls getAzureMonorepoDependencies, and overwrites dependencies/devDependencies with canonical TypeSpec values
- The dependencies option in PackageFileOptions accepts format-specific extra deps (e.g. fast-xml-parser) to merge into the canonical set during migration
- Re-exports getAzureMonorepoDependencies and AzureMonorepoInfoConfig via @azure-tools/rlc-common
packages/typespec-ts/src/index.ts — Simplified else if (hasPackageFile) branch: only passes format-specific extra deps (e.g. fast-xml-parser: ^4.5.0 when XML serialization is used) to updatePackageFile; all AutoRest detection and canonical dep resolution is handled inside updatePackageFile
packages/rlc-common/test/integration/packageJson.spec.ts — Added tests for:
- Auto-detection of @azure/core-client and migration to canonical TypeSpec deps
- Auto-detection of @azure/core-lro ^2.x and migration
- No-op when no AutoRest deps are present
- Format-specific extra deps (e.g. fast-xml-parser) merged into canonical set on migration
- LRO-specific deps included when model has polling operations

Example

Before (Swagger-generated package.json, kept by tsp-client):

{
  "dependencies": {
    "@azure/core-client": "^1.9.3",
    "@azure/core-tracing": "^1.0.0",
    "@azure/core-rest-pipeline": "^1.19.1",
    "tslib": "^2.6.2"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "autorest": "catalog:",
    "@types/node": "^18.0.0"
  }
}

After updatePackageFile runs during modular TypeSpec generation:

{
  "dependencies": {
    "@azure-rest/core-client": "^2.3.1",
    "@azure/core-auth": "^1.9.0",
    "@azure/core-rest-pipeline": "^1.20.0",
    "@azure/core-util": "^1.12.0",
    "@azure/logger": "^1.2.0",
    "tslib": "^2.8.1"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@azure-tools/test-credential": "workspace:^",
    "@azure/dev-tool": "workspace:^",
    "@types/node": "catalog:",
    "typescript": "catalog:"
  }
}

Original prompt

This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>package.json isn't correctly updated when moving from swagger -> TSP</issue_title>
<issue_description>I noticed this when running a tsp-client locally for an existing package, specifically the package.json had
"@azure/core-client": "^1.9.3",
which caused compile time issues because it was looking for @azure-rest/core-client in the newly generated code. I was able to resolve this by manually replacing the above with:
"@azure-rest/core-client": "^2.3.1",
We have dependencies and devdependencies diffs between autorest-packageJson generator and modular-packageJson generator.
This issue is because tsp-client will not clean-up metadata files, so the option generateMetadata will be false as packageJson exists. So our emitter will not update metadata files.
We need to add an additional step to update these dependencies when @azure/core-client is detected in packageJson in modular generation.</issue_description>

Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)

Fixes package.json isn't correctly updated when moving from swagger -> TSP #3783

💬 We'd love your input! Share your thoughts on Copilot coding agent in our 2 minute survey.

…e-client when moving from Swagger to TypeSpec modular Co-authored-by: kazrael2119 <98569699+kazrael2119@users.noreply.github.com>

kazrael2119 · 2026-03-04T05:51:28Z

@copilot when generateMetadata is true, we will call buildPackageFile, in this case, generateMetadata is false, emitter will not run buildPackageFile. so we need additionally update them

…-parser) to updatePackageFile when generateMetadata is false Co-authored-by: kazrael2119 <98569699+kazrael2119@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot · 2026-03-04T05:58:25Z

@copilot when generateMetadata is true, we will call buildPackageFile, in this case, generateMetadata is false, emitter will not run buildPackageFile. so we need additionally update ...

Fixed in 9e41525. The else if (hasPackageFile) branch in index.ts now computes and passes the same additional dependencies (@azure/core-util, fast-xml-parser for XML) as the shouldGenerateMetadata branch. updatePackageFile now also accepts and merges those dependencies (without overwriting existing versions), in addition to migrating @azure/core-client → @azure-rest/core-client.

kazrael2119 · 2026-03-04T06:09:25Z

@copilot we need to have a check to compare origin packageJson with the one from getAzureMonorepoDependencies function in typespec-ts/src/index.ts, if they are inconsistent, use the one from getAzureMonorepoDependencies

…es canonical set and update inconsistencies Co-authored-by: kazrael2119 <98569699+kazrael2119@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot · 2026-03-04T06:21:03Z

@copilot we need to have a check to compare origin packageJson with the one from getAzureMonorepoDependencies function in typespec-ts/src/index.ts, if they are inconsistent, use the one from getAzur...

Done in 1b63394. updatePackageFile now calls getAzureMonorepoDependencies (with the model + any additional deps like fast-xml-parser) to get the canonical expected dependency set, then compares against the existing package.json. Any dep that's missing or has a different version is updated to the canonical version. @azure/core-client (Swagger-only dep) is also removed. The manual @azure/core-util addition in index.ts was removed since it's already included in getAzureMonorepoDependencies.

Co-authored-by: kazrael2119 <98569699+kazrael2119@users.noreply.github.com>

kazrael2119 · 2026-03-25T06:48:31Z

@copilot clean up all changes first.

In this case, the root cause is:

Background

When using tsp-client to generate SDK code from TypeSpec, tsp-client does not clean the entire library directory before generation. As a result, the emitter detects an existing package.json and sets generateMetadata to false, which prevents metadata files (including package.json) from being regenerated.

Problem

When migrating a library originally generated by AutoRest (from Swagger) to TypeSpec generation via tsp-client, the existing package.json contains AutoRest-specific dependencies that differ from what the TypeSpec emitter should produce. For example:

AutoRest-generated (original):

"@azure/core-client": "^1.9.3"

TypeSpec-generated (expected):

"@azure-rest/core-client": "^2.3.1"

Since generateMetadata is false, the emitter skips updating package.json entirely, leaving the outdated AutoRest dependencies in place. This requires manual intervention to correct the dependencies, which is error-prone and tedious.

Expected Behavior

When generateMetadata is false, the emitter should detect AutoRest-specific dependencies in the existing package.json and incrementally replace them with the correct TypeSpec dependencies.

Proposed Solution

Detect AutoRest dependencies — When generateMetadata is false, check whether the existing package.json contains AutoRest-specific dependencies (e.g., @azure/core-client, @azure/core-lro: ^2.x, @azure/core-tracing, @azure/core-paging).
Incremental replacement — If AutoRest dependencies are detected, add a step in updatePackageFile (in rlc-common) to call getAzureMonorepoDependencies to regenerate the correct TypeSpec dependencies and devDependencies, then overwrite the existing ones in package.json. This ensures the dependencies are fully aligned with what TypeSpec would generate, without needing to regenerate the entire package.json.

…index.ts, overwrite with getAzureMonorepoDependencies canonical set Co-authored-by: kazrael2119 <98569699+kazrael2119@users.noreply.github.com> Agent-Logs-Url: https://github.com/Azure/autorest.typescript/sessions/6da87dc7-e715-4f35-b121-eda9d3f0b532

Copilot · 2026-03-25T07:12:39Z

@copilot clean up all changes first.

In this case, the root cause is:
...

Done in 63c3c0b. Previous approach was cleaned up and re-implemented as proposed:

Detection in index.ts: When generateMetadata is false, hasPackageFile is true, and it's an Azure monorepo modular package — reads the existing package.json and checks for AutoRest-specific deps (@azure/core-client, @azure/core-tracing, @azure/core-paging, @azure/core-lro ^2.x) via a AUTOREST_ONLY_DEPS constant.
Overwrite via getAzureMonorepoDependencies: If any AutoRest deps are detected, calls getAzureMonorepoDependencies to get the canonical TypeSpec dependencies and devDependencies, then passes them to updatePackageFile for full overwrite.
updatePackageFile (rlc-common): Extended to accept devDependencies parameter; when dependencies/devDependencies are provided, overwrites those sections entirely.
getAzureMonorepoDependencies and AzureMonorepoInfoConfig are now re-exported from buildPackageFile.ts so they're accessible from @azure-tools/rlc-common.

kazrael2119 · 2026-03-25T07:42:42Z

+          if (hasAutorestDeps) {
+            const additionalDependencies: Record<string, string> = {};
+            if (packageUsesXmlSerialization(dpgContext.sdkPackage)) {
+              additionalDependencies["fast-xml-parser"] = "^4.5.0";
+            }
+            const depConfig: AzureMonorepoInfoConfig = {
+              name:
+                rlcClient.options?.packageDetails?.name ??
+                rlcClient.libraryName,
+              version:
+                rlcClient.options?.packageDetails?.version ?? "1.0.0-beta.1",
+              description:
+                rlcClient.options?.packageDetails?.description ??
+                `A generated SDK for ${rlcClient.libraryName}.`,
+              moduleKind: option.moduleKind ?? "esm",
+              withTests: option.generateTest === true,
+              withSamples: option.generateSample === true,
+              hasLro: hasPollingOperations(rlcClient),
+              specSource: "TypeSpec",
+              clientFilePaths: [],
+              isModularLibrary: true,
+              ...(Object.keys(additionalDependencies).length > 0 && {
+                dependencies: additionalDependencies
+              })
+            };
+            const {
+              dependencies: canonicalDeps,
+              devDependencies: canonicalDevDeps
+            } = getAzureMonorepoDependencies(depConfig);


@copilot could we move these step under updatePackageFile?

Done in ea7412d. The AutoRest detection steps are now entirely inside updatePackageFile in rlc-common: it reads the existing file, checks for AutoRest-specific deps, builds the AzureMonorepoInfoConfig from the model, and calls getAzureMonorepoDependencies to overwrite dependencies/devDependencies. index.ts is simplified to just pass format-specific extra deps (e.g. fast-xml-parser) and call updatePackageFile as before.

…plify index.ts Co-authored-by: kazrael2119 <98569699+kazrael2119@users.noreply.github.com> Agent-Logs-Url: https://github.com/Azure/autorest.typescript/sessions/2f2504b0-1a5b-4c45-9cb3-774f98a4fa5f

…thub.com/Azure/autorest.typescript into copilot/update-package-json-dependencies

JialinHuang803 · 2026-04-16T02:07:20Z

-  const needsLroUpdate = isAzure && hasLro;
+  const isAzureMonorepoLib =
+    isAzureMonorepoPackage(model) && !!model.options?.isModularLibrary;
+  const needsLroUpdate = isAzure && hasLro && !isAzureMonorepoLib;


Why do we need to modify needsLroUpdate related logic? isAzureMonorepoLib conflicts with isAzure and needsLroUpdate will never return true.

Initial plan

521bd25

Copilot AI assigned Copilot and kazrael2119 Mar 4, 2026

Copilot started work on behalf of kazrael2119 March 4, 2026 02:33 View session

Fix package.json migration from @azure/core-client to @azure-rest/cor…

2a1ea9c

…e-client when moving from Swagger to TypeSpec modular Co-authored-by: kazrael2119 <98569699+kazrael2119@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI changed the title ~~[WIP] Fix package.json update when migrating from swagger to TSP~~ Fix package.json dependency migration when moving from Swagger to TypeSpec modular Mar 4, 2026

Copilot finished work on behalf of kazrael2119 March 4, 2026 02:43

Copilot started work on behalf of kazrael2119 March 4, 2026 05:51 View session

Also pass additional modular dependencies (@azure/core-util, fast-xml…

9e41525

…-parser) to updatePackageFile when generateMetadata is false Co-authored-by: kazrael2119 <98569699+kazrael2119@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot finished work on behalf of kazrael2119 March 4, 2026 05:59

Copilot started work on behalf of kazrael2119 March 4, 2026 06:09 View session

Compare existing package.json deps against getAzureMonorepoDependenci…

1b63394

…es canonical set and update inconsistencies Co-authored-by: kazrael2119 <98569699+kazrael2119@users.noreply.github.com>

Clarify comment for dependencies parameter in updatePackageFile

bce2ba5

Co-authored-by: kazrael2119 <98569699+kazrael2119@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot finished work on behalf of kazrael2119 March 4, 2026 06:22

Copilot started work on behalf of kazrael2119 March 25, 2026 06:48 View session

Copilot AI requested a review from kazrael2119 March 25, 2026 07:13

Copilot finished work on behalf of kazrael2119 March 25, 2026 07:13

kazrael2119 reviewed Mar 25, 2026

View reviewed changes

Copilot started work on behalf of kazrael2119 March 25, 2026 07:42 View session

Move AutoRest dep detection into updatePackageFile in rlc-common; sim…

ea7412d

…plify index.ts Co-authored-by: kazrael2119 <98569699+kazrael2119@users.noreply.github.com> Agent-Logs-Url: https://github.com/Azure/autorest.typescript/sessions/2f2504b0-1a5b-4c45-9cb3-774f98a4fa5f

Copilot AI requested a review from kazrael2119 March 25, 2026 07:57

Copilot finished work on behalf of kazrael2119 March 25, 2026 07:57

Merge branch 'main' into copilot/update-package-json-dependencies

5995ad0

Merge branch 'copilot/update-package-json-dependencies' of https://gi…

91659e5

…thub.com/Azure/autorest.typescript into copilot/update-package-json-dependencies

kazrael2119 reviewed Mar 30, 2026

View reviewed changes

Comment thread packages/typespec-ts/src/index.ts

qiaozha assigned JialinHuang803 Apr 1, 2026

qiaozha marked this pull request as ready for review April 8, 2026 08:44

qiaozha requested review from JialinHuang803, MaryGao, joheredi and qiaozha as code owners April 8, 2026 08:44

xirzec requested a review from timovv April 10, 2026 19:23

JialinHuang803 reviewed Apr 16, 2026

View reviewed changes

Provide feedback

Saved searches

Use saved searches to filter your results more quickly

Fix package.json dependency migration when moving from Swagger to TypeSpec modular#3811

Fix package.json dependency migration when moving from Swagger to TypeSpec modular#3811
Copilot wants to merge 9 commits intomainfrom
copilot/update-package-json-dependencies

Copilot AI commented Mar 4, 2026 •

edited

Loading

Uh oh!

kazrael2119 commented Mar 4, 2026

Uh oh!

Copilot AI commented Mar 4, 2026

Uh oh!

kazrael2119 commented Mar 4, 2026

Uh oh!

Copilot AI commented Mar 4, 2026

Uh oh!

kazrael2119 commented Mar 25, 2026

Uh oh!

Copilot AI commented Mar 25, 2026

Uh oh!

kazrael2119 Mar 25, 2026

Uh oh!

Copilot AI Mar 25, 2026

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

JialinHuang803 Apr 16, 2026

Uh oh!

Reviewers

Assignees

Labels

Projects

Milestone

Development

Uh oh!

3 participants

Conversation

Copilot AI commented Mar 4, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

Background

Changes

Example

Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)

Uh oh!

kazrael2119 commented Mar 4, 2026

Uh oh!

Copilot AI commented Mar 4, 2026

Uh oh!

kazrael2119 commented Mar 4, 2026

Uh oh!

Copilot AI commented Mar 4, 2026

Uh oh!

kazrael2119 commented Mar 25, 2026

Background

Problem

Expected Behavior

Proposed Solution

Uh oh!

Copilot AI commented Mar 25, 2026

Uh oh!

kazrael2119 Mar 25, 2026

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Copilot AI Mar 25, 2026

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

JialinHuang803 Apr 16, 2026

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Reviewers

Assignees

Labels

Projects

Milestone

Development

Uh oh!

3 participants

Copilot AI commented Mar 4, 2026 •

edited

Loading