Linchpin

The "Don't Break My App" Tool

AI-powered dependency management for solo founders who code but aren't DevOps experts.

The Problem

You built your app 6 months ago. Now your dependencies are showing red warnings everywhere. You're afraid to touch anything because:

• "If I run npm install, will my app stop working?"
• "ChatGPT told me to install X, but now Y is broken"
• Big companies have DevOps teams. You have... anxiety.

The Solution

Linchpin scans your project and tells you what's safe to update in plain English.

npx linchpin-cli

That's it. One command. No installation required.

What You Get

🔍 Linchpin: Scanning dependencies...

┌────────────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬────────────┐
│ Package            │ Current       │ Latest        │ Status     │
├────────────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼────────────┤
│ chalk              │ ^4.1.2        │ 5.6.2         │ ⚠ MAJOR    │
│ dotenv             │ ^17.2.3       │ 17.2.3        │ OK         │
│ typescript         │ ^5.3.2        │ 5.9.3         │ MINOR      │
└────────────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴────────────┘

📊 Summary: 1 major · 1 minor · 0 patch

Commands

# Scan your project (free - uses npm registry)
npx linchpin-cli

# Deep scan with AI risk analysis (requires API key)
npx linchpin-cli --deep

# Get plain-English explanation of upgrade risks
npx linchpin-cli explain chalk

# Safely upgrade a package (creates backup first)
npx linchpin-cli align chalk

# Batch upgrade all packages interactively
npx linchpin-cli align --all

Features

Plain English Mode (Default)

Instead of jargon like "ESM-only breaking CommonJS", you get:

🎯 Risk Level: Medium
💡 Plain English: This update changes how files talk to each other.
   It will break your app unless you spend ~2 hours fixing code.
✅ Recommendation: Skip for now.

Auto-Backup (Panic Button)

Before any upgrade, Linchpin creates a git snapshot:

💾 Created restore point. If things break, run: git reset --hard HEAD~1

Two-Layer Safety

1. SemVer Gate: Major version jumps are flagged automatically
2. AI Gate: Deep analysis explains the actual risk

Setup (Optional)

The basic scan is free and uses the npm registry directly.

For AI-powered features (--deep, explain), add a Perplexity API key:

# Create .env file in your project
echo "PERPLEXITY_API_KEY=your-key-here" > .env

Get a key at: https://www.perplexity.ai/settings/api

For Experienced Devs

Add --technical for the old-school output:

npx linchpin-cli explain chalk --technical

License

MIT