Every engineering organization eventually faces this moment: a senior developer suggests setting up an internal registry to host dependencies. The pitch is compelling—complete control over packages, enhanced security, faster installs, and independence from public infrastructure. What could go wrong?
As it turns out, quite a lot.
While internal registries (like Artifactory, Nexus, or private npm registries) have their place in specific enterprise scenarios, most organizations discover they’ve built an expensive, high-maintenance solution to problems they don’t actually have. Let’s examine why skipping the internal registry is often the smarter choice.
Running an internal registry isn’t a “set it and forget it” operation. It becomes a critical piece of infrastructure that demands constant attention:
# Monday morning, 9 AM
$ npm install
npm ERR! network Socket timeout
npm ERR! network This is a problem related to network connectivity.
# Your internal registry is down. Again.
# 50 developers are now blocked.
# Your sprint just got derailed.What you’ll need to maintain:
According to a 2024 DevOps survey, organizations spend an average of 15-20 hours per month maintaining internal registries. That’s one full-time engineer every 8-10 teams—cost that could fund other initiatives.
Centralizing dependencies creates a critical bottleneck:
┌─────────────┐
│ Developer │
│ Machines │
└──────┬──────┘
│
▼
┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐
│ Internal │◄────►│ Public │
│ Registry │ │ Registries │
│ (Proxy) │ │ (npm, PyPI) │
└──────┬──────┘ └─────────────┘
│
▼
┌─────────────┐
│ CI/CD │
│ Pipeline │
└─────────────┘When your internal registry goes down:
Public registries like npm, PyPI, and Maven Central have 99.9%+ uptime with global CDN distribution. Your internal registry? Probably less reliable than your office coffee machine.
The security argument for internal registries often doesn’t hold up:
Common misconception: “We need to scan packages for vulnerabilities before developers use them.”
Reality: By the time you’ve scanned and approved a package, it’s already outdated. Modern dependency scanning tools (Snyk, GitHub Dependabot, npm audit) work perfectly well with public registries and provide real-time alerts.
# Public registry with automated scanning
$ npm install express
$ npm audit
found 0 vulnerabilities
# vs. waiting for your security team
$ npm install express
ERROR: Package 'express' pending security review
Estimated approval time: 3-5 business daysBetter security approach:
package-lock.json, Pipfile.lock, go.sum)npm audit fix for automated patchesInternal registries often become graveyards of outdated packages:
{
"dependencies": {
"react": "16.8.0", // Latest: 18.3.0
"lodash": "4.17.15", // Has known vulnerabilities
"moment": "2.24.0" // Deprecated, use date-fns
}
}Why this happens:
Meanwhile, your competitors are shipping features with modern libraries while you’re debugging issues that were fixed two years ago.
Ask any developer who’s worked with an internal registry:
# Configure npm for internal registry
$ npm config set registry https://internal-registry.company.com
# Now your personal projects break
$ cd ~/my-side-project
$ npm install
npm ERR! 403 Forbidden - Package not found in internal registry
# Create .npmrc files everywhere
$ cat > .npmrc <<EOF
registry=https://registry.npmjs.org/
@company:registry=https://internal-registry.company.com
EOF
# Onboard new developers: "First, here's 45 minutes of setup..."
# Troubleshoot SSL certificates
# VPN must be running
# Don't forget to update your credentials monthlyThis friction compounds:
Let’s do some math for a mid-sized company (100 developers):
Direct costs:
Hidden costs:
For that money, you could:
Lock files solve the reproducibility problem without any infrastructure:
# package-lock.json ensures everyone gets exact same versions
$ npm ci # Installs exactly what's in the lock file
# Commit lock files to version control
$ git add package-lock.json yarn.lock
$ git commit -m "Lock dependencies for reproducibility"Benefits:
Modern tools provide better security than manual reviews:
# .github/workflows/security.yml
name: Dependency Security Scan
on: [push, pull_request]
jobs:
security:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v3
- name: Run Snyk Security Scan
uses: snyk/actions/node@master
env:
SNYK_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.SNYK_TOKEN }}Popular tools:
If you truly need copies of dependencies:
# Go does this brilliantly
$ go mod vendor
$ git add vendor/
# Python
$ pip download -r requirements.txt -d vendor/
# Node.js (with offline mirror)
$ npm install --prefer-offline --cache .npm-cacheWhen to vendor:
For internal/proprietary packages, use scoped packages:
{
"dependencies": {
"@yourcompany/auth-lib": "^2.1.0",
"@yourcompany/ui-components": "^1.5.3"
}
}Options:
{
"dependencies": {
"@yourcompany/shared-utils": "git+ssh://git@github.com:yourcompany/shared-utils.git#v1.2.3"
}
}Instead of gatekeeping, implement guard rails:
// Pre-commit hook: Check for known vulnerabilities
#!/bin/sh
npm audit --audit-level=high
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
echo "❌ High severity vulnerabilities found!"
echo "Run 'npm audit fix' or review manually"
exit 1
fiSmart policies without bureaucracy:
To be fair, there are legitimate use cases:
Before committing to an internal registry, honestly answer:
If you answered “no” to most of these, skip the registry.
The best dependency management strategy is often the simplest one:
Internal registries are a solution in search of a problem for most organizations. They promise control but deliver complexity. They offer security theater while introducing new attack surfaces. They aim to speed up development but become bottlenecks.
Before building one, ask yourself: Are we trying to solve a technical problem or a trust problem?
If it’s trust, no amount of infrastructure will fix that. Invest in developer education, automated tooling, and better processes instead.
Your future self (and your engineers) will thank you.
Have you dealt with internal registries? Share your war stories and lessons learned. I’m curious to hear if your experience aligns with these observations, or if you’ve found approaches that actually work well.
Looking for help with your dependency management strategy or developer experience improvements? Reach out to discuss how we can help your team ship faster without the infrastructure overhead.
