ESLint Plugin Install Counts Are Misleading Without a Proper Baseline

A developer analysis published on August 12, 2026 found that raw npm install counts for ESLint plugins are largely misleading because they include the 69-package ESLint baseline that any properly declared peer dependency will pull in automatically. After subtracting that baseline, eslint-plugin-import adds 136 packages despite listing only 19 direct dependencies, revealing that direct dependency counts poorly predict actual install weight due to transitive dependencies. Installing a typical React ESLint setup with three plugins together adds only 228 packages total, far less than the sum of individual plugin counts, because npm deduplicates shared dependencies across the tree. The analysis also cautioned that a small package tree is not a sign of a healthy plugin, citing eslint-plugin-security's unusually low count as a result of missing peer dependency declarations rather than good maintenance. The author recommends developers measure the full union of plugins they actually install, subtract the ESLint baseline, and re-run measurements regularly as package versions change.