When CI/CD builds and release automation publish or test packages from a monorepo, inter-workspace dependency specs and lockfile contents must stay publish-safe and CI-consistent.

Standards 1) No unresolvable workspace paths in published deps

• Avoid "file:../..." specifiers in package.json of packages intended for registry publication; they can break npm i for consumers.

2) Use publish-time-resolved specs

• For channel-to-base (and similar) workspace dependencies, prefer workspace:* so the dependency resolves to the correct concrete version at publish time.
• If you must use semver ranges, ensure your release/version automation rewrites dependency specifiers across workspaces after version bumps and handles pre-releases/nightlies.

3) Keep lockfile aligned with manifests

• Any change to package.json dependencies must be followed by lockfile reconciliation; stale/phantom entries in package-lock.json can cause unexpected CI lock-diff failures.

4) If CI starts running new workspaces, ensure reporting is wired

• Adding workspaces to default CI scripts can make tests run but produce no JUnit/coverage artifacts due to reporter/glob config differences—verify artifact collection so regressions don’t fail “silently.”

Example (recommended inter-workspace dependency style)

{
  "dependencies": {
    "@qwen-code/channel-base": "workspace:*"
  }
}

Operational checklist for PRs affecting release/CI

• Confirm cross-workspace deps are publish-resolvable (no file: in published package manifests).
• Prefer workspace:* or ensure your versioning/release scripts rewrite dependency ranges.
• Update package-lock.json after dependency changes.
• If CI workspaces changed, confirm JUnit/coverage collection still covers them.