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Before writing custom code, research existing solutions across npm/PyPI packages, MCP servers, Claude Code skills, and GitHub repositories to evaluate functionality, maintenance status, and license compatibility against your requirements.

Evaluating open source dependencies requires checking candidate packages for community support, documentation quality, maintenance status, and dependency footprint to select the optimal implementation approach rather than building custom code.

Build a custom utility instead of reusing an existing package only after evaluating candidates via a decision matrix and determining that adopting as-is, extending with a wrapper, or composing existing tools cannot meet your functionality requirements.

Yes, researching existing solutions applies to all software development tasks including adding dependencies, creating utilities, and integrating third-party services across any programming language or framework to prevent unnecessary technical debt.

Choose between adopting an npm package as-is, extending it with a thin wrapper, composing multiple small tools, or building custom functionality based on a decision matrix evaluating candidate quality, documentation, and dependency footprint.

Writing custom code for existing functionality creates technical debt because maintained open-source libraries and MCP servers already provide tested solutions, meaning redundant development delays feature delivery and increases your maintenance burden.