See component changes in another local project without export

[benjgil]

How can I test a local change to a component in another repo/workspace on my computer, without having to export the component?

I know that in the same workspace changes are synced to node_modules (when i compile, or have bit watch running in the background), but how can i get the same experience in other projects on the same computer?

Something like npm link would be great.

[benjgil]

Bit has just the feature - though it is still in beta as there can be scenarios with peerDependencies that need linking that we're still working on ironing out. But for most use cases the following works well.

In the authoring workspace (i.e. where your component changes are happening), run
bit link --target <full_path_to_consuming_project_root_dir>.

This will create symlinks between the node_modules in the authoring workspace, which will be updated when you compile changes, and the node_modules folder in the consuming project.

Now your consuming app should contain the compiled component changes without needing to export.

NOTE: it's recommended to also run bit watch in the authoring workspace so that changes will automatically be re-compiled and the consuming workspace will see them as soon as they happen.

NOTE 2: If at any point you delete the node_modules in either workspace, or run npm/yarn install commands in the consuming workspace, the symlinks will be broken and you'll need to re-run the bit link --target command as above