April 2025 monthly summary for aspect-build/rules_js. Delivered two key features to improve upgrade readiness and developer productivity, and fixed critical compatibility issues to reduce risk in the Node.js tooling upgrade path. The changes modernize the rules_js integration with the latest rules_nodejs, and improve development velocity through live-reload workflow enhancements. These updates reduce upgrade friction, accelerate feedback loops, and lay groundwork for future Node.js ecosystem compatibility.

March 2025: Delivered a targeted improvement to aspect-build/rules_js by fixing environment variable merging for select() with dict-like structures in js_run_binary. The change switches merging from dicts.add to the '|' operator, enabling conditional env vars based on build configurations and improving multi-configuration build reliability. This fix, tracked in commit fff00b6b3bcbdbc44cd5150a326b57e923d29cbe ('fix: js_run_binary doesn't accept `select()` (#2137)'), reduces build failures and improves configurability. Overall impact: more robust build rules, fewer configuration-related regressions, and improved developer productivity. Technologies/skills demonstrated include Bazel rules_js environment variable handling, conditional merging logic, commit-based traceability, and CI-friendly regression fixes.