Did Phoenix not require npm at some point or is that not true?

At the beginning, but not anymore. You still have the option to pull libraries and packages but is not really required by default.

	▲	jacquesm 6 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Oh that's great news I will have to look at it again then. That was a huge turn-off for me, to take one of the most well respected and reliable eco systems and then to pull in one of the worst as a dependency. Thank you for clearing that up.