Reduce the number of dependencies

Doing an npm install after cloning this project downloads 1658 dependencies, there are also many warnings about deprecated and vulnerable packages. Maybe it's a good idea to update, remove, or switch some dependencies to actively maintained projects.

- [x] build related dependencies #808
- [ ] docs related dependencies #809
- [ ] testing related dependencies
- [ ] linting related dependencies

Is this a direction worth pursuing?

Start by reviewing the dependency lists involved in the npm install and the unchecked docs, testing, and linting categories; no specific files or tests are named. Done would require a decided scope and an agreed reduction or replacement plan, rather than only confirming that the direction is worthwhile.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.