One date picker, six Mondays — a bug, a rebrand, a scope cut, an upstream release, an agent edit, a missing prop. Each panel shows what owning the source turns the moment into, receipt included, against what the same Monday costs when the component lives in node_modules.
Six moments a component is yoursone date picker, six Mondays
the same component in every panel — the only variable is where its source lives
Owning the source is not building from scratch, and it is not forking either: upstream stays a diff SOURCE — read its changelog, merge the capabilities worth having into your component. The unit of an upgrade is a capability, not a version. What is actually expensive is the middle position: not owning it and still needing to bend it.