diff --git a/src/subsystems/nodejs/discoverers/default/default.nix b/src/subsystems/nodejs/discoverers/default/default.nix
index b7307178b5..f04c28fd1a 100644
--- a/src/subsystems/nodejs/discoverers/default/default.nix
+++ b/src/subsystems/nodejs/discoverers/default/default.nix
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
 
   getTranslatorNames = path: let
     nodes = l.readDir path;
-    packageJson = l.fromJSON (l.readFile "${path}/package.json");
+    packageJson = getPackageJson path;
     translators =
       # if the package has no dependencies we use the
       # package-lock translator with `packageLock = null`
@@ -46,6 +46,17 @@
         && (packageJson.devDependencies or {} == {})
         && (packageJson.workspaces or [] == [])
       then ["package-lock"]
+      else if nodes ? "package-lock.json"
+      then let
+        # Wish there was a way to get the version without reading a 2MB file
+        lockJson = getLockJson path;
+        lockVersion = lockJson.lockfileVersion or 0;
+      in
+        if lockVersion == 1
+        then ["package-lock"]
+        else if lockVersion == 2
+        then ["resolved-json"]
+        else ["package-json"]
       else
         l.optionals (nodes ? "yarn.lock") ["yarn-lock"]
         ++ ["package-json"];
@@ -53,8 +64,9 @@
     translators;
 
   # returns the parsed package.json of a given directory
-  getPackageJson = dirPath:
-    l.fromJSON (l.readFile "${dirPath}/package.json");
+  getJson = jsonPath: l.fromJSON (l.readFile jsonPath);
+  getPackageJson = dirPath: getJson "${dirPath}/package.json";
+  getLockJson = dirPath: getJson "${dirPath}/package-lock.json";
 
   # returns all relative paths to workspaces defined by a glob
   getWorkspacePaths = glob: tree:
diff --git a/src/subsystems/nodejs/translators/package-json/default.nix b/src/subsystems/nodejs/translators/package-json/default.nix
index 053e9b1409..971043ac7b 100644
--- a/src/subsystems/nodejs/translators/package-json/default.nix
+++ b/src/subsystems/nodejs/translators/package-json/default.nix
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@
       git
       jq
       nodejs-18_x
-      # nodejs-18_x.pkgs.npm
       openssh
     ]
     ''
@@ -49,16 +48,10 @@
 
       cd ./$relPath
 
-      # create package lock if missing or old
-      if ! [ -r package-lock.json ] || [ $(jq '.lockfileVersion' -r package-lock.json) != 2 ]; then
-        rm -f package-lock.json
+      rm -f package-lock.json
+      echo Generating temporary package-lock.json with npm
 
-        # TODO: some easy way to add --offline, maybe separate flake run script? Speeds up enormously when cached.
-        npm install --package-lock-only $npmArgs
-      fi
-
-      # resolve packages - TODO move to RunCommandLocal
-      node ${./resolver.cjs} package-lock.json resolved.json
+      npm install --package-lock-only $npmArgs
 
       jq ".source = \"$newSource\"" -c -r $jsonInput > $TMPDIR/newJsonInput
 
diff --git a/src/subsystems/nodejs/translators/resolved-json/default.nix b/src/subsystems/nodejs/translators/resolved-json/default.nix
index fec773fdc7..5a1333283a 100644
--- a/src/subsystems/nodejs/translators/resolved-json/default.nix
+++ b/src/subsystems/nodejs/translators/resolved-json/default.nix
@@ -7,33 +7,37 @@
   l = lib // builtins;
   nodejsUtils = import ../utils.nix {inherit lib;};
 
-  getResolved = tree: project:
-    nodejsUtils.getWorkspaceLockFile tree project "resolved.json";
-
   translate = {
     translatorName,
     utils,
+    pkgs,
     ...
   }: {
     project,
     source,
     tree,
     # translator args
-    noDev,
+    name ? project.name or "untitled",
     nodejs,
     ...
   } @ args: let
     b = builtins;
 
-    # TODO only dev for devShell
-    dev = ! noDev;
-    name = project.name;
     tree = args.tree.getNodeFromPath project.relPath;
     relPath = project.relPath;
     source = "${args.source}/${relPath}";
     workspaces = project.subsystemInfo.workspaces or [];
 
-    lock = (getResolved args.tree project).jsonContent or null;
+    getResolved = tree: project: let
+      lock =
+        nodejsUtils.getWorkspaceLockFile tree project "package-lock.json";
+      resolved = pkgs.runCommandLocal "resolved.json" {} ''
+        ${nodejs}/bin/node ${./resolver.cjs} ${lock.fullPath} $out
+      '';
+    in
+      l.fromJSON (l.readFile resolved);
+
+    lock = getResolved args.tree project;
 
     packageVersion = lock.version or "unknown";
 
@@ -113,7 +117,7 @@
 in rec {
   version = 2;
 
-  type = "pure";
+  type = "ifd";
 
   inherit translate;
 
diff --git a/src/subsystems/nodejs/translators/package-json/resolver.cjs b/src/subsystems/nodejs/translators/resolved-json/resolver.cjs
similarity index 100%
rename from src/subsystems/nodejs/translators/package-json/resolver.cjs
rename to src/subsystems/nodejs/translators/resolved-json/resolver.cjs