I update them manually, and it is a fix not a feature as it does not produce any change the user can see.

When working with dependencies in dev mode, I use mr-developer which allows to use a given git tag or branch of a dependency directly into the project instead of an actual NPM package. See https://medium.com/@ebrehault_25985/developer-friendly-multirepo-with-mr-developer-dc32b2a9e110