diff --git a/src/config.ts b/src/config.ts
index e4efa5ba7c..d3fe03371a 100644
--- a/src/config.ts
+++ b/src/config.ts
@@ -73,7 +73,23 @@ const configSchema = {
   type: 'object',
   properties: {
     source: {type: 'string'},
-    webDependencies: {type: 'array', items: {type: 'string'}},
+    webDependencies: {
+      type: 'array',
+      items: {
+        anyOf: [
+          {type: 'string'},
+          {
+            type: 'array',
+            items: [
+              {
+                type: 'string',
+              },
+              {type: 'string'},
+            ],
+          },
+        ],
+      },
+    },
     dedupe: {
       type: 'array',
       items: {type: 'string'},
diff --git a/src/index.ts b/src/index.ts
index f7ec2cf175..573ddc2722 100644
--- a/src/index.ts
+++ b/src/index.ts
@@ -223,6 +223,7 @@ export async function install(
   {hasBrowserlistConfig, isExplicit, lockfile}: InstallOptions,
   config: SnowpackConfig,
 ) {
+  // throw new Error('typescript sucks'); // @ts-ignore
   const {
     dedupe,
     namedExports,
@@ -258,11 +259,17 @@ export async function install(
   const installTargetsMap: {[targetLoc: string]: InstallTarget[]} = {};
   const skipFailures = !isExplicit;
 
-  for (const installSpecifier of allInstallSpecifiers) {
+  for (const installSpecifierOrArr of allInstallSpecifiers) {
+    const installSpecifier = Array.isArray(installSpecifierOrArr)
+      ? installSpecifierOrArr[1]
+      : installSpecifierOrArr;
+    const installSpecifierOrAlias = Array.isArray(installSpecifierOrArr)
+      ? installSpecifierOrArr[0]
+      : installSpecifierOrArr;
     const targetName = getWebDependencyName(installSpecifier);
     if (lockfile && lockfile.imports[installSpecifier]) {
       installEntrypoints[targetName] = lockfile.imports[installSpecifier];
-      importMap.imports[installSpecifier] = `./${targetName}.js`;
+      importMap.imports[installSpecifierOrAlias] = `./${targetName}.js`;
       installResults.push([targetName, 'SUCCESS']);
       logUpdate(formatInstallResults(skipFailures));
       continue;
@@ -272,7 +279,7 @@ export async function install(
       if (targetType === 'JS') {
         const hashQs = useHash ? `?rev=${await generateHashFromFile(targetLoc)}` : '';
         installEntrypoints[targetName] = targetLoc;
-        importMap.imports[installSpecifier] = `./${targetName}.js${hashQs}`;
+        importMap.imports[installSpecifierOrAlias] = `./${targetName}.js${hashQs}`;
         installTargetsMap[targetLoc] = installTargets.filter(t => installSpecifier === t.specifier);
         installResults.push([installSpecifier, 'SUCCESS']);
       } else if (targetType === 'ASSET') {
diff --git a/src/resolve-remote.ts b/src/resolve-remote.ts
index 457b7e72dc..def1dfbfb2 100644
--- a/src/resolve-remote.ts
+++ b/src/resolve-remote.ts
@@ -91,7 +91,10 @@ export async function resolveTargetsFromRemoteCDN(
   const newLockfile: ImportMap = {imports: {}};
 
   const allInstallSpecifiers = new Set(installTargets.map(dep => dep.specifier));
-  for (const installSpecifier of allInstallSpecifiers) {
+  for (const installSpecifierOrArr of allInstallSpecifiers) {
+    const installSpecifier = Array.isArray(installSpecifierOrArr)
+      ? installSpecifierOrArr[1]
+      : installSpecifierOrArr;
     const installSemver: string =
       (pkgManifest.dependencies || {})[installSpecifier] ||
       (pkgManifest.devDependencies || {})[installSpecifier] ||
diff --git a/src/scan-imports.ts b/src/scan-imports.ts
index c30ba23c1c..8849ca6264 100644
--- a/src/scan-imports.ts
+++ b/src/scan-imports.ts
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ const DEFAULT_IMPORT_REGEX = /import\s+(\w)+(,\s\{[\w\s]*\})?\s+from/s;
  * are metadata about what is actually being imported.
  */
 export type InstallTarget = {
-  specifier: string;
+  specifier: string | [string, string];
   all: boolean;
   default: boolean;
   namespace: boolean;
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ function stripJsExtension(dep: string): string {
   return dep.replace(/\.m?js$/i, '');
 }
 
-function createInstallTarget(specifier: string, all = true): InstallTarget {
+function createInstallTarget(specifier: string | [string, string], all = true): InstallTarget {
   return {
     specifier,
     all,
@@ -124,7 +124,8 @@ export function scanDepList(depList: string[], cwd: string): InstallTarget[] {
   const nodeModulesLoc = nodePath.join(cwd, 'node_modules');
   return depList
     .map(whitelistItem => {
-      if (!glob.hasMagic(whitelistItem)) {
+      const safelistName = Array.isArray(whitelistItem) ? whitelistItem[1] : whitelistItem;
+      if (!glob.hasMagic(safelistName)) {
         return [createInstallTarget(whitelistItem, true)];
       } else {
         return scanDepList(glob.sync(whitelistItem, {cwd: nodeModulesLoc, nodir: true}), cwd);
@@ -158,5 +159,9 @@ export async function scanImports({include, exclude}: ScanImportsParams): Promis
     .map(filePath => [filePath, fs.readFileSync(filePath, 'utf8')])
     .map(([filePath, code]) => getInstallTargetsForFile(filePath, code))
     .reduce((flat, item) => flat.concat(item), [])
-    .sort((impA, impB) => impA.specifier.localeCompare(impB.specifier));
+    .sort((impA, impB) => {
+      const specifierA = Array.isArray(impA.specifier) ? impA.specifier[1] : impA.specifier;
+      const specifierB = Array.isArray(impB.specifier) ? impB.specifier[1] : impB.specifier;
+      return specifierA.localeCompare(specifierB);
+    });
 }