Probably a noob question but if I have a user event linking to a client script via a button do I still need to deply the client script to the transaction or is the link enough?

as long as you have clientScriptModulePath you dont need to deploy it

context.form.clientScriptModulePath = './myCS.js'; //for UE

kinda equivalent for the suitelet I guess

thanks!

My old consultancy had a good couple of posts on this methodology - https://www.techfino.com/blog/adding-a-custom-button-on-a-record-in-netsuite