Building a Fast Monorepo with Nx

Learn how to set up and optimize a monorepo using Nx for better development workflows and improved developer experience.

What is a Monorepo?

A monorepo is a software development strategy where code for many projects is stored in the same repository. This approach has become increasingly popular with tools like Nx, Lerna, and Rush.

Why Nx?

Nx provides excellent tooling for monorepos with features like:

• Fast builds with intelligent caching
• Dependency graph visualization
• Code generators for consistent project structure
• Affected commands to only run tasks on changed projects

Getting Started

To create a new Nx workspace:

npx create-nx-workspace@latest my-workspace

This will set up a monorepo with Nx configured and ready to use.

Best Practices

1. Organize by domain - Group related applications and libraries together
2. Use code generators - Maintain consistency across projects
3. Leverage caching - Nx will automatically cache build outputs
4. Set up CI/CD - Use Nx Cloud for distributed caching

Conclusion

Nx makes managing monorepos significantly easier with its powerful tooling and optimizations. The initial setup pays dividends in developer productivity and build performance.