nx-workspace

Answers questions about a large repository without touching it — what projects are in here, how is this one set up, what else breaks if I change it. It asks the tool itself rather than reading the config files, which only tell half the story.

WHEN TO USE

SCOPE

USE FOR

List every project in the workspace, optionally filtered by type, tag, or name pattern.
Look up the full configuration and available targets for one named project.
Find out which other projects depend on a given library.
Debug a task configuration error by checking which targets a project actually has.
Read the workspace-wide settings and plugin list out of nx.json.

This is a saved copy of the skill's SKILL.md instructions. It may differ from the upstream file or the version you install.

In this document (9)

Nx Workspace Exploration

This skill provides read-only exploration of Nx workspaces. Use it to understand workspace structure, project configuration, available targets, and dependencies.

Keep in mind that you might have to prefix commands with npx/pnpx/yarn if nx isn't installed globally. Check the lockfile to determine the package manager in use.

Listing Projects

Use nx show projects to list projects in the workspace.

The project filtering syntax (-p/--projects) works across many Nx commands including nx run-many, nx release, nx show projects, and more. Filters support explicit names, glob patterns, tag references (e.g. tag:name), directories, and negation (e.g. !project-name).

# List all projects
nx show projects

# Filter by pattern (glob)
nx show projects --projects "apps/*"
nx show projects --projects "shared-*"

# Filter by tag
nx show projects --projects "tag:publishable"
nx show projects -p 'tag:publishable,!tag:internal'

# Filter by target (projects that have a specific target)
nx show projects --withTarget build

# Combine filters
nx show projects --type lib --withTarget test
nx show projects --affected --exclude="*-e2e"
nx show projects -p "tag:scope:client,packages/*"

# Negate patterns
nx show projects -p '!tag:private'
nx show projects -p '!*-e2e'

# Output as JSON
nx show projects --json

Project Configuration

Use nx show project <name> --json to get the full resolved configuration for a project.

Important: Do NOT read project.json directly - it only contains partial configuration. The nx show project --json command returns the full resolved config including inferred targets from plugins.

You can read the full project schema at node_modules/nx/schemas/project-schema.json to understand nx project configuration options.

# Get full project configuration
nx show project my-app --json

# Extract specific parts from the JSON
nx show project my-app --json | jq '.targets'
nx show project my-app --json | jq '.targets.build'
nx show project my-app --json | jq '.targets | keys'

# Check project metadata
nx show project my-app --json | jq '{name, root, sourceRoot, projectType, tags}'

Target Information

Targets define what tasks can be run on a project.

# List all targets for a project
nx show project my-app --json | jq '.targets | keys'

# Get full target configuration
nx show project my-app --json | jq '.targets.build'

# Check target executor/command
nx show project my-app --json | jq '.targets.build.executor'
nx show project my-app --json | jq '.targets.build.command'

# View target options
nx show project my-app --json | jq '.targets.build.options'

# Check target inputs/outputs (for caching)
nx show project my-app --json | jq '.targets.build.inputs'
nx show project my-app --json | jq '.targets.build.outputs'

# Find projects with a specific target
nx show projects --withTarget serve
nx show projects --withTarget e2e

Workspace Configuration

Read nx.json directly for workspace-level configuration. You can read the full project schema at node_modules/nx/schemas/nx-schema.json to understand nx project configuration options.

# Read the full nx.json
cat nx.json

# Or use jq for specific sections
cat nx.json | jq '.targetDefaults'
cat nx.json | jq '.namedInputs'
cat nx.json | jq '.plugins'
cat nx.json | jq '.generators'

Key nx.json sections:

targetDefaults - Default configuration applied to all targets of a given name
namedInputs - Reusable input definitions for caching
plugins - Nx plugins and their configuration
...and much more, read the schema or nx.json for details

Affected Projects

If the user is asking about affected projects, read the affected projects reference for detailed commands and examples.

Common Exploration Patterns

"What's in this workspace?"

nx show projects
nx show projects --type app
nx show projects --type lib

"How do I build/test/lint project X?"

nx show project X --json | jq '.targets | keys'
nx show project X --json | jq '.targets.build'

"What depends on library Y?"

# Use the project graph to find dependents
nx graph --print | jq '.graph.dependencies | to_entries[] | select(.value[].target == "Y") | .key'

Programmatic Answers

When processing nx CLI results, use command-line tools to compute the answer programmatically rather than counting or parsing output manually. Always use --json flags to get structured output that can be processed with jq, grep, or other tools you have installed locally.

Listing Projects

nx show projects --json

Example output:

["my-app", "my-app-e2e", "shared-ui", "shared-utils", "api"]

Common operations:

# Count projects
nx show projects --json | jq 'length'

# Filter by pattern
nx show projects --json | jq '.[] | select(startswith("shared-"))'

# Get affected projects as array
nx show projects --affected --json | jq '.'

Project Details

nx show project my-app --json

Example output:

{
  "root": "apps/my-app",
  "name": "my-app",
  "sourceRoot": "apps/my-app/src",
  "projectType": "application",
  "tags": ["type:app", "scope:client"],
  "targets": {
    "build": {
      "executor": "@nx/vite:build",
      "options": { "outputPath": "dist/apps/my-app" }
    },
    "serve": {
      "executor": "@nx/vite:dev-server",
      "options": { "buildTarget": "my-app:build" }
    },
    "test": {
      "executor": "@nx/vite:test",
      "options": {}
    }
  },
  "implicitDependencies": []
}

Common operations:

# Get target names
nx show project my-app --json | jq '.targets | keys'

# Get specific target config
nx show project my-app --json | jq '.targets.build'

# Get tags
nx show project my-app --json | jq '.tags'

# Get project root
nx show project my-app --json | jq -r '.root'

Project Graph

nx graph --print

Example output:

{
  "graph": {
    "nodes": {
      "my-app": {
        "name": "my-app",
        "type": "app",
        "data": { "root": "apps/my-app", "tags": ["type:app"] }
      },
      "shared-ui": {
        "name": "shared-ui",
        "type": "lib",
        "data": { "root": "libs/shared-ui", "tags": ["type:ui"] }
      }
    },
    "dependencies": {
      "my-app": [
        { "source": "my-app", "target": "shared-ui", "type": "static" }
      ],
      "shared-ui": []
    }
  }
}

Common operations:

# Get all project names from graph
nx graph --print | jq '.graph.nodes | keys'

# Find dependencies of a project
nx graph --print | jq '.graph.dependencies["my-app"]'

# Find projects that depend on a library
nx graph --print | jq '.graph.dependencies | to_entries[] | select(.value[].target == "shared-ui") | .key'

Troubleshooting

"Cannot find configuration for task X:target"

# Check what targets exist on the project
nx show project X --json | jq '.targets | keys'

# Check if any projects have that target
nx show projects --withTarget target

"The workspace is out of sync"

nx sync
nx reset  # if sync doesn't fix stale cache

Local tool required

1 FOR YOU

01
Have an existing Nx workspace
Have Node.js and an existing Nx workspace with the nx CLI (via npx/pnpx/yarn if not installed globally) so nx show projects and nx graph can read its configuration.

Listed as free: Connected services may require an account or charge fees.
Installation: One command — usually under 2 minutes.

This skill ships inside the Nx AI Agent Skills plugin. Listed package contents include 1 agent. Installed components and skill versions may vary by AI tool.

Install just this skill

Run this outside your AI tool, using Node.js 22.20.0 or newer. Skills CLI 1.7.2 skips skill selection; prompts cancel installation without an interactive terminal. If choosing Project when asked about installation scope, open your project's folder before running this.

Install checklist

Check selected tools if a picker appears; Claude Code may be unchecked under Additional agents. ↑/↓ moves, Space toggles selections, Enter confirms.
Without a tool picker, check Installing to: for your intended tool. Stop if it names a different tool.
If asked, choose Symlink (Recommended) for shared files or Copy to all agents for separate copies; review the summary before confirming installation.
Install the find-skills skill? defaults to Yes, adding another skill for all projects. Choose No if you don't want that extra installation.

Skills CLI 1.7.2 sends install data to skills.sh by default, including the source, skill names, target tools and file details; GitHub sources are reported only when GitHub confirms the repository is public, while other remote sources can also be reported. Confirmed-public GitHub sources also trigger a security-audit request. Before installing, set the environment variable DO_NOT_TRACK=1 or DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1 to disable both.

npx skills add nrwl/nx-ai-agents-config --skill "nx-workspace" --full-depth

After installing for Claude Code, open it in the installation project if you chose Project; Global makes the skill available across projects on this computer. Once Claude Code loads the skill, its description helps Claude decide when to use it.

If installation created a top-level skills folder that did not exist when your Claude Code session started, run /reload-skills in that session. Run it again after later changes in that folder.

Install the whole plugin

This route installs the Nx AI Agent Skills plugin package selected for your AI tool.

PLUGIN MARKETPLACE

Add the marketplace, then install the plugin

Typed inside the agent's own prompt, not in a terminal. The marketplace is called nx-claude-plugins, which is the part after the @.

/plugin marketplace add nrwl/nx-ai-agents-config

02
```
/plugin install nx@nx-claude-plugins
```

Open plugin page ↗

What's inside

Files included with this skill.

View on GitHub

Nx Workspace Exploration

Listing Projects

Project Configuration

Target Information

Workspace Configuration

Affected Projects

Common Exploration Patterns

"What's in this workspace?"

"How do I build/test/lint project X?"

"What depends on library Y?"

Programmatic Answers

Listing Projects

Project Details

Project Graph

Troubleshooting

"Cannot find configuration for task X:target"

"The workspace is out of sync"

Local tool required

Install just this skill

Install the whole plugin

Add the marketplace, then install the plugin

What's inside

More skills

link-workspace-packages

monitor-ci

nx-cloud-api

nx-cloud-cache-investigator

nx-cloud-ci-failure-review

nx-generate