monorepo-management

★ 37,559

by wshobson · part of wshobson/agents

Master monorepo management with Turborepo, Nx, and pnpm workspaces to build efficient, scalable multi-package repositories with optimized builds and dependency management. Use when setting up monorepos, optimizing builds, or managing shared dependencies.

🧩 One of 7 skills in the wshobson/agents package — works on its own, and pairs well with its siblings.

This is the playbook your agent receives when the skill activates — you don't need to read it to use the skill, but it's here to audit before installing.

Monorepo Management

Build efficient, scalable monorepos that enable code sharing, consistent tooling, and atomic changes across multiple packages and applications.

When to Use This Skill

Setting up new monorepo projects
Migrating from multi-repo to monorepo
Optimizing build and test performance
Managing shared dependencies
Implementing code sharing strategies
Setting up CI/CD for monorepos
Versioning and publishing packages
Debugging monorepo-specific issues

Core Concepts

1. Why Monorepos?

Advantages:

Shared code and dependencies
Atomic commits across projects
Consistent tooling and standards
Easier refactoring
Simplified dependency management
Better code visibility

Challenges:

Build performance at scale
CI/CD complexity
Access control
Large Git repository

2. Monorepo Tools

Package Managers:

pnpm workspaces (recommended)
npm workspaces
Yarn workspaces

Build Systems:

Turborepo (recommended for most)
Nx (feature-rich, complex)
Lerna (older, maintenance mode)

Detailed patterns and worked examples

Detailed pattern documentation lives in references/details.md. Read that file when the navigation tier above is insufficient.

Best Practices

Consistent Versioning: Lock dependency versions across workspace
Shared Configs: Centralize ESLint, TypeScript, Prettier configs
Dependency Graph: Keep it acyclic, avoid circular dependencies
Cache Effectively: Configure inputs/outputs correctly
Type Safety: Share types between frontend/backend
Testing Strategy: Unit tests in packages, E2E in apps
Documentation: README in each package
Release Strategy: Use changesets for versioning

Common Pitfalls

Circular Dependencies: A depends on B, B depends on A
Phantom Dependencies: Using deps not in package.json
Incorrect Cache Inputs: Missing files in Turborepo inputs
Over-Sharing: Sharing code that should be separate
Under-Sharing: Duplicating code across packages
Large Monorepos: Without proper tooling, builds slow down

Publishing Packages

# Using Changesets
pnpm add -Dw @changesets/cli
pnpm changeset init

# Create changeset
pnpm changeset

# Version packages
pnpm changeset version

# Publish
pnpm changeset publish

# .github/workflows/release.yml
- name: Create Release Pull Request or Publish
  uses: changesets/action@v1
  with:
    publish: pnpm release
  env:
    GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
    NPM_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}

Copy & paste — that's it

npx skills add https://github.com/wshobson/agents --skill monorepo-management

Run this in your project — your agent picks the skill up automatically.

Turborepo Setup

Initial Setup

# Create new monorepo
npx create-turbo@latest my-monorepo
cd my-monorepo

# Structure:
# apps/
#   web/          - Next.js app
#   docs/         - Documentation site
# packages/
#   ui/           - Shared UI components
#   config/       - Shared configurations
#   tsconfig/     - Shared TypeScript configs
# turbo.json      - Turborepo configuration
# package.json    - Root package.json

Configuration

// turbo.json
{
  "$schema": "https://turbo.build/schema.json",
  "globalDependencies": ["**/.env.*local"],
  "pipeline": {
    "build": {
      "dependsOn": ["^build"],
      "outputs": ["dist/**", ".next/**", "!.next/cache/**"]
    },
    "test": {
      "dependsOn": ["build"],
      "outputs": ["coverage/**"]
    },
    "lint": {
      "outputs": []
    },
    "dev": {
      "cache": false,
      "persistent": true
    },
    "type-check": {
      "dependsOn": ["^build"],
      "outputs": []
    }
  }
}

// package.json (root)
{
  "name": "my-monorepo",
  "private": true,
  "workspaces": ["apps/*", "packages/*"],
  "scripts": {
    "build": "turbo run build",
    "dev": "turbo run dev",
    "test": "turbo run test",
    "lint": "turbo run lint",
    "format": "prettier --write \"**/*.{ts,tsx,md}\"",
    "clean": "turbo run clean && rm -rf node_modules"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "turbo": "^1.10.0",
    "prettier": "^3.0.0",
    "typescript": "^5.0.0"
  },
  "packageManager": "pnpm@8.0.0"
}

Package Structure

// packages/ui/package.json
{
  "name": "@repo/ui",
  "version": "0.0.0",
  "private": true,
  "main": "./dist/index.js",
  "types": "./dist/index.d.ts",
  "exports": {
    ".": {
      "import": "./dist/index.js",
      "types": "./dist/index.d.ts"
    },
    "./button": {
      "import": "./dist/button.js",
      "types": "./dist/button.d.ts"
    }
  },
  "scripts": {
    "build": "tsup src/index.ts --format esm,cjs --dts",
    "dev": "tsup src/index.ts --format esm,cjs --dts --watch",
    "lint": "eslint src/",
    "type-check": "tsc --noEmit"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@repo/tsconfig": "workspace:*",
    "tsup": "^7.0.0",
    "typescript": "^5.0.0"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "react": "^18.2.0"
  }
}