Aryan Shaily

What’s a Monorepo, Who Uses It, and Why?

July 17, 2024

An introduction to monorepos, their benefits, and how tools like Turborepo and Nx can streamline development.

A monorepo is a single repository that houses multiple projects and their associated packages or services. Instead of managing separate repositories, you keep everything under one roof. This can include:

• Microservices
• Frontend applications
• Shared libraries
• Utility tools

Why Use a Monorepo?

1. Optimized Build Times:
   Keeping everything in one place allows for shared configurations and builds. You can cache results and speed up your overall build process.

2. Streamlined Workflows:
   No need to switch between multiple repos. You have a single source of truth for your code, making development, testing, and deployment workflows smoother.

3. Easier Dependency Management:
   Since you don’t have to update dependencies across multiple repositories, it’s simpler to keep everything up-to-date in one place.

4. Consistent Code and Easier Refactoring:
   A monorepo helps ensure consistency across projects and simplifies refactoring. Teams can propagate changes quickly and more reliably.

5. Enhanced Team Collaboration:
   With a single codebase, developers have more visibility into how different parts of the system interconnect, fostering better collaboration.

6. Perfect for Large Codebases:
   Monorepos excel at handling large projects with many moving parts, offering a scalable solution as your product grows.

Tools to Simplify Monorepo Adoption

Turborepo

• Caching and Parallel Execution: Speeds up builds by caching previous results and running tasks in parallel where possible.
• Written in Rust: For Rust enthusiasts, Turborepo’s internals are now powered by Rust (they migrated from Go).
• Easy Setup & Configuration: Manage multiple projects in one place with minimal overhead.

Nx

• Smart Task Scheduling: Nx can detect changes and only run necessary tasks.
• Extensive Plugin Ecosystem: Offers official and community plugins for popular frameworks and libraries.
• Scalable: Designed with large teams and projects in mind, it keeps builds fast and maintains developer productivity.

Why We Use Turborepo at Cypherock

“We at Cypherock use Turborepo to manage our projects and it works really well. It’s fast and written in Rust (for all the Rust lovers out there). They moved from Go to Rust and have a blog about it as well. It’s easy to set up and I’m enjoying faster build times.”

Turborepo’s shift from Go to Rust is detailed in their blog post:

Turborepo migration from Go to Rust

Ps — It’s a very interesting blog and focuses on how big projects choose their tech.

Final Thoughts

If you’re looking to speed up your development process and simplify workflows, adopting a monorepo with tools like Turborepo or Nx might be just what your projects need. Not only will you see reduced build times, but you’ll also experience more streamlined collaboration and easier code maintenance. Happy coding!