Turborepo Monorepo Guide

Project Structure

projectx/
├── apps/                   # Applications
│   ├── auth/              # NestJS auth service
│   ├── order/             # NestJS order service
│   ├── product/           # NestJS product service
│   ├── storybook/         # Component documentation
│   └── web/               # React Router frontend
├── packages/              # Shared packages
│   ├── core/              # @projectx/core - NestJS shared modules
│   ├── db/                # @projectx/db - Prisma client
│   ├── email/             # @projectx/email - Email templates
│   ├── models/            # @projectx/models - TypeScript types
│   ├── payment/           # @projectx/payment - Stripe
│   ├── ui/                # @projectx/ui - React components
│   └── workflows/         # @projectx/workflows - Temporal
├── turbo.json             # Turborepo config
├── pnpm-workspace.yaml    # Workspace definition
└── package.json           # Root package

Turbo Configuration

// turbo.json
{
  "$schema": "https://turbo.build/schema.json",
  "globalDependencies": [".env"],
  "tasks": {
    "build": {
      "dependsOn": ["^build"],
      "outputs": ["dist/**", ".next/**", "build/**"]
    },
    "dev": {
      "cache": false,
      "persistent": true
    },
    "test": {
      "dependsOn": ["build"],
      "inputs": ["src/**", "test/**"]
    },
    "lint": {
      "dependsOn": ["^build"]
    }
  }
}

Common Commands

Development

# Run all apps in development
pnpm dev

# Run specific app
pnpm dev:web
pnpm dev:auth
pnpm dev:order
pnpm dev:product

# Run Storybook
pnpm storybook

Building

# Build all packages and apps
pnpm build

# Build specific targets
pnpm build:web
pnpm build:ui
pnpm build:auth

# Build with turbo filter
turbo run build --filter=web
turbo run build --filter=@projectx/ui

Testing

# Run all tests
pnpm test

# Test specific package
pnpm --filter web test
pnpm --filter @projectx/ui test

Filtering

# Build a package and its dependencies
turbo run build --filter=web...

# Build dependents of a package
turbo run build --filter=...@projectx/ui

# Build everything except one package
turbo run build --filter=!storybook

# Build changed packages since main
turbo run build --filter=[main]

Package Dependencies

Internal Package References

In package.json:

{
  "dependencies": {
    "@projectx/ui": "workspace:*",
    "@projectx/db": "workspace:*",
    "@projectx/models": "workspace:*"
  }
}

Creating a New Package

1. Create directory:

mkdir -p packages/new-package/src

2. Initialize package.json:

{
  "name": "@projectx/new-package",
  "version": "0.0.0",
  "private": true,
  "type": "module",
  "exports": {
    ".": {
      "import": "./dist/index.js",
      "types": "./dist/index.d.ts"
    }
  },
  "scripts": {
    "build": "tsup src/index.ts --format esm --dts",
    "dev": "tsup src/index.ts --format esm --dts --watch"
  }
}

3. Add to workspace consumer:

{
  "dependencies": {
    "@projectx/new-package": "workspace:*"
  }
}

Creating a New App

1. Create directory:

mkdir -p apps/new-app/src

2. Initialize with NestJS or React Router template

3. Add to turbo.json if needed for custom pipelines

Caching

Local Caching

Turbo caches build outputs locally in node_modules/.cache/turbo.

# Clear local cache
turbo run build --force

# View cache status
turbo run build --dry-run

Remote Caching (Optional)

# Login to Vercel for remote caching
turbo login

# Link to project
turbo link

Task Graph

View the task dependency graph:

turbo run build --graph

Environment Variables

Global Environment

// turbo.json
{
  "globalEnv": ["DATABASE_URL", "STRIPE_SECRET_KEY"],
  "globalDependencies": [".env"]
}

Task-Specific Environment

{
  "tasks": {
    "build": {
      "env": ["NODE_ENV"]
    }
  }
}

Best Practices

1. Use workspace protocol – Always use workspace:* for internal deps
2. Keep packages focused – Each package should have a single responsibility
3. Minimize dependencies – Don’t create unnecessary inter-package dependencies
4. Use turbo filters – Run commands only where needed
5. Cache outputs – Configure outputs correctly in turbo.json
6. Share configs – Use shared tsconfig, eslint configs
7. Consistent naming – Use @projectx/ scope for all packages

Troubleshooting

Dependency Issues

# Clean and reinstall
rm -rf node_modules pnpm-lock.yaml
pnpm install

Build Order Issues

# See what turbo will build
turbo run build --dry-run

# Force rebuild without cache
turbo run build --force

Type Issues

# Regenerate TypeScript build info
pnpm build:core
pnpm build:ui
pnpm build