Getting started with workspaces
Workspaces are a feature implemented by package managers to assist with working on multiple apps and packages in the same codebase.
Turborepo is compatible with three package managers, npm, Yarn, and pnpm, each with its own implementation of workspaces and functionality. Your package manager will determine how your apps and packages are organized in your workspaces and run in your turborepo.
Configuring workspaces
To use workspaces, you'll first need to declare their file system locations to your package manager
A common/recommended convention is to have an apps folder and a packages folder. The apps folder can contain workspaces for launchable apps, such as a Next.js or Svelte app. The packages folder can contain workspaces for packages that are used by either an app, or another package. Again, this isn't a requirement, but just a suggested folder structure
Unlike when working in a single-package repository, you'll need to consider how to name your workspaces. If you avoid npm naming collisions, you can use an npm organization or user scope to namespace your packages. For example, you might set the name key in ./apps/api/package.json to @mycompany/api.
Add the folders you want to configure as workspaces to the workspaces field in your root package.json file. This field contains a list of workspace folders in the form of globs:
{
"name": "monorepo",
"version": "1.0.0",
"workspaces": [
"docs",
"apps/*",
"packages/*"
]
}Add the folders you want to configure as workspaces to the workspaces field in the root package.json file. This field contains a list of workspace folders in the form of globs:
{
"name": "monorepo",
"version": "1.0.0",
"workspaces": [
"docs",
"apps/*",
"packages/*"
]
}Add the folders you want to configure as workspaces to the pnpm-workspace.yaml file that exists in your root directory. This file contains a list of workspace folders in the form of globs:
packages:
- "docs"
- "apps/*"
- "packages/*"Each folder that matches any of the globs in the list is considered a workspace folder. In the examples, the apps and packages folders contain folders that are workspaces, and the docs folder itself is a workspace.
monorepo/
├─ docs/
├─ apps/
│ ├─ api/
│ ├─ mobile/
├─ packages/
│ ├─ tsconfig/
│ ├─ config/
├─ sdk/
Using the same workspace configuration, the monorepo/docs/, monorepo/apps/api/, monorepo/apps/mobile/, monorepo/packages/config/, and monorepo/packages/tsconfig/ folders are all considered workspaces.
The monorepo/sdk/ folder is not considered a workspace and it is not included in the workspace configuration.
Managing workspaces
When you move, delete, or rename your workspaces, you will have to make sure that all folders linked within your package.json matches. Anytime you change the configuration of your workspace, make sure all the dependencies of the workspace are also updated. Re-run your npm client's install command to check your configuration. If there are any problems after that, you may have to delete your node_modules folder and run an install again.
Managing dependencies
To manage dependencies within workspaces in your monorepo, you will need to run commands that will only manage the dependencies of each workspace rather than for the entire monorepo.
Install
npm install <package> -w=<workspace>Example:
npm install react -w=webUninstall
npm uninstall <package> -w=<workspace>Example:
npm uninstall react -w=webUpdate
npm update <package> -w=<workspace>Example:
npm update react -w=webInstall
yarn workspace <workspace> add <package>Example:
yarn workspace web add reactUninstall
yarn workspace <workspace> remove <package>Example:
yarn workspace web remove reactUpdate
yarn workspace <workspace> upgrade <package>Example:
yarn workspace web upgrade reactInstall
pnpm add <package> --filter <workspace>Example:
pnpm add react --filter webUninstall
pnpm uninstall <package> --filter <workspace>Example:
pnpm uninstall react --filter webUpdate
pnpm up <package> --filter <workspace>Example:
pnpm up react --filter web