Monorepo Guide: Turborepo, Next.js and NestJS

Why move to a Monorepo?

Monorepo architecture (all code in a single Git repository) has become the standard for full-stack TypeScript applications.

Our Ideal Stack

At ReposLens, we use:

• Turborepo: For task orchestration and remote caching.
• Pnpm: For fast dependency management (workspaces).
• Apps:
  • apps/web: Next.js (Frontend)
  • apps/api: NestJS (Backend)
• Packages:
  • packages/database: Shared Prisma schema
  • packages/ui: Shared React components
  • packages/typescript-config: Shared TS configs

The Killer Feature: End-to-End Type Safety

The killer advantage is type sharing. Your DTO (Data Transfer Object) defined in the backend can be imported directly into the frontend. If you change a field in the API, the Frontend breaks at build time. No more production bugs due to unsynced API changes.

Deploying a Monorepo

Deployment can be scary. The trick is to use Docker with "pruning". Example of a Dockerfile optimized for Turbo:

FROM node:18-alpine AS base
FROM base AS builder
WORKDIR /app
RUN npm install turbo --global
COPY . .
RUN turbo prune --scope=web --docker
# ... build steps

This ensures only necessary files for the target app are copied, reducing the final Docker image size.