Nx Workspace Management

Tooling

Configure, explore, and optimize Nx monorepo workspaces. Use when setting up Nx, exploring workspace structure, configuring project boundaries, analyzing affected projects, optimizing build caching, or implementing CI/CD with affected commands. Keywords — nx, monorepo, workspace, projects, targets, affected. Do NOT use for running tasks (use nx-run-tasks) or code generation with generators (use nx-generate).

npx @tech-leads-club/agent-skills install --skill nx-workspace

What Nx Workspace Management does

Configure, explore, and optimize Nx monorepo workspaces.

When to use it

  • setting up Nx
  • exploring workspace structure
  • configuring project boundaries
  • analyzing affected projects
  • optimizing build caching
  • implementing CI/CD with affected commands. Keywords — nx
  • monorepo
  • workspace
  • projects
  • targets
  • affected

When not to use it

  • running tasks (use nx-run-tasks) or code generation with generators (use nx-generate)

Nx Workspace Management

Quick Start

Exploring workspace: nx show projects and nx show project <name> --json
Running tasks: nx <target> <project> (e.g., nx build my-app)
Affected analysis: nx show projects --affected or nx affected -t <target>

Note: Prefix commands with npx/pnpx/yarn if nx isn't installed globally.

Core Commands

List and Explore Projects

# List all projects
nx show projects

# Filter by type, pattern, or target
nx show projects --type app
nx show projects --projects "apps/*"
nx show projects --withTarget build

# Find affected projects
nx show projects --affected --base=main

Get Project Information

Critical: Always use nx show project <name> --json for full resolved configuration. Do NOT read project.json directly - it contains only partial configuration.

# Get full configuration
nx show project my-app --json

# Extract targets
nx show project my-app --json | jq '.targets | keys'

Configuration schemas:

  • Workspace: node_modules/nx/schemas/nx-schema.json
  • Project: node_modules/nx/schemas/project-schema.json

Run Tasks

# Run specific project
nx build web --configuration=production

# Run affected
nx affected -t test --base=main

# View dependency graph
nx graph

Workspace Architecture

workspace/
├── apps/              # Deployable applications
├── libs/              # Shared libraries
│   ├── shared/        # Shared across scopes
│   └── feature/       # Feature-specific
├── nx.json            # Workspace configuration
└── tools/             # Custom executors/generators

Library Types

TypePurposeExample
featureBusiness logic, smart componentsfeature-auth
uiPresentational componentsui-buttons
data-accessAPI calls, state managementdata-access-users
utilPure functions, helpersutil-formatting

Detailed Resources

Configuration: See reference/configuration.md for:

  • nx.json templates and options
  • project.json structure
  • Module boundary rules
  • Remote caching setup

Commands: See reference/commands.md for:

  • Complete command reference
  • Advanced filtering options
  • Common workflows

CI/CD: See reference/ci-cd.md for:

  • GitHub Actions configuration
  • GitLab CI setup
  • Jenkins, Azure Pipelines, CircleCI examples
  • Affected commands in pipelines

Best Practices: See reference/best-practices.md for:

  • Do's and don'ts
  • Complete troubleshooting guide
  • Performance optimization
  • Migration guides

Common Workflows

"What's in this workspace?"

nx show projects --type app  # List applications
nx show projects --type lib  # List libraries

"How do I run project X?"

nx show project X --json | jq '.targets | keys'

"What changed?"

nx show projects --affected --base=main

Quick Troubleshooting

  • Targets not showing: Use nx show project <name> --json, not project.json
  • Affected not working: Ensure git history available (fetch-depth: 0 in CI)
  • Cache issues: Run nx reset

For detailed troubleshooting, see reference/best-practices.md.

Related Tooling skills

  • Chrome DevTools Agent

    Browser debugging, performance profiling, and automation via Chrome DevTools MCP.

  • CI Monitor Command

    Monitor Nx Cloud CI pipeline status and handle self-healing fixes automatically.

  • Excalidraw Studio

    Generate Excalidraw diagrams from natural language descriptions. Outputs .excalidraw JSON files openable in Excalidraw.

  • Gh Pr Checks Plan Fix

    Use when a user asks to debug or fix failing GitHub PR checks that run in GitHub Actions. Uses `gh` to inspect checks and logs, summarize failure context, draft a fix plan, and implement only after explicit approval. Treats external providers (for example Buildkite) as out of scope and reports only the details URL. Do NOT use for addressing PR review comments (use gh-address-comments) or general CI outside GitHub Actions.

  • Mermaid Studio

    Expert Mermaid diagram creation, validation, and rendering with dual-engine output (SVG/PNG/ASCII). Supports all 20+ diagram types including C4 architecture, AWS architecture-beta with service icons, flowcharts, sequence, ERD, state, class, mindmap, timeline, git graph, sankey, and more. Features code-to-diagram analysis, batch rendering, 15+ themes, and syntax validation.

  • Nx Run Tasks

    Execute build, test, lint, serve, and other tasks in an Nx workspace using single runs, run-many, and affected commands.