Monorepo Navigator
FreeOptimize and manage your monorepo with ease.
Free · Opens the source repo
What Monorepo Navigator does
Monorepo Navigator is a powerful tool designed to assist developers in navigating, managing, and optimizing monorepos. It supports popular frameworks such as Turborepo, Nx, pnpm workspaces, and Lerna, making it versatile for various project setups. With capabilities like cross-package impact analysis, this tool helps developers understand which applications may be affected by changes in shared packages, thus reducing the risk of introducing bugs during development.
One of the standout features of Monorepo Navigator is its ability to perform selective builds and tests. Instead of running commands across the entire repository, developers can execute tests or builds only for the packages that are impacted by recent changes. This selective approach not only saves time but also improves overall efficiency in continuous integration (CI) environments. Additionally, the tool provides remote caching and incremental builds, which further enhance performance by minimizing redundant operations.
Monorepo Navigator also facilitates structured migrations from multi-repo setups to a single monorepo, ensuring that no history is lost during the transition. This is particularly beneficial for teams looking to consolidate their codebases for better collaboration and management. The tool includes features for visualizing dependency graphs, allowing developers to see the relationships between packages clearly. This visualization aids in understanding complex dependencies and planning future changes effectively.
Overall, Monorepo Navigator is ideal for teams that work with multiple packages sharing code, especially when build times are a concern or when migrating from multiple repositories. Its integration with Claude Code ensures that workspace-aware development is streamlined, making it a valuable addition to any developer's toolkit.
When to use it
This tool is best used when working with multiple packages that share code, during migrations from multi-repo to monorepo, or when optimizing CI workflows.
When not to use it
It is not suitable for single-app projects with no shared packages or when team boundaries are completely isolated.
What you can build with it
Optimizing CI for Large Workspaces
Use Monorepo Navigator to streamline your CI processes by leveraging selective builds and remote caching, reducing build times significantly.
Managing Shared Code Across Packages
When multiple packages share code, the tool helps analyze impacts and manage dependencies effectively, ensuring smooth development.
Migrating from Multi-repo to Monorepo
Facilitate a structured migration with zero history loss by following the step-by-step guidance provided by Monorepo Navigator.
How to install Monorepo Navigator
View source1. Install with the skills CLI
npx skills add alirezarezvani/claude-skills/monorepo-navigator --agent claude-code2. Or install it manually
Download the skill folder and drop it into ~/.claude/skills/ for all projects, or .claude/skills/ to scope it to one repo. Restart Claude Code so it picks up the new skill.
Anthropic's agentic coding CLI, and the reference implementation of Agent Skills. Drop a skill folder into ~/.claude/skills and Claude Code loads it automatically whenever a task matches the skill's description. Claude Code docs
Inside SKILL.md
Written by alirezarezvaniMonorepo Navigator
Tier: POWERFUL
Category: Engineering
Domain: Monorepo Architecture / Build Systems
Overview
Navigate, manage, and optimize monorepos. Covers Turborepo, Nx, pnpm workspaces, and Lerna. Enables cross-package impact analysis, selective builds/tests on affected packages only, remote caching, dependency graph visualization, and structured migrations from multi-repo to monorepo. Includes Claude Code configuration for workspace-aware development.
Core Capabilities
- Cross-package impact analysis — determine which apps break when a shared package changes
- Selective commands — run tests/builds only for affected packages (not everything)
- Dependency graph — visualize package relationships as Mermaid diagrams
- Build optimization — remote caching, incremental builds, parallel execution
- Migration — step-by-step multi-repo → monorepo with zero history loss
- Publishing — changesets for versioning, pre-release channels, npm publish workflows
- Claude Code config — workspace-aware CLAUDE.md with per-package instructions
When to Use
Use when:
- Multiple packages/apps share code (UI components, utils, types, API clients)
- Build times are slow because everything rebuilds when anything changes
- Migrating from multiple repos to a single repo
- Need to publish packages to npm with coordinated versioning
- Teams work across multiple packages and need unified tooling
Skip when:
- Single-app project with no shared packages
- Team/project boundaries are completely isolated (polyrepo is fine)
- Shared code is minimal and copy-paste overhead is acceptable
Tool Selection
| Tool | Best For | Key Feature |
|---|---|---|
| Turborepo | JS/TS monorepos, simple pipeline config | Best-in-class remote caching, minimal config |
| Nx | Large enterprises, plugin ecosystem | Project graph, code generation, affected commands |
| pnpm workspaces | Workspace protocol, disk efficiency | workspace:* for local package refs |
| Lerna | npm publishing, versioning | Batch publishing, conventional commits |
| Changesets | Modern versioning (preferred over Lerna) | Changelog generation, pre-release channels |
Most modern setups: pnpm workspaces + Turborepo + Changesets
Turborepo
→ See references/monorepo-tooling-reference.md for details
Workspace Analyzer
python3 scripts/monorepo_analyzer.py /path/to/monorepo
python3 scripts/monorepo_analyzer.py /path/to/monorepo --json
Also see references/monorepo-patterns.md for common architecture and CI patterns.
Common Pitfalls
| Pitfall | Fix |
|---|---|
Running turbo run build without --filter on every PR | Always use --filter=...[origin/main] in CI |
workspace:* refs cause publish failures | Use pnpm changeset publish — it replaces workspace:* with real versions automatically |
| All packages rebuild when unrelated file changes | Tune inputs in turbo.json to exclude docs, config files from cache keys |
| Shared tsconfig causes one package to break all type-checks | Use extends properly — each package extends root but overrides rootDir / outDir |
| git history lost during migration | Use git filter-repo --to-subdirectory-filter before merging — never move files manually |
| Remote cache not working in CI | Check TURBO_TOKEN and TURBO_TEAM env vars; verify with turbo run build --summarize |
| CLAUDE.md too generic — Claude modifies wrong package | Add explicit "When working on X, only touch files in apps/X" rules per package CLAUDE.md |
Best Practices
- Root CLAUDE.md defines the map — document every package, its purpose, and dependency rules
- Per-package CLAUDE.md defines the rules — what's allowed, what's forbidden, testing commands
- Always scope commands with --filter — running everything on every change defeats the purpose
- Remote cache is not optional — without it, monorepo CI is slower than multi-repo CI
- Changesets over manual versioning — never hand-edit package.json versions in a monorepo
- Shared configs in root, extended in packages — tsconfig.base.json, .eslintrc.base.js, jest.base.config.js
- Impact analysis before merging shared package changes — run affected check, communicate blast radius
- Keep packages/types as pure TypeScript — no runtime code, no dependencies, fast to build and type-check
Frequently asked questions about Monorepo Navigator
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