Nx
A build tool for monorepos that caches unchanged work and runs only what's affected.
- Stars
- 29.4k
- Forks
- 3k
- Licence
- MIT
- Language
- TypeScript
- Last update
- 4 days ago
- Type
- Dev tool
What it is
Nx is a tool for managing a monorepo, a single repository holding many related projects. It speeds up builds and tests by caching results for code that hasn't changed and running only the tasks affected by a change. It works with existing npm, pnpm, or yarn workspaces and can connect to CI providers for remote caching and task distribution.
- Run `npx nx init` in an existing npm, pnpm, or yarn workspace to add caching to current scripts
- Run only the builds and tests affected by a given change
- Connect to GitHub Actions, GitLab, or Azure for remote caching and automatic e2e test splitting
- Use plugins to scaffold code for Vite, Webpack, Jest, Gradle, Maven, .NET, or Go projects
Great for
- Teams with several related JavaScript or TypeScript projects in one repository
- Developers who want to speed up existing package.json scripts without rewriting their setup
- Projects that use tools such as Vite, Jest, Vitest, or ESLint and want plugin-based configuration
- Teams looking to split CI work across machines
Not ideal for
- Single-project repositories, where the caching and affected-only features add little value (the README's benefits center on multi-project setups)
- Teams unwilling to learn a new workspace configuration model
- Projects needing a fully hosted CI service, since the README describes CI integration with existing providers such as GitHub Actions or GitLab
How to get it
- 1
Install with a package manager
You'll need: Node.js · npm, pnpm, or yarn workspace
Initialize Nx in an existing workspace
npx nx init - 2
Run it
- Open an existing npm, pnpm, or yarn workspace that has package.json scripts
- Run `npx nx init` in the workspace root
- Run one of your existing scripts through Nx so it caches the output
- Run the same script again to see the cached result
- 3
Get the most out of it
- Connect Nx to your CI provider to enable remote caching and affected-only runs, as described in the Nx CI docs
- Add plugins for your tooling (Vite, Jest, ESLint, and others) so Nx can auto-discover tasks and cache inputs and outputs
- Use the Nx CLI with AI agents, since the README says it is optimized for autonomous agent use
- Review the nx.dev docs for the self-healing CI and MCP integration described in the README
Downloads
Strengths
- Works on top of existing package.json scripts without requiring a rewrite, according to the README
- Supports TypeScript plus other ecosystems through plugins, including Gradle, Maven, .NET, and Go
- Released under the MIT license with a large community (about 29k GitHub stars)
Trade-offs
- Several headline features (self-healing CI, remote caching) are described in terms of the separate Nx Cloud service, so the free and paid boundaries are not clear from this README
- The README's AI-agent and self-healing claims are broad and are not detailed here, so their real-world behavior is hard to judge from this text alone
- Advanced configuration and plugin behavior are only summarized here and need the full docs
How it compares
| Project | Stars | Type | Level | Updated | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nx (this) | 29.4k | Dev tool | intermediate | 4 days ago | Teams with several related JavaScript or TypeScript projects in one repository |
| turborepo | 31.3k | Dev tool | intermediate | 5 days ago | Teams maintaining a JavaScript or TypeScript monorepo with several apps or packages |
| lerna | 36k | Dev tool | intermediate | 5 days ago | JavaScript or TypeScript teams maintaining several related npm packages in one repository |
| storybook | 91.4k | Dev tool | intermediate | 4 days ago | Frontend teams building a shared component library or design system |
| task | 16.3k | Dev tool | beginner | 4 days ago | Developers who want a simpler alternative to Makefiles for project scripts |
| vite | 83.7k | Dev tool | intermediate | 4 days ago | Frontend developers starting a new modern web project |
Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.