Hello, fellow developers! Today, let's explore how to set up and optimize a standalone React application using Nx. This tutorial is perfect for those who want the benefits of Nx without the complexity of a monorepo setup.
What You Will Learn
- Creating a new React application with Nx
- Running tasks (serving, building, testing) individually or in parallel
- Using code generators to scaffold components
- Modularizing your codebase for better maintainability
Getting Started
To begin, we need to create a new Nx workspace with a standalone React application. Follow these steps:
Step 1: Create a New React App
Run the following command to create a new Nx workspace and a standalone React application:
npx create-nx-workspace@latest myreactapp --preset=react-standalone
During the setup, choose your preferences:
- Bundler: Vite
- Test runner: Cypress
- Stylesheet format: CSS
- CI setup: GitHub
This command generates a workspace with the following structure:
myreactapp
├── e2e
├── public
├── src
│ ├── app
│ │ ├── app.module.css
│ │ ├── app.spec.tsx
│ │ ├── app.tsx
│ │ └── nx-welcome.tsx
│ ├── assets
│ ├── main.tsx
│ └── styles.css
├── index.html
├── nx.json
├── package.json
├── project.json
├── tsconfig.app.json
├── tsconfig.json
├── tsconfig.spec.json
└── vite.config.ts
Serving the App
To serve your new React application, you can use the Nx CLI or npm scripts:
npm start
# or
nx serve
Your application will be available at http://localhost:4200.
Running Tasks
Nx identifies tasks from configuration files, package.json
scripts, and project.json
. To view these tasks, run:
nx show project myreactapp --web
You can run tasks using the following commands:
- Build the app:
nx build
- Run tests:
nx test
- Lint the code:
nx lint
- Run end-to-end tests:
nx e2e
To run multiple tasks in parallel, use:
nx run-many -t test lint e2e
Caching
Nx caches task results to improve performance. If you run tasks again, Nx will use the cached results if no changes were made.
Creating New Components
Nx plugins come with code generators. To generate a new component, use:
npx nx g @nx/react:component hello-world --directory=src/app/hello-world --dry-run
Remove the --dry-run
flag to apply the changes. The generator will create:
src/app/hello-world/hello-world.module.css
src/app/hello-world/hello-world.spec.tsx
src/app/hello-world/hello-world.tsx
Modularizing Your Codebase
For better maintainability, split your app into local libraries. Generate libraries using:
nx g @nx/react:library products --unitTestRunner=vitest --bundler=none --directory=modules/products
nx g @nx/react:library orders --unitTestRunner=vitest --bundler=none --directory=modules/orders
nx g @nx/react:library ui --unitTestRunner=vitest --bundler=none --directory=modules/shared/ui
This will create a structured directory with independent libraries.
Importing Libraries
Use the libraries in your app by updating the tsconfig.base.json
with library paths:
{
"compilerOptions": {
...
"paths": {
"@myreactapp/orders": ["modules/orders/src/index.ts"],
"@myreactapp/products": ["modules/products/src/index.ts"],
"@myreactapp/ui": ["modules/shared/ui/src/index.ts"]
},
...
}
}
Import and use the libraries in your application components.
Setting Up CI
Generate a CI workflow for GitHub:
npx nx generate ci-workflow --ci=github
This command creates a .github/workflows/ci.yml
file to run lint, test, build, and e2e tasks.
Connecting to Nx Cloud
To connect your workspace to Nx Cloud for remote caching and task distribution, run:
npx nx connect
Follow the instructions to connect your repository to Nx Cloud.
Conclusion
Nx provides powerful tools to enhance your React development workflow, even in a standalone setup. By leveraging its capabilities, you can build, test, and maintain your applications more efficiently.
By continuously optimizing our development practices, we can evolve into better developers and build more efficient applications.
Ref: nx.dev
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