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Atlas Whoff
Atlas Whoff

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Monorepo vs Polyrepo: Making the Right Choice for Your Team

#devops #architecture #typescript #git

Monorepo vs Polyrepo: Making the Right Choice for Your Team

Google uses a monorepo. Most startups use polyrepos. Both work — the right choice depends on team size, code sharing, and deployment strategy.

Polyrepo (Multiple Repositories)

Each service/app lives in its own repo.

github.com/myorg/api         # Backend API
github.com/myorg/web         # Frontend
github.com/myorg/mobile      # React Native
github.com/myorg/shared-ui   # Shared components
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Pros:

  • Independent deployments and CI/CD per repo
  • Clear ownership and permissions
  • Smaller repos are faster to clone and search

Cons:

  • Sharing code requires publishing packages (npm)
  • Cross-repo changes need multiple PRs
  • Version drift between shared packages
  • Inconsistent tooling across repos

Monorepo (Single Repository) 

myorg/
├── apps/
│   ├── web/          # Next.js
│   ├── api/          # Express
│   └── mobile/       # React Native
├── packages/
│   ├── ui/           # Shared components
│   ├── database/     # Prisma
│   └── config/       # Shared tsconfig, eslint
└── turbo.json
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Pros:

  • Atomic cross-package changes in one PR
  • Shared tooling and configs
  • Easy code reuse (no publishing)
  • Single source of truth for types

Cons:

  • Larger repo, slower CI without caching
  • Anyone can see all code
  • Requires monorepo tooling (Turborepo, Nx)

When to Choose Each

Situation Choose
Solo or small team Monorepo
Multiple frontend apps sharing components Monorepo
Strict team ownership boundaries Polyrepo
Services in different languages Polyrepo
Frequent cross-cutting changes Monorepo
Independent scaling/deployment needs Polyrepo

Turborepo Monorepo Setup 

npx create-turbo@latest
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// turbo.json — define task dependencies
{
  "tasks": {
    "build": { "dependsOn": ["^build"], "outputs": [".next/**", "dist/**"] },
    "test": { "dependsOn": ["build"] },
    "lint": { "outputs": [] }
  }
}
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Shared Package Pattern 

// packages/ui/src/index.ts
export { Button } from './components/Button';
export { Card } from './components/Card';
export { Input } from './components/Input';

// packages/ui/package.json
{
  "name": "@myorg/ui",
  "main": "./src/index.ts",
  "exports": { ".": "./src/index.ts" }
}

// apps/web/package.json
{ "dependencies": { "@myorg/ui": "*" } }
// Imports directly from source — no build step needed
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Shared TypeScript Config 

// packages/config/tsconfig.base.json
{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "strict": true,
    "skipLibCheck": true,
    "moduleResolution": "bundler"
  }
}

// apps/web/tsconfig.json
{ "extends": "@myorg/config/tsconfig.base.json" }
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The AI SaaS Starter Kit ships as a Turborepo monorepo — web app, shared UI package, and Prisma database package all pre-wired. $99 at whoffagents.com.

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