1 Single Way to LvL Up Your NextJS Project: Yarn Workspaces

When managing a Next.js project with multiple packages or applications, Yarn Workspaces can be an invaluable tool. It simplifies dependency management, streamlines development, and makes code sharing across various parts of your project a breeze. This guide will walk you through setting up Yarn Workspaces in a Next.js project step-by-step.

Prerequisites

Make sure you have the following installed on your machine:

• Node.js
• Yarn (Install it using npm install --global yarn)

Step 1: Initialize Your Monorepo

First, create a root directory for your monorepo and initialize it with a package.json file.

mkdir my-monorepo
cd my-monorepo
yarn init -y

Step 2: Configure Yarn Workspaces

Modify the root package.json to define the structure of your workspaces. This will specify where your packages (including the Next.js application) will be located.

{
  "name": "my-monorepo",
  "private": true,
  "workspaces": [
    "apps/*",
    "packages/*"
  ]
}

Step 3: Create Your Next.js Application

Create a directory for your Next.js application under the apps folder.

mkdir -p apps/next-app
cd apps/next-app
yarn init -y
yarn add next react react-dom

Set up the standard Next.js structure:

mkdir pages
touch pages/index.js

Create a simple component in pages/index.js:

export default function Home() {
  return <div>Welcome to Next.js with Yarn Workspaces!</div>;
}

Step 4: Share Code with Packages

To share code across multiple applications, create a shared package in the packages directory.

mkdir -p packages/shared
cd packages/shared
yarn init -y

Add some shared code, such as a utility function or a React component:

// packages/shared/index.js
export function greet(name) {
  return `Hello, ${name}!`;
}

Step 5: Link Shared Code in Next.js

Add the shared package as a dependency in the apps/next-app:

cd apps/next-app
yarn add shared@1.0.0

Edit your Next.js page to use the shared code:

// apps/next-app/pages/index.js
import { greet } from 'shared';

export default function Home() {
  return <div>{greet('Next.js with Yarn Workspaces')}</div>;
}

Step 6: Install Dependencies

Navigate to the root of your monorepo and install all dependencies:

yarn install

Yarn Workspaces will link all dependencies and shared packages seamlessly.

Step 7: Run Your Next.js Application

Start the Next.js development server either from the root or the apps/next-app directory:

cd apps/next-app
yarn next dev

This will start the Next.js server, and you can view your application in the browser.

Benefits of This Setup

1. Centralized Dependency Management: Manage all dependencies from the root, avoiding version conflicts.
2. Code Sharing: Easily share utility functions, components, or other code between different projects or packages.
3. Consistent Development Environment: Ensure that all packages use the same versions of dependencies.
4. Monorepo Structure: Keep related projects and packages in a single repository for easier version control and collaboration.

Conclusion

Using Yarn Workspaces in a Next.js project can significantly enhance your development workflow, particularly in larger projects requiring modularization and code sharing. By following this guide, you can set up a monorepo with Yarn Workspaces, creating a more organized and efficient development environment.