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Import an Existing Project into an Nx Workspace

Nx can help with the process of moving an existing project from another repository into an Nx workspace. In order to communicate clearly about this process, we'll call the repository we're moving the project out of the "source repository" and the repository we're moving the project into the "destination repository". Here's an example of what those repositories might look like.

Source Repository

  • Directoryinventory-app/
    • ... (other files)
    • Directorypublic/
      • ... (public files)
    • Directorysrc/
      • Directoryassets/
        • …
      • App.css
      • App.tsx
      • index.css
      • main.tsx
    • .eslintrc.cjs
    • index.html
    • package.json
    • README.md
    • tsconfig.json
    • tsconfig.node.json
    • vite.config.ts

Destination Repository

  • Directorymyorg/
    • ... (other files)
    • Directorypackages/
      • ... (shared packages)
    • Directoryapps/
      • Directoryaccount/
        • ... (account app files)
      • Directorycart/
        • ... (cart app files)
      • Directoryusers/
        • ... (users app files)
    • .eslintrc.json
    • .gitignore
    • nx.json
    • package.json
    • README.md
    • tsconfig.base.json

In this example, the source repository contains a single application while the destination repository is already a monorepo. You can also import a project from a sub-directory of the source repository (if the source repository is a monorepo, for instance). The nx import command can be run with no arguments and you will be prompted to for the required arguments:

nx import

Make sure to run nx import from within the destination repository.

You can also directly specify arguments from the terminal, like one of these commands:

nx import [sourceRepository] [destinationDirectory]
nx import ../inventory-app apps/inventory
nx import https://github.com/myorg/inventory-app.git apps/inventory

The nx import command will:

  • Maintain the git history from the source repository
  • Suggest adding plugins to the destination repository based on the newly added project code

Every code base is different, so you will still need to manually:

  • Manage any dependency conflicts between the two code bases
  • Migrate over code outside the source project's root folder that the source project depends on

Manage Dependencies

Section titled “Manage Dependencies”

If both repositories are managed with npm workspaces, the imported project will have all its required dependencies defined in its package.json file that is moved over. You'll need to make sure that the destination repository includes the destinationDirectory in the workspaces defined in the root package.json.

If the destination repository does not use npm workspaces, it will ease the import process to temporarily enable it. With npm workspaces enabled, you can easily import a self-contained project and gain the benefits of code sharing, atomic commits and shared infrastructure. Once the import process is complete, you can make a follow-up PR that merges the dependencies into the root package.json and disables npm workspaces again.

Migrate External Code and Configuration

Section titled “Migrate External Code and Configuration”

Few projects are completely isolated from the rest of the repository where they are located. After nx import has run, here are a few types of external code references that you should account for:

  • Project configuration files that extend root configuration files
  • Scripts outside the project folder that are required by the project
  • Local project dependencies that are not present or have a different name in the destination repository