nx-workspace

The saved excerpt is a snapshot from when this skill was listed. The external source remains the complete and most current version.

---
name: nx-workspace
description: "Explore and understand Nx workspaces. USE WHEN answering questions about the workspace, projects, or tasks. ALSO USE WHEN an nx command fails or you need to check available targets/configuration before running a task. EXAMPLES: 'What projects are in this workspace?', 'How is project X configured?', 'What depends on library Y?', 'What targets can I run?', 'Cannot find configuration for task', 'debug nx task failure'."
---

# Nx Workspace Exploration

This skill provides read-only exploration of Nx workspaces. Use it to understand workspace structure, project configuration, available targets, and dependencies.

Keep in mind that you might have to prefix commands with `npx`/`pnpx`/`yarn` if nx isn't installed globally. Check the lockfile to determine the package manager in use.

## Listing Projects

Use `nx show projects` to list projects in the workspace.

The project filtering syntax (`-p`/`--projects`) works across many Nx commands including `nx run-many`, `nx release`, `nx show projects`, and more. Filters support explicit names, glob patterns, tag references (e.g. `tag:name`), directories, and negation (e.g. `!project-name`).

```bash
# List all projects
nx show projects

# Filter by pattern (glob)
nx show projects --projects "apps/*"
nx show projects --projects "shared-*"

# Filter by tag
nx show projects --projects "tag:publishable"
nx show projects -p 'tag:publishable,!tag:internal'

# Filter by target (projects that have a specific target)
nx show projects --withTarget build

# Combine filters
nx show projects --type lib --withTarget test
nx show projects --affected --exclude="*-e2e"
nx show projects -p "tag:scope:client,packages/*"

# Negate patterns
nx show projects -p '!tag:private'
nx show projects -p '!*-e2e'

# Output as JSON
nx show projects --json
```

## Project Configuration

Use `nx show project <name> --json` to get the full resolved configuration for a project.

**Important**: Do NOT read `project.json` directly - it only contains partial configuration. The `nx show project --json` command returns the full resolved config including inferred targets from plugins.

You can read the full project schema at `node_modules/nx/schemas/project-schema.json` to understand nx project configuration options.

```bash
# Get full project configuration
nx show project my-app --json

# Extract specific parts from the JSON
nx show project my-app --json | jq '.targets'
nx show project my-app --json | jq '.targets.build'
nx show project my-app --json | jq '.targets | keys'

# Check project metadata
nx show project my-app --json | jq '{name, root, sourceRoot, projectType, tags}'
```

## Target Information

Targets define what tasks can be run on a project.

```bash
# List all targets for a project
nx show project my-app --json | jq '.targets | keys'

# Get full target configuration
nx show project my-app --json | jq '.targets.build'

# Check target executor/command
nx show project my-app --json | jq '.targets.build.executor'
nx show project my-app --json | jq '.targets.build.command'

# View target options
nx show project my-app --json | jq '.targets.build.options'

# Check target inputs/outputs (for caching)
nx show project my-app --json | jq '.targets.build.inputs'
nx show project my-app --json | jq '.targets.build.outputs'

# Find projects with a specific target
nx show projects --withTarget serve
nx show projects --withTarget e2e
```

## Workspace Configuration

Read `nx.json` directly for workspace-level configuration.
You can read the full project schema at `node_modules/nx/schemas/nx-schema.json` to understand nx project configuration options.

```bash
# Read the full nx.json
cat nx.json

# Or use jq for specific sections
cat nx.json | jq '.targetDefaults'
cat nx.json | jq '.namedInputs'
cat nx.json | jq '.plugins'
cat nx.json | jq '.generators'
```

Key nx.json sections:

- `targetDefaults` - Default configuration applied to all targets of a given name
- `namedInputs` - Reusable input