Building cross-platform apps is just the beginning. Keeping them maintainable as they grow is the real challenge. This React Universe On Air episode explore into the tools and practices that help teams avoid the typical pitfalls of large-scale codebases.
Guest & episode summary
Łukasz Chludziński from Callstack chats with Jordan Powell, Developer Productivity Engineer at Nx and former Cypress engineer. They unpack the real-world challenges of monorepo adoption, share lessons from enterprise clients, and explain how Nx changes the game for developers and teams alike.
Why monorepos don’t have to mean monoliths
Monorepos often get mistaken for being monolithic. But with the right structure, they support both team autonomy and unified delivery. Jordan explains how features like project graphs, targeted builds, and conformance rules make Nx a practical choice for organizations of any size.
Inside the Nx workflow
- Dependency graphs for the win: Nx automatically maps out your codebase, showing which projects depend on what. This allows teams to run only the necessary builds and tests for each change, which improves speed and reliability across the board.
- Team boundaries, enforced: Built-in ownership and scope tagging make it easier to manage large teams. Developers know what they own, and code reviewers can catch architectural violations early.
- Scale CI with distributed tasks: Nx Cloud can spread tasks across multiple agents to handle complex pipelines efficiently. Whether you're testing UI components or running integration tests, Nx helps you move faster without compromising quality.
What you’ll learn
- What makes Nx different from Yarn Workspaces or Lerna
- How project graphs improve developer confidence and speed
- Best practices for organizing apps, libraries, and teams
- How selective testing reduces flakiness and compute cost
- Why Nx tooling is AI-ready and future-focused
Resources
- Łukasz Chludziński on X, Bluesky, GitHub, and LinkedIn
- Jordan Powell on X, GitHub, and LinkedIn
- Nx website
- The issue of monorepo and polyrepo in large enterprises by Nicolas Brousse
