The problem that's killing developer productivity
Context switching between multiple repositories significantly reduces developer productivity. Research shows developers spend only 41% of their day on actual development work, with the rest lost to coordination overhead. You're probably living this nightmare right now:
"Wait, which version of our design system is this app using?"
"I need to update 8 repositories to deploy this feature"
"Our mobile app is 3 versions behind the web app's API integration"
"Why do we have 4 different ESLint configurations?"
Security vulnerability discovered? Four different teams, four different timelines, four different deployment schedules.
The Google/Meta solution
Google solved this with one massive repository: 2 billion lines of code, 40,000 commits per day, 10,000+ engineers. Every Google product - Search, Gmail, YouTube, Android - lives in the same repo. Security fix? It happens everywhere at once.
Meta uses the same approach internally with Sapling. Shopify consolidated 17+ React Native packages into a single monorepo, seeing dramatic improvements in development velocity and consistency.
Workshop overview
Duration: 2 hours
Format: Interactive workshop with live coding
Focus: 70% hands-on building, 20% examining real patterns, 10% Q&A
The best part? All the tools to implement this are completely open source. No vendor lock-in, no expensive licenses.
Prerequisites
JavaScript/TypeScript fundamentals
Basic Git knowledge
Docker basics helpful but not required
Bring: Laptop with Node.js 18+, Visual Studio Code (IDE), Docker, and GitHub account
Learning journey: 5 progressive steps
Step 1: Monorepo fundamentals (15 minutes)
What: Understanding monorepo concepts and real-world trade-offs
Why: When monorepos solve problems vs. when they create them
Tools: Comparing Turborepo, Nx, Rush, and Lerna
Step 2: Turborepo expert setup (30 minutes)
Foundation: Setting up intelligent build orchestration
Caching: Implementing smart caching that works locally and in CI
Dependencies: Configuring task dependencies and parallel execution
Optimization: Pipeline configuration for maximum efficiency
Step 3: Multi-application architecture (25 minutes)
We'll build a complete ecosystem:
Next.js web application
Express.js API server
React admin dashboard
Shared packages: ESLint config, Prettier config, TSConfig, logger, GraphQL schemas, storage utilities
Key Focus: How to structure, version, and maintain shared code across applications
Step 4: Docker mastery for monorepos (35 minutes)
Progressive containerization journey:
Basics: Writing optimized Dockerfiles for monorepo applications
Multi-stage builds: Reducing image sizes from 2GB to 200MB
Turborepo integration: Leveraging pruning for lightning-fast builds
Layer optimization: Intelligent caching strategies
Production patterns: Security, performance, and debugging techniques
Step 5: GitOps automation pipeline (15 minutes)
Change detection: Automatically identify which applications changed
Selective building: Build only affected applications and dependencies
Registry integration: Push optimized images to GitHub Packages
Real-world impact
Through helping teams migrate from multi-repo chaos to streamlined monorepos, I've witnessed:
40% increase in development velocity
60% reduction in deployment errors
80% faster build times through optimization
Eliminated version sync issues across applications
Why this matters for FOSS
Every tool we'll use is completely open source:
Turborepo - Build orchestration
Docker - Containerization
GitHub Actions - CI/CD automation
Node.js ecosystem - Runtime and tooling
What you'll take home
Complete monorepo template with 3 applications and shared packages
Optimized Docker configurations for each application type
GitHub Actions workflows with change detection and selective building
Shared package library with ESLint, Prettier, TypeScript configs
Best practices documentation and troubleshooting guide
Production deployment strategies battle-tested in real environments
Target audience
Frontend/fullstack developers managing multiple related applications
DevOps engineers looking to optimize build and deployment pipelines
Tech leads tired of coordination overhead between repositories
Teams ready to implement sustainable, scalable development practices
You'll get the most value if you:
Currently manage 2+ related applications or services
Experience deployment coordination challenges
Want to implement Google/Meta-style development practices
Prefer hands-on learning with immediate practical application
Monorepo mastery from fundamentals: Understand what monorepos actually are, when they solve problems vs. create them, and why companies like Google and Meta bet their entire development process on this approach.
Turborepo expert setup: Master the tool that makes monorepos manageable - intelligent caching, task orchestration, and build optimization that scales from your laptop to enterprise infrastructure
Multi-application architecture: Build and manage multiple related applications (Next.js web app, Express.js API, React admin dashboard) plus shared configuration packages in a single repository
Shared package ecosystem: Create and manage reusable packages for ESLint configs, Prettier settings, TypeScript configurations, logging, GraphQL schemas, and storage utilities that keep your entire codebase consistent
Docker mastery from fundamentals to production: Start with simple Dockerfiles and local development, then progress to advanced monorepo containerization patterns. Learn multi-stage builds, intelligent layer caching, and Turborepo pruning that can reduce image sizes from 2GB to 200MB and cut deployment times by 80%
GitOps pipeline with GitHub packages: Build complete automation workflows that detect monorepo changes, build only affected applications, and push optimized images to GitHub Packages Registry with proper versioning and tagging strategies
Complete working template: Walk away with a production-ready monorepo setup you can immediately clone and adapt for your own projects, with all tooling, containerization, and deployment configured