Modern TypeScript Monorepo Template

This repo is a demo monorepo template meant to evolve into a clear, modern reference example, so I am inviting everyone to contribute to it and make it better.

Everything here is illustrative, not prescriptive — pick what you like, swap what you don’t (ORM/RPC/auth/testing/etc.).

If you’re reviewing this, I’d love feedback and PRs to help build it up.

Note: This kind of repo structure has served me really well in startups and in personal projects. If you have a bigger team, more enterprisey needs, you might want to consider a more traditional monorepo structure that people are more familiar with. If you have any questions you can reach out via email, twitter, github or wherever you find me.

Intro

Please give your thoughts — the idea for this monorepo is to showcase how you might approach a monorepo that will grow with your company. It tries to balance DX with scalability/maintainability.

It’s a modern TypeScript Turbo monorepo with pnpm, Vite, React, Tailwind, shadcn/ui, Zod, neverthrow, pino, Postgres, Kysely, Atlas, Biome, Vitest, etc. This is close to what I use day-to-day in personal projects and client work.

Important: there are no builds for the main apps during dev (both frontend and backend are JIT). This repo is not meant to publish packages to npm.

Technology choices

Category	Choice	Why	Where	Docs
Monorepo	Turbo + pnpm workspaces/catalog	Fast task orchestration + centralized dependency versions	repo root	turbo.json
Frontend	Vite + React 19 + TanStack Router	Fast DX + simple routing	apps/frontend/web	(this README)
Mobile	Expo + React Native	Cross-platform native apps	apps/frontend/mobile	docs/mobile.md
UI	Tailwind + shadcn/ui	Speed + composable primitives	packages/frontend/web	(this README)
API	Hono + oRPC	Lightweight HTTP + end-to-end type-safe RPC	apps/backend/api	docs/ORPC.md
Auth	Better Auth	Batteries-included auth	apps/backend/api/src/auth.ts	docs/AUTH.md
DB	Postgres + Kysely	Typed query builder	packages/backend/core/src/db.ts	docs/DB.md
Schema/migrations	Atlas + db/schema.sql	SQL source-of-truth + deterministic apply	db/schema.sql + just db-migrate	docs/DB.md
Validation	Zod	Runtime validation + types	services/routers	docs/CONFIG.md
Errors	neverthrow	Explicit Result flow	services	docs/NEVERTHROW.md
Testing	Vitest + testcontainers	Real Postgres tests that are still fast	backend packages	docs/TESTING.md
Lint/format	Biome	One fast tool	repo root	biome.json
Logging	pino	Structured logs	backend apps	docs/LOGGING.md

Repo structure

• apps/backend/api: Hono server, Better Auth, oRPC router, services (user + todo), Vitest tests
• apps/frontend/web: Vite + React app (home page is the TODO CRUD demo)
• apps/frontend/landing: Astro static landing site (this repo's "front door")
• apps/frontend/mobile: Expo React Native mobile app (WIP Better Auth integration)
• packages/backend/core: shared backend core (DB, config, auth helpers, validation, test helpers, generated schema types)
• packages/frontend/web: shared UI/components library (shadcn components)
• packages/shared/*: shared configs + tiny example package (hello)
• db/schema.sql: canonical schema (used by Atlas and tests)
• docs/: concise “how this works” docs

Getting started (non-Devbox path)

Prerequisites

• Node.js (targets Node 24+)
• pnpm (see the pinned version in root package.json)
• Docker (for Postgres)
• Atlas + Just (recommended, because just setup uses them)

Setup

1. Install deps:

pnpm install

2. Environment variables

• root (docker compose): copy .env.example → .env (only used by compose.yml)
• backend: copy apps/backend/api/.env.example → apps/backend/api/.env
• frontend: copy apps/frontend/web/.env.development.example → apps/frontend/web/.env.development
  • Note: Vite loads .env (shared across all modes) and .env.[mode] (mode-specific)
  • See apps/frontend/web/.env.example for more details on Vite's env loading order

3. Start Postgres + apply schema:

just setup

4. Start dev:

pnpm dev

Getting started (Devbox option)

Devbox is optional, but convenient (installs Node/pnpm/Atlas/Just):

devbox shell

Then run the same steps (pnpm install, just setup, pnpm dev).

Useful commands

• pnpm dev / pnpm typecheck / pnpm lint:check / pnpm format:check / pnpm test
• pnpm -C apps/backend/api test
• pnpm -C apps/frontend/landing dev
• just setup (docker + migrate), just db-migrate (schema “push”), just db-schema, just db-psql
• Versioned migrations (Atlas, still based on db/schema.sql):
  • just db-migration-new add_todos
  • just db-migration-apply
• Find improvement spots (all TODO: comments):
  • rg -n "TODO:" .
  • (fallback) grep -RIn "TODO:" .

Known rough edges / help wanted

• Node/shared package HMR is still not great (would love best practices for “JIT workspace packages” + watch mode).
• Vitest + workspace “subpath imports” (#*) can be tricky. I currently work around it with a custom resolver plugin in apps/backend/api/vitest.config.ts (not sure if this is the best solution).
• The shared testcontainers singleton approach is intentionally aggressive for speed; I’m still evaluating whether it’s the right default long-term.

CI/CD

• Local: Husky runs lint:check, format:check, and typecheck on pre-push.
• CI: GitHub Actions runs those checks + pnpm test on every PR.
• Details: docs/CICD.md.

Docs

• docs/orpc.md
• docs/db.md
• docs/auth.md
• docs/neverthrow.md
• docs/tech-choices.md
• docs/testing.md
• docs/cicd.md
• docs/vitest_config.md
• docs/config.md
• docs/logging.md
• docs/mobile.md
• docs/skills.md

Skills (AI Workflows)

Move skills into appropriate folder on your system or repository. Since each provider requires a different location, see your LLM provider docs for relevant locations, eg. Codex can be placed inside .codex/skills/ while Claude can be placed inside ./.claude/skills/

This repo includes Skills — modular instruction sets that help AI agents work effectively in this codebase.

Skills live in .agents/skills/ and work tracking lives in .work/. See docs/skills.md for details.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md and code-guidelines.md (LLMs are fine, but you’re responsible for correctness/security/licensing).

License

MIT (see LICENCE.md).