What is Monorepo? — UK Software Development Guide
Direct Answer
A monorepo (monolithic repository) is a version control strategy where multiple projects or packages are stored in a single repository. This contrasts with a polyrepo (multiple repositories) approach where each project has its own repository. Major tech companies (Google, Meta, Microsoft) use monorepos for large-scale development. Tools: Nx, Turborepo (for JavaScript/TypeScript), Bazel (for multi-language).
Monorepo in the UK
Monorepos have specific advantages for UK software development teams. For UK SaaS products with a React frontend and Node.js/Python backend: a monorepo enables atomic commits (frontend and backend changes in one commit — critical for API contract changes), shared types (TypeScript types shared between frontend and backend prevent API contract mismatches), unified CI/CD (one pipeline for the entire product), and simplified dependency management. ClickMasters uses monorepos (Turborepo) for full-stack TypeScript products where the frontend and backend are developed by the same team.
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