Nx comes with dedicated documentation for each framework:

React AngularNode

Next.js with Nx

Nx provides a holistic dev experience powered by an advanced CLI and editor plugins. It provides rich support for common tools like Cypress, Storybook, Jest, and more.

In this guide we will show you how to develop Next.js applications with Nx.

Creating Nx Workspace

The easiest way to create your workspace is via npx.

npx create-nx-workspace happynrwl \
--preset=next \
--style=css \
--appName=tuskdesk

Note: You can also run the command without arguments to go through the interactive prompts.

npx create-nx-workspace happynrwl

Once the command completes, the workspace will look as follows:

happynrwl/
├── apps
│   ├── tuskdesk
│   │   ├── index.d.ts
│   │   ├── jest.config.js
│   │   ├── next-env.d.ts
│   │   ├── next.config.js
│   │   ├── pages
│   │   │   ├── _app.tsx
│   │   │   ├── index.module.css
│   │   │   ├── index.tsx
│   │   │   └── styles.css
│   │   ├── public
│   │   │   ├── nx-logo-white.svg
│   │   │   └── star.svg
│   │   ├── specs
│   │   │   └── index.spec.tsx
│   │   ├── tsconfig.json
│   │   └── tsconfig.spec.json
│   └── tuskdesk-e2e
│       ├── cypress.json
│       ├── src
│       │   ├── fixtures
│       │   ├── integration
│       │   ├── plugins
│       │   └── support
│       ├── tsconfig.e2e.json
│       └── tsconfig.json
├── babel.config.json
├── jest.config.js
├── jest.preset.js
├── libs
├── nx.json
├── package-lock.json
├── package.json
├── tools
│   ├── generators
│   └── tsconfig.tools.json
├── tsconfig.base.json
└── workspace.json

Run npx nx serve tuskdesk to start the dev server at http://localhost:4200. Try out other commands as well.

  • nx lint tuskdesk to lint the application
  • nx test tuskdesk to test the application using Jest
  • nx e2e tuskdesk-e2e to test the application using Cypress
  • nx build tuskdesk to build the application
  • nx serve tuskdesk --prod to serve the application in the production mode

When using Next.js in Nx, you get the out-of-the-box support for TypeScript, Cypress, and Jest. No need to configure anything: watch mode, source maps, and typings just work.

Adding Next.js to an Existing Workspace

For existing Nx workspaces, install the @nrwl/next package to add Next.js capabilities to it.

npm install @nrwl/next

# Or with yarn
yarn add @nrwl/next

Generating an Application

To create additional Next.js apps run:

npx nx g @nrwl/next:app

Generating a Library

Nx allows you to create libraries with just one command. Some reasons you might want to create a library include:

  • Share code between applications
  • Publish a package to be used outside the monorepo
  • Better visualize the architecture using npx nx dep-graph

For more information on Nx libraries, see our documentation on Creating Libraries and Library Types.

To generate a new library run:

npx nx g @nrwl/react:lib shared-ui-components

And you will see the following:

happynrwl/
├── apps
│   └── tuskdesk
│   └── tuskdesk-e2e
├── babel.config.json
├── jest.config.js
├── jest.preset.js
├── libs
│   └── shared-ui-layout
│       ├── README.md
│       ├── jest.config.js
│       ├── src
│       │   ├── index.ts
│       │   └── lib
│       ├── tsconfig.json
│       ├── tsconfig.lib.json
│       └── tsconfig.spec.json
├── nx.json
├── package-lock.json
├── package.json
├── tools
├── tsconfig.base.json
└── workspace.json

Run:

  • npx nx test shared-ui-layout to test the library
  • npx nx lint shared-ui-layout to lint the library

Using Nx Library in your Application

You can import the shared-ui-layout library in your application as follows.

1// apps/tuskapp/pages/index.tsx
2import { SharedUiLayout } from '@happynrwl/shared-ui-layout';
3
4export function Index() {
5  return (
6    <SharedUiLayout>
7      <p>The main content</p>
8    </SharedUiLayout>
9  );
10}
11
12export default Index;

That's it! There is no need to build the library prior to using it. When you update your library, the Next.js application will automatically pick up the changes.

Publishable libraries

For libraries intended to be built and published to a registry (e.g. npm) you can use the --publishable and --importPath options.

npx nx g @nrwl/react:lib shared-ui-components --publishable --importPath=@happynrwl/ui-components

Run npx nx build shared-ui-layout to build the library. It will generate the following:

dist/libs/shared-ui-layout/
├── README.md
├── index.d.ts
├── lib
│   └── shared-ui-layout.d.ts
├── package.json
├── shared-ui-layout.esm.css
├── shared-ui-layout.esm.js
├── shared-ui-layout.umd.css
└── shared-ui-layout.umd.js

This dist folder is ready to be published to a registry.

Generating Pages and Components

Nx also provides commands to quickly generate new pages and components for your application.

  • npx nx g @nrwl/next:page about to add an about page
  • npx nx g @nrwl/next:component banner to add a banner component

Running the above commands will result in:

apps/tuskdesk/
├── components
│   └── banner
│       ├── banner.module.css
│       ├── banner.spec.tsx
│       └── banner.tsx
├── index.d.ts
├── jest.config.js
├── next-env.d.ts
├── next.config.js
├── pages
│   ├── _app.tsx
│   ├── about.module.css
│   ├── about.tsx
│   ├── index.module.css
│   ├── index.tsx
│   └── styles.css
├── public
├── specs
├── tsconfig.json
└── tsconfig.spec.json

Nx generates components with tests by default. For pages, you can pass the --withTests option to generate tests under the specs folder.

Run the tests again for the application: npx nx test tuskdesk.

Code Sharing

Without Nx, creating a new shared library can take from several hours or even weeks: a new repo needs to be provisioned, CI needs to be set up, etc.. In an Nx Workspace, it only takes minutes.

You can share React components between multiple Next.js applications. You can also share web components between Next.js and plain React applications. You can even share code between the backend and the frontend. All can be done without any unnecessary ceremony.

Deploying your Next.js Application

Once you are ready to deploy your Next.js application, you have absolute freedom to choose any hosting provider that fits your needs.

You may know that the company behind Next.js, Vercel, has a great hosting platform offering that is developed in tandem with Next.js itself to offer a great overall developer and user experience. We have detailed how to deploy your Next.js application to Vercel in a separate guide.

Resources

Here are other resources that you may find useful to learn more about Next.js and Nx.