Nx, a startup founded by Jeff Cross and Victor Savkin, formerly of Google’s Angular team, recently secured $16 million in Series A funding from Nexus Venture Partners and a16z. Nx’s mission is to streamline software development within a single code repository, addressing the complexities developers face when storing related apps and libraries.
The Need for Streamlined Development
Jeff Cross and Victor Savkin, while at Google, recognized the challenges developers encountered when managing related apps and libraries across separate repositories. This led to the creation of Nx, an open-source build system designed to simplify this process. Nx initially focused on the JavaScript ecosystem but can be used for apps and libraries in any language. It also supports private and open-source plugins for enhanced language and framework support.
Nx Cloud: Nx’s Core Offering
Nx Cloud is Nx’s flagship product, hosted in the cloud. It enables product development teams to accelerate feature delivery by simplifying the consolidation of all project components into a single repository. Nx Cloud optimizes builds, reduces build times, and efficiently distributes work, enhancing productivity.
Pros and Cons of Monorepos
Monorepos offer advantages such as code reuse and streamlined collaboration. Nx’s comprehensive approach enhances collaboration across teams. However, they also pose challenges, notably increased storage requirements and the lack of per-project access control.
Considerations for Adopting Monorepos
Before transitioning to monorepos, organizations must assess project size and infrastructure capabilities. Nx is committed to addressing these challenges and offers guidance for developers adapting to monorepo workflows.
Nx and Nx Cloud Features
Nx simplifies consolidating projects into a single repository, streamlining development. It includes intelligence for optimized builds, caching task outputs, and efficient work distribution. Nx is language-agnostic and extensible through plugins.
Role of MkR
Jeff Cross, co-founder and CEO of Nx, expresses his excitement for the future of monorepo tools and their impact on software development. Nx’s tools, especially Nx Cloud, will continue evolving to provide developers with the best experience, enabling them to innovate in their respective industries.
The Impact of the Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic emphasized the challenges of siloed development in remote work environments. This increased recognition of monorepos’ benefits as a solution for streamlined workflows and code reuse.
Future Roadmap and Product Development
Nx aims to expand its offerings, enhance Nx Cloud, and position it as a comprehensive replacement for traditional CI tools. The company focuses on research and development and exploring partnerships for further growth.
Adoption Challenges and Considerations
Addressing storage requirements and security concerns in monorepo setups are essential considerations for adopting Nx. Nx is actively working to optimize storage usage and provide granular access control.
Customer Support and Documentation
Nx prioritizes comprehensive documentation and offers various support channels to assist users. Continuous improvement based on user feedback ensures a positive user experience.
In conclusion, Nx simplifies software development within a single code repository, with Nx Cloud as its core offering. Monorepos offer significant advantages for streamlined development, and Nx addresses challenges through ongoing development efforts. Nx’s future roadmap includes expanding offerings, enhancing Nx Cloud, and continued innovation in monorepo tools.
