TypeScript monorepos need three layers — package management, build orchestration, and code quality. Here's how to pick between Turborepo, Nx, pnpm Workspaces, and the linting and formatting tools that tie it all together.
A TypeScript monorepo isn't one tool — it's three layers working together:
The 2025/2026 landscape has consolidated significantly. Nx and Turborepo dominate orchestration, pnpm Workspaces is the de facto package layer, and Lerna is now largely legacy — its task running is powered by Nx.1
Turborepo is the most popular JS/TS monorepo build system. It's Rust-based, which means fast task execution and low configuration overhead. Vercel's remote cache is free, and the tool is designed specifically for JavaScript and TypeScript codebases.1
If your pain point is slow builds, Turborepo is the answer. It's the default recommendation for new monorepos.3
Nx is more feature-rich than Turborepo. It offers generators for scaffolding new packages, project boundary enforcement to keep dependencies clean, distributed task execution via Nx Cloud, and the most comprehensive AI support of any monorepo tool — including MCP, AI skills, and agentic CI.1
Nx is polyglot — it works with React, Next.js, Angular, NestJS, and more — but carries a steeper learning curve. Choose Nx when your pain point is inconsistent code organization or when you need structure at scale.2
Lerna v6+ delegates task running to Nx. Its remaining purpose is coordinated npm package versioning and publishing. If you're publishing many packages to npm and need coordinated releases, Lerna handles that workflow. For everything else, use Turborepo or Nx directly.2
pnpm Workspaces is the foundation. It provides built-in monorepo support via pnpm-workspace.yaml, the workspace: protocol for linking local packages, and content-addressable storage that's more efficient than npm or Yarn for monorepos.4
It's used by Next.js, Vite, Nuxt, Vue, Astro, Prisma, and Turborepo itself.4 For package versioning, pnpm's docs recommend changesets or Rush.4
The common starting point is pnpm Workspaces + Turborepo together — adding Turborepo on top of pnpm takes about an hour.3
This is where the tools in our picks below come in. Every monorepo needs consistent linting and formatting across all packages, and these tools pair with any orchestration layer — Turborepo, Nx, or pnpm alone.
ESLint is the industry-standard linter for JavaScript and TypeScript. typescript-eslint adds type-aware rules that catch deep logic bugs by leveraging the TypeScript type system. Prettier handles formatting consistency. Biome is a fast Rust-based all-in-one alternative that combines linting and formatting in a single tool.
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| Your situation | Recommended stack |
|---|---|
| New monorepo, small-to-medium team | pnpm Workspaces + Turborepo |
| Large monorepo, mixed frameworks, need structure | pnpm Workspaces + Nx |
| Just sharing a few packages, no build caching needed | pnpm Workspaces alone |
| Coordinated npm package publishing | Lerna (or changesets) |
| Code quality across all packages | ESLint + typescript-eslint + Prettier, or Biome |
The difference between having any monorepo tool and having none is bigger than the difference between Turborepo and Nx.3 Start with pnpm + Turborepo. Adopt Nx when structure and CI scale demand it. Add the code-quality tools that fit your team's speed vs. completeness preference — ESLint and typescript-eslint for maximum rule depth, or Biome when you want one fast tool that does both jobs.
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