Publishing Nx Monorepo Angular App to NPM
Do you want to publish your nx monorepo app to npmjs.org? In this article, I will explain how can u publish your app to npmjs.org.
Introduction
In my monorepo, when I build my app then inside the dist folder I get my application dist/apps/onlinestore-dashboard. I will show you how to automate things such that you can publish it into npm.org. Then anyone can install it as node package and use it in .net project or any other server side project’s home page.
In Nx Monorepo Apps are not publishable by design
By default, Nrwl.Nx Monorepo Angular apps are not publishable. They don’t expect you to put your apps in npm.org or your local microsoft npm repository.
No package.json in App projects
Notice that in our application there is no package.json file. So by default it
is not publishable to npm. If you build this application then you can notice
inside the dist folder you will not have package.json file.
Lets see this in action go ahead in terminal and run
nx build onlinestore-dashboard Check the dist folder you will see there is no
package.json file. 
In order to make your application as npm package you need to have package.json file.
Lets fix it I will have to:
- Add package.json to our application
- Copy the package.json file to the dist folder after build is done.
Adding new package.json file to app
Go to onlinestore-dashboard project and add a package.json file.
{
"name": "@fsms/onlinestore-dashboard",
"version": "0.0.1",
"peerDependencies": {
"@angular/common": "^10.1.6",
"@angular/core": "^10.1.6"
},
"dependencies": {
"tslib": "^2.0.0"
}
}
If you want to publish to your local Microsoft npm repository. Then you must add
.npmrc file to your application.
Copying Packag.json to Dist folder
Install copyfiles npm package as dev dependency.
Run below script
npm i -D copyfiles
Next lest create below script for copying package.json file in package.json file.
"copy:dashboard:prd": "copyfiles ./apps/onlinestore-dashboard/package.json ./dist"
If you want to publish to your local Microsoft npm repository. Then you must
copy .npmrc file to dist folder.
I am planning to publish this application over public npm.org. Therefore, I am
not adding any .npmrc file.
Building application
Now lets make a script which will build our application and then copy package.json file.
"build:dashboard:prd" :"nx build onlinestore-dashboard && npm run copy:dashboard:prd"
Lets run this above script.
Verify the dist folder and notice package.json file is now present.
Bumping the package.json version
If you do not bump the version of the package.json file. Then you will ended duplicate versions and npm.org will throw error something like this
ERR! You cannot publish over the previously published versions:
So lets add below scripts to bump the version.
"publish:dashboard:patch":"cd dist/apps/onlinestore-dashboard && npm version patch --force",
"publish:dashboard:major":"cd dist/apps/onlinestore-dashboard && npm version patch --force",
"publish:dashboard:minor":"cd dist/apps/onlinestore-dashboard && npm version patch --force"
Now lets run:
npm run publish:dashboard:patch
Notice version in package.json in dist folder increased to 0.0.2
{
"name": "@fsms/onlinestore-dashboard",
"version": "0.0.2",
"peerDependencies": {
"@angular/common": "^10.1.6",
"@angular/core": "^10.1.6"
},
"dependencies": {
"tslib": "^2.0.0"
}
}
Publishing app in npm
Lets update our script to publish to npm add npm publish --access public.
"publish:dashboard:patch":"cd dist/apps/onlinestore-dashboard && npm version patch --force && npm publish --access public",
"publish:dashboard:major":"cd dist/apps/onlinestore-dashboard && npm version patch --force && npm publish --access public",
"publish:dashboard:minor":"cd dist/apps/onlinestore-dashboard && npm version patch --force && npm publish --access public"
Login to npm run npm login enter your username, password and email id.
Verify app is published
Login to npm.org and go to your account and search for your package.
https://www.npmjs.com/package/@fsms/onlinestore-dashboard
Conclusion
You learn how to publish a package to public organization. Still if you have a nrwl.Nx monorepo. Then you need to write custom node.js code to identify which application is changed then bump the version for that application only and publish the same app to npm registry. In my next article I will explain that in detail.
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