Flexible Deployment for Monoliths and Microservices – With Turbo

/ Technology / By

Flexible Deployment for Monoliths and Microservices - With Turbo

Monorepos, or monolithic repositories, have gained popularity in recent years due to their ability to streamline development workflows and improve code sharing across projects. When combined with tools like Turbo, monorepos offer significant advantages for teams looking to deploy either monolithic applications or microservices.

What is Turbo?

Turbo is a high-performance build system for JavaScript and TypeScript codebases. It’s designed to work seamlessly with monorepos, offering features like:

 

  • Incremental builds
  • Remote caching
  • Parallel execution
  • Efficient dependency management

Advantages of Monorepos with Turbo

1. Flexibility in Deployment Strategies

One of the key advantages of using a monorepo with Turbo is the flexibility it provides in deployment strategies. You can easily switch between deploying your application as a monolith or as microservices without major code restructuring.

Monolithic Deployment

  • Keep all your code in one place
  • Simplify deployment processes
  • Easier to maintain consistency across the entire application

Microservices Deployment

  • Deploy individual services independently
  • Scale services based on specific needs
  • Isolate failures to specific services

2. Improved Code Sharing and Reusability

Monorepos make it easier to share code between different parts of your application. This is particularly beneficial when you’re working with a microservices architecture, as it allows you to:

 

  • Create shared libraries that can be used across services
  • Maintain consistent coding standards and patterns
  • Reduce duplication and improve overall code quality

3. Simplified Dependency Management

Turbo’s efficient handling of dependencies in a monorepo setup offers several benefits:

  • Centralized package management
  • Easier version control and updates
  • Reduced risk of dependency conflicts

4. Faster Builds and Development Cycles

Turbo’s incremental build system and parallel execution capabilities lead to:

  • Quicker feedback loops during development
  • Faster CI/CD pipelines
  • Improved developer productivity

5. Easier Refactoring and Code Migration

As your project evolves, you may need to refactor code or migrate between monolithic and microservices architectures. A monorepo setup with Turbo makes this process smoother by:

  • Providing a clear overview of all project dependencies
  • Allowing gradual migration of components or services
  • Simplifying the process of moving code between different parts of the application

How to Use a Monorepo for Flexible Deployment

Let’s dive deeper into how you can structure your monorepo to allow for both monolithic and microservices deployments.

Directory Structure

A typical monorepo structure for a project that can be deployed as either a monolith or microservices might look like this:

        
my-project/
├── packages/
│   ├── shared/
│   │   ├── utils/
│   │   └── components/
│   ├── service-a/
│   ├── service-b/
│   └── service-c/
├── apps/
│   └── monolith/
├── package.json
└── turbo.json

Shared Code

The packages/shared directory contains code that can be used across all services and the monolith. This promotes code reuse and consistency.

Example of a shared utility function (packages/shared/utils/dateFormatter.ts):

        
export function formatDate(date: Date): string {
  return date.toISOString().split('T')[0];
}

Individual Services

Each service in the packages/ directory is its own npm package with its own package.json. This allows for independent versioning and deployment.

 

Example service structure (packages/service-a/):

        
// packages/service-a/src/index.ts
import { formatDate } from '@my-project/shared/utils/dateFormatter';

export function serviceAFunction() {
  console.log(`Service A running on ${formatDate(new Date())}`);
}

Monolithic App

The apps/monolith/ directory contains the entry point for the monolithic version of your application. It imports and uses all the individual services.

Example monolith structure (apps/monolith/src/index.ts):

        
import { serviceAFunction } from '@my-project/service-a';
import { serviceBFunction } from '@my-project/service-b';
import { serviceCFunction } from '@my-project/service-c';

function runMonolith() {
  serviceAFunction();
  serviceBFunction();
  serviceCFunction();
  console.log('Monolith is running');
}

runMonolith();

Turbo Configuration

The turbo.json file in the root directory defines the build and run commands for your monorepo:

        
{
  "$schema": "https://turbo.build/schema.json",
  "pipeline": {
    "build": {
      "dependsOn": ["^build"],
      "outputs": ["dist/**"]
    },
    "test": {
      "dependsOn": ["build"],
      "outputs": []
    },
    "deploy": {
      "dependsOn": ["build", "test"]
    }
  }
}

Why Use This Approach?

  • Gradual Migration: You can start with a monolith and gradually move to microservices (or vice versa) without major refactoring.
  • Code Sharing: Shared code in the packages/shared directory ensures consistency across services.
  • Independent Scaling: In microservices mode, you can deploy and scale each service independently.
  • Simplified Development: Developers can work on individual services or the entire monolith in the same repository.

 

  • Efficient Builds: Turbo’s caching and parallel execution speed up the build process for both monolithic and microservices deployments.

Deployment Strategies

Monolithic Deployment

For monolithic deployment, you build and deploy the entire apps/monolith directory. This approach is simpler and can be more suitable for smaller teams or applications.

        
turbo run build --filter=monolith
# Deploy the built monolith

Microservices Deployment

For microservices, you can build and deploy each service independently:

        
turbo run build --filter=service-a
turbo run build --filter=service-b
turbo run build --filter=service-c
# Deploy each service separately

This allows for more granular control over deployments and scaling.

Conclusion

Using a monorepo with Turbo for flexible deployment of monoliths or microservices offers the best of both worlds. It allows teams to start with a simpler monolithic architecture and gradually transition to microservices as the need arises, all while maintaining a single source of truth for code and dependencies. This approach provides the flexibility to adapt to changing project requirements and scaling needs without major restructuring of your codebase.

 

Check out my previous post on User Management for B2B SaaS Applications!

Subscribe To My Mailing List

Sign up to get emails when I release a new blog post personally or for one of my businesses.

Related Posts

Subscribe
Subscribe