multi-file pnpm-workspace.yaml

[sbussard-inversemetric]

problem
There are currently two options for adding projects to pnpm-workspace.yaml
(1) adding the direct path to every project
(2) adding projects in the same folder using wildcard

In a large monorepo with many different languages, neither approach works well.
The first approach doesn't work well because the pnpm-workspace.yaml file gets huge as projects are added.
The second approach doesn't work well because it forces a certain directory structure which doesn't work for those who organize by application rather than language/ecosystem.

For example, there's not a great way to handle this scenario

/shared
  /js <--
/app1
  /browser-app <--
  /java-api
  /ios-app
/app2
  /browser-app <--
  /java-api
  /ios-app

The use case is specifically for aspect-build/rules_js with bazel.

Suggestion
Add a way to configure pnpm-workspace.yaml to use multiple files.

The syntax of pnpm-workspace.yaml could look like

packageRoot:
  depth: 10 # default value
  ignore_paths: 
    - node_modules

Which would instruct pnpm how to scan for additional .pnpm-workspace files in any subfolder of the project root up to a specified depth.

[zkochan]

The second approach doesn't work well because it forces a certain directory structure which doesn't work for those who organize by application rather than language/ecosystem.

Right, but the directories that contain apps written in a different language won't have a package.json file, no? So pnpm will ignore those directories automatically.

[sbussard-inversemetric]

Thanks for clarifying!

[sbussard-inversemetric]

That's great news! It looks like this will accomplish the same thing with 1/10000th of the effor

packages:
  # Include all directories in the workspace
  - '*'
  # Include all subdirectories at any depth
  - '**/*'
  # Exclude node_modules folders anywhere in the tree
  - '!**/node_modules/**'
  # Exclude node_modules folder in root
  - '!node_modules'
  # Exclude anything inside bazel dirs
  - '!bazel-*/**'

[sbussard]

Added to rules_js documentation
aspect-build/rules_js#2105