Jeff Cross, CEO Nx: How to Build and Scale Developer Tools
ConTejas Code
<p>Links</p><p>- Codecrafters (sponsor): https://tej.as/codecrafters</p><p>- Nx: https://nx.dev/</p><p>- Jeff on X: https://twitter.com/jeffbcross</p><p>- Tejas on X: https://x.com/tejaskumar_</p><br /><p>Summary</p><br /><p>Jeff B. Cross, co-founder of NX, discusses the origins of NX and its evolution as a tool for monorepos. He explains the benefits of using NX, such as code mod running, large-scale migrations, and CI optimizations. </p><br /><p>Jeff also clarifies the definition of a monorepo and how NX supports both package-based and graph-based monorepos. He highlights the features of NX that help with development, integration, and deployment, including the interactive graph, tagging system, and caching. </p><br /><p>We also cover the ability of NX to deflake tests and shares his perspective on running a business, including the challenges of positioning and marketing, and his experience of starting NX. </p><br /><p>Takeaways</p><br /><p>1. NX is a powerful tool for monorepos that offers features such as code mod running, large-scale migrations, and CI optimizations.</p><p>2. A monorepo can be defined as a single repository containing multiple distinct projects with well-defined relationships.</p><p>3. NX supports both package-based and graph-based monorepos, with the latter being more suitable for application developers.</p><p>4. NX also offers features for integration and deployment, such as building affected targets, replaying builds and tests, and distributing work across multiple machines.</p><p>5. NX has the ability to deflake tests, which are tests that indeterministically fail or pass. NX detects and handles flaky tests by analyzing test results and determining if a test fails often or fails without changes in inputs or dependencies.</p><p>6. Measuring the developer experience is challenging, but NX uses user feedback, internal testing, and collaboration with enterprise customers to improve the product.</p><p>7. Positioning and marketing a product can be a difficult task, especially for a tool like NX that doesn't fit into a specific category.</p><p>8. Finding a niche and being the best in the world at it is crucial for success as a consultant or business owner.</p><p>9. Continuous adaptation and evolution are essential qualities for a CEO, as they need to be able to change and pivot as the company grows.</p><p>10. Polygraph, an upcoming feature of Nx, will provide visibility and dependency management across multiple workspaces in an organization.</p><br /><p>Chapters</p><br /><p>00:00:00 Jeff Cross</p><p>00:03:18 Introduction and Origins of NX</p><p>00:06:25 Understanding Monorepos and NX</p><p>00:11:04 Tools for Development and Code Consistency</p><p>00:14:56 Integration and Deployment with NX</p><p>00:36:09 Detecting and Handling Flaky Tests</p><p>00:38:20 The Developer Experience with NX</p><p>00:48:36 Understanding Lexers, Parsers, Compilers, and Rich Text Editors</p><p>01:00:54 Challenges of Positioning and Marketing</p><p>01:03:36 Starting and Running a Business</p><p>01:10:47 The impact of Nx Cloud on CI performance</p><p>01:18:49 Introducing Polygraph: Visibility and dependency management</p><p>01:27:46 What's next for Nx</p><p>01:31:47 Conclusion</p><br /><p> Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="nofollow">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>