Jeff Cross, CEO Nx: How to Build and Scale Developer Tools

Links

- Codecrafters (sponsor): https://tej.as/codecrafters

- Nx: https://nx.dev/

- Jeff on X: https://twitter.com/jeffbcross

- Tejas on X: https://x.com/tejaskumar_

Summary

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.

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.

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.

Takeaways

1. NX is a powerful tool for monorepos that offers features such as code mod running, large-scale migrations, and CI optimizations.

2. A monorepo can be defined as a single repository containing multiple distinct projects with well-defined relationships.

3. NX supports both package-based and graph-based monorepos, with the latter being more suitable for application developers.

4. NX also offers features for integration and deployment, such as building affected targets, replaying builds and tests, and distributing work across multiple machines.

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.

6. Measuring the developer experience is challenging, but NX uses user feedback, internal testing, and collaboration with enterprise customers to improve the product.

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.

8. Finding a niche and being the best in the world at it is crucial for success as a consultant or business owner.

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.

10. Polygraph, an upcoming feature of Nx, will provide visibility and dependency management across multiple workspaces in an organization.

Chapters

00:00:00 Jeff Cross

00:03:18 Introduction and Origins of NX

00:06:25 Understanding Monorepos and NX

00:11:04 Tools for Development and Code Consistency

00:14:56 Integration and Deployment with NX

00:36:09 Detecting and Handling Flaky Tests

00:38:20 The Developer Experience with NX

00:48:36 Understanding Lexers, Parsers, Compilers, and Rich Text Editors

01:00:54 Challenges of Positioning and Marketing

01:03:36 Starting and Running a Business

01:10:47 The impact of Nx Cloud on CI performance

01:18:49 Introducing Polygraph: Visibility and dependency management

01:27:46 What's next for Nx

01:31:47 Conclusion

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.