In the world of modern web development, the need for scalability, flexibility, and independent team collaboration has become increasingly important. Microfrontends, a relatively new architectural approach, offer a solution by breaking down large monolithic frontends into smaller, manageable pieces. One of the most powerful tools to manage and develop microfrontends is Nx, an advanced build system with first-class monorepo support.
In this article, we'll dive deep into what microfrontends are, why Nx is a great choice for building them, and how you can get started.
Microfrontends (MFEs) extend the principles of microservices to the frontend layer, allowing developers to break a monolithic frontend application into smaller, more manageable pieces. Each piece represents an independently developed, tested, and deployed frontend feature or module. These pieces are then composed to form a complete application.
As applications grow in complexity, maintaining a single, large codebase can become unwieldy. By adopting microfrontends, companies can:
However, with great power comes great complexity. Managing multiple frontend applications efficiently requires robust tooling — and that's where Nx comes in.
Nx is a powerful build framework that provides first-class support for monorepos, making it ideal for managing microfrontends. Originally designed by the Angular team, Nx now supports a wide range of technologies, including React, Angular, Node.js, and more.
Using Nx to manage microfrontends brings several advantages:
By using a monorepo setup, Nx allows you to store multiple microfrontends and shared libraries in one place, making it easier to manage and coordinate across teams.
Nx’s smart build system caches and runs only the necessary parts of the application, saving build time and making CI/CD pipelines faster. In the case of microfrontends, this means independent pieces can be built and deployed without affecting the rest of the system.
Nx integrates seamlessly with Webpack's Module Federation, allowing microfrontends to load at runtime and share dependencies. This means each microfrontend can have its own build pipeline, but still work harmoniously together at runtime.
With Nx’s built-in tools for code generation, linting, formatting, and testing, teams can maintain code quality across multiple microfrontends, even when working independently.
Setting up a microfrontend architecture with Nx is a straightforward process. Below, we’ll walk through the steps to create a basic Nx workspace with multiple microfrontends.
Start by installing Nx globally if you haven’t done so already:
bash Copy code npm install -g nx
Create a new Nx workspace using the following command:
npx create-nx-workspace@latest my-microfrontends-workspace
You will be prompted to choose a preset (React, Angular, etc.). For this example, we'll choose React:
? What to create in the new workspace (Use arrow keys) [React] React framework
Once inside your workspace, generate multiple microfrontends. For example, let's create two applications: app1 and app2.
nx generate @nrwl/react:app app1
nx generate @nrwl/react:app app2
Enable module federation in each microfrontend. Nx provides tools to simplify this setup:
nx generate @nrwl/react:setup-mf app1 --type=host
nx generate @nrwl/react:setup-mf app2 --type=remote
app1 is the host (shell) application.app2 will be a remote application that will be federated into app1.You can now serve each microfrontend independently and see how they work together:
nx serve app1
Your host application (app1) should be able to load and interact with app2 dynamically.
Let’s put theory into practice. Imagine you’re building a dashboard application where different teams are responsible for different parts:
Each of these features can be built as a microfrontend using Nx. You can set up one app as the main dashboard (host), and each feature (analytics, profile) as separate microfrontends. The process would follow the same steps as outlined in the setup above.
When working with microfrontends in Nx, keep the following best practices in mind:
While microfrontends promote autonomy, there are often shared components (like design systems or utility libraries). Use Nx libraries to share these components efficiently across microfrontends.
While microfrontends offer flexibility, breaking down your application too much can introduce complexity. Find the right balance between splitting your application and keeping it maintainable.
Use tools like Nx’s build insights to monitor and optimize build times. Microfrontends can impact performance if they’re not managed well, so careful attention to module loading and dependency sharing is important.
Microfrontends offer an excellent way to scale and manage large frontend applications by breaking them down into smaller, independently deployable units. With Nx, you get the full power of a monorepo setup combined with efficient tooling for managing microfrontends. Whether it’s speeding up builds with caching, facilitating code sharing, or leveraging Webpack Module Federation, Nx makes developing microfrontends more manageable.
By following the steps in this guide, you’ll be able to set up and manage a microfrontend architecture with Nx effectively, allowing your teams to collaborate independently while maintaining a cohesive application.
Happy coding!