Single vs Multiple Repo Reasoning (For Posterity)

[NilsG-S]

Single Repository

• Easier to maintain common code
• Easier to keep front-end and back-end in sync
• Easier to keep the whole team on the same page without multiple wikis/issue sources

Multiple Repositories

• Common code has to be included via git submodules, which adds complexity
• Keeping front-end and back-end in sync is unnecessary with a consistent API. Should the API need to change, we can simply start a new microservice with the new API and make the switch on the front-end gradually
• Test suites for a given codebase can be run individually, which speeds them up
• Deployments are less complicated (no code required to reconcile the different codebases)
• Issues and wiki can be concentrated in a single repository
• Monorepo tooling is either elegant but complicated or simple but hackish

Resources

• Monorepo tools: https://github.com/korfuri/awesome-monorepo
• Monorepo hack: https://github.com/sagikazarmark/travis-monorepo-demo
• Bazel
  • Note that I don't think Bazel really works in a stateless context (i.e. Travis CI)

[NilsG-S]

For posterity only