Turborepo Starter Template

September 2025

3 min read

Turborepo Starter Template

Discover the Turborepo Monorepo Template: Your All-in-One Setup for Modern Full-Stack Apps

Hey developers! If you're juggling multiple projects, dealing with inconsistent configs, or just want a streamlined way to build scalable apps, I've got the perfect starting point for you. Introducing the Turborepo Monorepo Template – a robust, ready-to-go monorepo setup that combines the best tools for frontend, backend, and shared utilities. Powered by Turborepo for efficient management, it's designed to save you time, enforce best practices, and scale effortlessly. Whether you're building a personal project or a team collaboration, this template handles the heavy lifting so you can focus on coding. Let's break down what makes it awesome!

Why This Monorepo Template is a Game-Changer

In today's fast-paced dev world, monorepos are king for keeping everything organized under one roof. This template takes it up a notch by integrating top-tier tools for type safety, styling, auth, and more – all pre-configured to work seamlessly together. No more wrestling with setups; just clone, install, and build. Here's what sets it apart:

  • Efficient Monorepo Management: Turborepo handles caching, task orchestration, and parallel execution, making builds lightning-fast.
  • Modern Web App with Next.js: Leverage Next.js with Turbopack for blazing performance in your frontend, complete with server-side rendering and API routes.
  • Robust API Server via Express: A dedicated backend app for handling your server logic, APIs, and integrations.
  • TypeScript Everywhere: Full type safety across the board to catch errors early and improve code quality.
  • Beautiful UI with shadcn/ui and Tailwind CSS: Customizable components and utility-first styling for pixel-perfect designs, supporting light and dark themes out of the box.
  • Secure Authentication with Auth.js: Easy user auth flows, including sign-up, sign-in, and profile management.
  • Smart Data Handling with Tanstack Query: Effortless fetching, caching, and state management for reactive UIs.
  • Quality Assurance Tools: ESLint for linting, Prettier for formatting, and Jest for comprehensive testing – all shared across packages.
  • pnpm as Package Manager: Fast, disk-efficient dependency management for the entire monorepo.

Plus, it's built for theming – check out these screenshots to see it in action:

Project Structure: Organized for Scalability

The monorepo is thoughtfully divided into apps and packages, promoting code reuse and modularity. Here's the breakdown:

Applications

  • apps/web: Your Next.js-powered frontend – handle UI, routing, and client-side logic here.
  • apps/api: The Express-based backend for APIs, data processing, and server tasks.

Packages

This structure ensures dependencies are managed efficiently, with Turborepo optimizing builds based on changes.

Under the Hood: The Tech Stack Powering It All

As a fellow dev, I love how this template pulls together battle-tested technologies into a cohesive ecosystem. It's open-source friendly, so you can extend it as needed. Key players include:

  • Turborepo: For monorepo orchestration and turbocharged workflows.
  • Next.js: With Turbopack for next-level speed in web development.
  • Express: Lightweight and flexible for your API needs.
  • TypeScript: Strong typing for fewer bugs.
  • shadcn/ui: Accessible, customizable UI building blocks.
  • Tailwind CSS: Rapid styling with utilities.
  • Auth.js: Simplified authentication.
  • Tanstack Query: Powerful data syncing and caching.
  • ESLint: Code quality enforcement.
  • Prettier: Automated formatting.
  • Jest: Reliable testing framework.
  • pnpm: Efficient package management.

This stack is modern, performant, and developer-friendly – perfect for full-stack projects.

Getting Started: From Zero to Running in Minutes

Diving in is simple. Start by setting up the individual apps, then use root-level commands for monorepo-wide operations.

Setting Up the Web App (apps/web)

Follow the detailed steps in apps/web/README.md – it covers env setup, deps, and running the dev server.

Setting Up the API Server (apps/api)

Head to apps/api/README.md for backend-specific instructions, including database config with Prisma.

Once apps are ready, leverage these root-level scripts for streamlined workflows:

ScriptDescription
pnpm buildRuns turbo build to build all apps and packages.
pnpm cleanClears the Turborepo cache and outputs.
pnpm devRuns turbo dev to start development servers concurrently.
pnpm lintLints all workspaces using the shared ESLint config.
pnpm formatFormats code using Prettier across the monorepo.
pnpm check-typesChecks types across all workspaces using TypeScript.
pnpm startStarts the production server for all apps.
pnpm testRuns tests across all workspaces using Jest.
  • Read this to learn about the usage of ui components in the apps.

Wrapping Up: Kickstart Your Next Project

The Turborepo Monorepo Template isn't just a starter – it's a foundation for building production-ready apps with less hassle. Whether you're solo dev-ing or collaborating, it enforces consistency, boosts productivity, and scales with your needs. If you're into full-stack JavaScript/TypeScript, this is your go-to.

Ready to get started? Clone the repo, run pnpm install, fill the env’s and hit pnpm dev. Share your builds, contribute improvements, and let's make dev life easier. Happy coding! πŸš€