nx-run-tasks_skill

Overview

This skill helps you run tasks in an Nx workspace reliably and efficiently. It guides which tasks exist, how to execute a single task, run many tasks in parallel, and run only affected tasks. It also recommends package manager handling and useful Nx flags for CI and local runs.

How this skill works

The skill inspects workspace metadata (project.json, package.json, and Nx inferred targets) and suggests the correct nx commands: nx run, nx run-many, and nx affected. It determines whether to prefix commands with npx/pnpm/yarn based on the repo's package manager files. It also explains key flags like --skipNxCache, --nxBail, and --configuration to tune execution.

When to use it

• Run a single project's build, test, lint, or serve target (nx run <project>:<task>).
• Execute the same target across many projects (nx run-many -t ...).
• Limit work to changed projects in CI or pre-merge checks (nx affected -t ...).
• Force reruns, get verbose logs, or stop early on failure using useful flags.
• When you need to detect available targets with nx show project <name> --json.

Best practices

• Check nx show project <project> --json to list available targets before running commands.
• Use the repo's package manager prefix (npx/pnpm/yarn) if nx is not installed globally.
• Prefer nx affected in CI to run tasks only for changed and dependent projects.
• Use --skipNxCache sparingly; rely on Nx cache for faster repeatable runs.
• Use --nxBail to fail fast in pipelines and --parallel to speed up run-many where safe.

Example use cases

• Run a single app's tests: nx run myapp:test (or with npx if no global nx).
• Test a subset of projects: nx run-many -t test -p proj1 proj2 --parallel=5.
• CI optimization: nx affected -t build test --base=main --head=HEAD to build only changed projects.
• Debug a failing target with verbose logs: nx run lib:build --verbose.
• Exclude projects: nx run-many -t lint --projects=*-app --exclude=internal-app.