next-forge

name	next-forge
description	next-forge expert guidance — production-grade Turborepo monorepo SaaS starter by Vercel. Use when working in a next-forge project, scaffolding with `npx next-forge init`, or editing @repo/* workspace packages.

next-forge

next-forge is a production-grade Turborepo template for building Next.js SaaS applications. It provides a monorepo structure with multiple apps, shared packages, and integrations for authentication, database, payments, email, CMS, analytics, observability, security, and more.

Quick Start

Initialize a new project:

npx next-forge@latest init

The CLI prompts for a project name and package manager (bun, npm, yarn, or pnpm). After installation:

1. Set the DATABASE_URL in packages/database/.env pointing to a PostgreSQL database (Neon recommended).
2. Run database migrations: bun run migrate
3. Add any optional integration keys to the appropriate .env.local files.
4. Start development: bun run dev

All integrations besides the database are optional. Missing environment variables gracefully disable features rather than causing errors.

Architecture Overview

The monorepo contains apps and packages. Apps are deployable applications. Packages are shared libraries imported as @repo/<package-name>.

Apps (in /apps/):

App	Port	Purpose
app	3000	Main authenticated SaaS application
web	3001	Marketing website with CMS and SEO
api	3002	Serverless API for webhooks, cron jobs
email	3003	React Email preview server
docs	3004	Documentation site (Mintlify)
storybook	6006	Design system component workshop
studio	3005	Prisma Studio for database editing

Core Packages: auth, database, payments, email, cms, design-system, analytics, observability, security, storage, seo, feature-flags, internationalization, webhooks, cron, notifications, collaboration, ai, rate-limit, next-config, typescript-config.

For detailed structure, see references/architecture.md.

Key Concepts

Environment Variables

Environment variable files live alongside apps and packages:

• apps/app/.env.local — Main app keys (Clerk, Stripe, etc.)
• apps/web/.env.local — Marketing site keys
• apps/api/.env.local — API keys
• packages/database/.env — DATABASE_URL (required)
• packages/cms/.env.local — BaseHub token
• packages/internationalization/.env.local — Languine project ID

Each package has a keys.ts file that validates environment variables with Zod via @t3-oss/env-nextjs. Type safety is enforced at build time.

Inter-App URLs

Local URLs are pre-configured:

• NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL=http://localhost:3000
• NEXT_PUBLIC_WEB_URL=http://localhost:3001
• NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=http://localhost:3002
• NEXT_PUBLIC_DOCS_URL=http://localhost:3004

Update these to production domains when deploying (e.g., app.yourdomain.com, www.yourdomain.com).

Server Components First

page.tsx and layout.tsx files are always server components. Client interactivity goes in separate files with 'use client'. Access databases, secrets, and server-only APIs directly in server components and server actions.

Graceful Degradation

All integrations beyond the database are optional. Clients use optional chaining (e.g., stripe?.prices.list(), resend?.emails.send()). If the corresponding environment variable is not set, the feature is silently disabled.

Common Tasks

Running Development

bun run dev                  # All apps
bun dev --filter app         # Single app (port 3000)
bun dev --filter web         # Marketing site (port 3001)

Database Migrations

After changing packages/database/prisma/schema.prisma:

bun run migrate

This runs Prisma format, generate, and db push in sequence.

Adding shadcn/ui Components

npx shadcn@latest add [component] -c packages/design-system

Update existing components:

bun run bump-ui

Adding a New Package

Create a new directory in /packages/ with a package.json using the @repo/<name> naming convention. Add it as a dependency in consuming apps.

Linting and Formatting

bun run lint                 # Check code style (Ultracite/Biome)
bun run format               # Fix code style

Testing

bun run test                 # Run tests across monorepo

Building

bun run build                # Build all apps and packages
bun run analyze              # Bundle analysis

Deployment

Deploy to Vercel by creating separate projects for app, web, and api — each pointing to its respective root directory under /apps/. Add environment variables per project or use Vercel Team Environment Variables.

For detailed setup and customization instructions, see:

• references/setup.md — Installation, prerequisites, environment variables, database and Stripe CLI setup
• references/packages.md — Detailed documentation for every package
• references/customization.md — Swapping providers, extending features, deployment configuration
• references/architecture.md — Full monorepo structure, Turborepo pipeline, scripts