turborepo-caching

name	turborepo-caching
description	Configure Turborepo for efficient monorepo builds with local and remote caching. Use when setting up Turborepo, optimizing build pipelines, or implementing distributed caching.

Turborepo Caching

Production patterns for Turborepo build optimization.

When to Use This Skill

• Setting up new Turborepo projects
• Configuring build pipelines
• Implementing remote caching
• Optimizing CI/CD performance
• Migrating from other monorepo tools
• Debugging cache misses

Core Concepts

1. Turborepo Architecture

Workspace Root/
├── apps/
│   ├── web/
│   │   └── package.json
│   └── docs/
│       └── package.json
├── packages/
│   ├── ui/
│   │   └── package.json
│   └── config/
│       └── package.json
├── turbo.json
└── package.json

2. Pipeline Concepts

Concept	Description
dependsOn	Tasks that must complete first
cache	Whether to cache outputs
outputs	Files to cache
inputs	Files that affect cache key
persistent	Long-running tasks (dev servers)

Templates

Template 1: turbo.json Configuration

{
  "$schema": "https://turbo.build/schema.json",
  "globalDependencies": [
    ".env",
    ".env.local"
  ],
  "globalEnv": [
    "NODE_ENV",
    "VERCEL_URL"
  ],
  "pipeline": {
    "build": {
      "dependsOn": ["^build"],
      "outputs": [
        "dist/**",
        ".next/**",
        "!.next/cache/**"
      ],
      "env": [
        "API_URL",
        "NEXT_PUBLIC_*"
      ]
    },
    "test": {
      "dependsOn": ["build"],
      "outputs": ["coverage/**"],
      "inputs": [
        "src/**/*.tsx",
        "src/**/*.ts",
        "test/**/*.ts"
      ]
    },
    "lint": {
      "outputs": [],
      "cache": true
    },
    "typecheck": {
      "dependsOn": ["^build"],
      "outputs": []
    },
    "dev": {
      "cache": false,
      "persistent": true
    },
    "clean": {
      "cache": false
    }
  }
}

Template 2: Package-Specific Pipeline

// apps/web/turbo.json
{
  "$schema": "https://turbo.build/schema.json",
  "extends": ["//"],
  "pipeline": {
    "build": {
      "outputs": [".next/**", "!.next/cache/**"],
      "env": [
        "NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL",
        "NEXT_PUBLIC_ANALYTICS_ID"
      ]
    },
    "test": {
      "outputs": ["coverage/**"],
      "inputs": [
        "src/**",
        "tests/**",
        "jest.config.js"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Template 3: Remote Caching with Vercel

# Login to Vercel
npx turbo login

# Link to Vercel project
npx turbo link

# Run with remote cache
turbo build --remote-only

# CI environment variables
TURBO_TOKEN=your-token
TURBO_TEAM=your-team

# .github/workflows/ci.yml
name: CI

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
  pull_request:

env:
  TURBO_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.TURBO_TOKEN }}
  TURBO_TEAM: ${{ vars.TURBO_TEAM }}

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: 20
          cache: 'npm'

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm ci

      - name: Build
        run: npx turbo build --filter='...[origin/main]'

      - name: Test
        run: npx turbo test --filter='...[origin/main]'

Template 4: Self-Hosted Remote Cache

// Custom remote cache server (Express)
import express from 'express';
import { createReadStream, createWriteStream } from 'fs';
import { mkdir } from 'fs/promises';
import { join } from 'path';

const app = express();
const CACHE_DIR = './cache';

// Get artifact
app.get('/v8/artifacts/:hash', async (req, res) => {
  const { hash } = req.params;
  const team = req.query.teamId || 'default';
  const filePath = join(CACHE_DIR, team, hash);

  try {
    const stream = createReadStream(filePath);
    stream.pipe(res);
  } catch {
    res.status(404).send('Not found');
  }
});

// Put artifact
app.put('/v8/artifacts/:hash', async (req, res) => {
  const { hash } = req.params;
  const team = req.query.teamId || 'default';
  const dir = join(CACHE_DIR, team);
  const filePath = join(dir, hash);

  await mkdir(dir, { recursive: true });

  const stream = createWriteStream(filePath);
  req.pipe(stream);

  stream.on('finish', () => {
    res.json({ urls: [`${req.protocol}://${req.get('host')}/v8/artifacts/${hash}`] });
  });
});

// Check artifact exists
app.head('/v8/artifacts/:hash', async (req, res) => {
  const { hash } = req.params;
  const team = req.query.teamId || 'default';
  const filePath = join(CACHE_DIR, team, hash);

  try {
    await fs.access(filePath);
    res.status(200).end();
  } catch {
    res.status(404).end();
  }
});

app.listen(3000);

// turbo.json for self-hosted cache
{
  "remoteCache": {
    "signature": false
  }
}

# Use self-hosted cache
turbo build --api="http://localhost:3000" --token="my-token" --team="my-team"

Template 5: Filtering and Scoping

# Build specific package
turbo build --filter=@myorg/web

# Build package and its dependencies
turbo build --filter=@myorg/web...

# Build package and its dependents
turbo build --filter=...@myorg/ui

# Build changed packages since main
turbo build --filter='...[origin/main]'

# Build packages in directory
turbo build --filter='./apps/*'

# Combine filters
turbo build --filter=@myorg/web --filter=@myorg/docs

# Exclude package
turbo build --filter='!@myorg/docs'

# Include dependencies of changed
turbo build --filter='...[HEAD^1]...'

Template 6: Advanced Pipeline Configuration

{
  "$schema": "https://turbo.build/schema.json",
  "pipeline": {
    "build": {
      "dependsOn": ["^build"],
      "outputs": ["dist/**"],
      "inputs": [
        "$TURBO_DEFAULT$",
        "!**/*.md",
        "!**/*.test.*"
      ]
    },
    "test": {
      "dependsOn": ["^build"],
      "outputs": ["coverage/**"],
      "inputs": [
        "src/**",
        "tests/**",
        "*.config.*"
      ],
      "env": ["CI", "NODE_ENV"]
    },
    "test:e2e": {
      "dependsOn": ["build"],
      "outputs": [],
      "cache": false
    },
    "deploy": {
      "dependsOn": ["build", "test", "lint"],
      "outputs": [],
      "cache": false
    },
    "db:generate": {
      "cache": false
    },
    "db:push": {
      "cache": false,
      "dependsOn": ["db:generate"]
    },
    "@myorg/web#build": {
      "dependsOn": ["^build", "@myorg/db#db:generate"],
      "outputs": [".next/**"],
      "env": ["NEXT_PUBLIC_*"]
    }
  }
}

Template 7: Root package.json Setup

{
  "name": "my-turborepo",
  "private": true,
  "workspaces": [
    "apps/*",
    "packages/*"
  ],
  "scripts": {
    "build": "turbo build",
    "dev": "turbo dev",
    "lint": "turbo lint",
    "test": "turbo test",
    "clean": "turbo clean && rm -rf node_modules",
    "format": "prettier --write \"**/*.{ts,tsx,md}\"",
    "changeset": "changeset",
    "version-packages": "changeset version",
    "release": "turbo build --filter=./packages/* && changeset publish"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "turbo": "^1.10.0",
    "prettier": "^3.0.0",
    "@changesets/cli": "^2.26.0"
  },
  "packageManager": "npm@10.0.0"
}

Debugging Cache

# Dry run to see what would run
turbo build --dry-run

# Verbose output with hashes
turbo build --verbosity=2

# Show task graph
turbo build --graph

# Force no cache
turbo build --force

# Show cache status
turbo build --summarize

# Debug specific task
TURBO_LOG_VERBOSITY=debug turbo build --filter=@myorg/web

Best Practices

Do's

• Define explicit inputs - Avoid cache invalidation
• Use workspace protocol - "@myorg/ui": "workspace:*"
• Enable remote caching - Share across CI and local
• Filter in CI - Build only affected packages
• Cache build outputs - Not source files

Don'ts

• Don't cache dev servers - Use persistent: true
• Don't include secrets in env - Use runtime env vars
• Don't ignore dependsOn - Causes race conditions
• Don't over-filter - May miss dependencies

Resources

• Turborepo Documentation
• Caching Guide
• Remote Caching