build-system

name

build-system

description

Wireit orchestration, build optimization, caching strategies, and build troubleshooting for the Elements monorepo. Use this skill whenever the user asks about Wireit configuration, build tasks, build dependencies, cache invalidation, build performance, adding new build tasks to package.json, cross-package dependency patterns, sideEffects declarations, CI pipeline configuration, or diagnosing slow or failing builds. Also trigger when the user mentions wireit, vite build issues, pnpm run ci, or build output problems.

Build System

You MUST review the build system documentation before modifying build configurations or troubleshooting build issues.

When to Use This Skill

• Optimizing build performance and parallelization
• Understanding Wireit task dependencies
• Troubleshooting build failures or cache issues
• Adding new build tasks to projects
• Configuring build orchestration across packages
• Understanding CI/CD build pipeline

Quick Reference

Common Commands

# Full CI locally (lint, build, test):same as CI pipeline
pnpm run ci

# Clean everything (node_modules, dist, .wireit caches)
pnpm run ci:reset

# Build a single project
cd projects/core && pnpm run build

# Dev mode with watch
cd projects/core && pnpm run dev

Wireit Basics

Wireit configs live in each project's package.json under the wireit key. Each task declares:

• command:the shell command to run
• dependencies:other wireit tasks that must complete first (can be cross-package)
• files:input file globs for cache invalidation
• output:output file globs that get cached

Wireit skips tasks whose inputs have not changed since the last run. To force a rebuild, delete .wireit/ in the project directory.

Dependency Patterns

Cross-package dependencies use the <package>:<script> format:

{
  "wireit": {
    "build": {
      "dependencies": ["../themes:build", "../styles:build"],
      "command": "vite build",
      "files": ["src/**/*", "tsconfig.json"],
      "output": ["dist/**"]
    }
  }
}

Troubleshooting Build Failures

Symptom	Fix
Stale cache causing wrong output	Delete .wireit/ in the affected project, then rebuild
"Cannot find module" after package changes	Run pnpm i --frozen-lockfile to re-link workspaces
TypeScript errors after dependency update	Rebuild dependencies first: cd projects/themes && pnpm run build
CI passes locally but fails in pipeline	Check Node version (node -v should match .nvmrc) and pnpm version
Full reset	pnpm run ci:reset && pnpm i --frozen-lockfile && pnpm run ci

Adding a New Wireit Task

1. Add the script to package.json with a wireit config
2. Declare files (inputs) and output (outputs) for caching
3. Add dependencies on upstream packages that must build first
4. If the task should run in CI, add it to the dependency chain of the root ci script

Key Tools

• pnpm:package manager with workspaces
• Wireit:build orchestration with caching (like Bazel for Node)
• Vite:TypeScript compilation and bundling
• Semantic Release:automated versioning from conventional commits

References

• Build System Documentation
• Root Wireit Configuration
• Project package.json files for individual build patterns