Migrating an Angular CLI project to Nx

Within an Nx workspace, you gain many capabilities that help you build applications and libraries. If you are currently using an Angular CLI workspace, you can transform it into an Nx workspace.

Migrating to a Standalone Angular App with Nx

You can migrate to a Standalone Angular App with the command:

โฏ

npx nx@latest init

This command will install the correct version of Nx based on your Angular version.

This will enable you to use the Nx CLI in your existing Angular CLI workspace while keeping your existing file structure in place. The following changes will be made in your repo to enable Nx:

  • The nx, @nx/workspace and prettier packages will be installed.
  • An nx.json file will be created in the root of your workspace.
  • For an Angular 14+ repo, the angular.json file is split into separate project.json files for each project.

Note: The changes will be slightly different for Angular 13 and lower.

Migrating to an Integrated Nx Monorepo

If you want to migrate your Angular CLI project to an Integrated Nx Monorepo, run the following command:

โฏ

npx nx@latest init --integrated

The command applies the following changes to your workspace:

  • Installs the nx, @nx/angular and @nx/workspace packages.
  • Moves your applications into the apps folder, and updates the relevant file paths in your configuration files.
  • Moves your e2e suites into the apps/<app name>-e2e folder, and updates the relevant file paths in your configuration files.
  • Moves your libraries into the libs folder, and updates the relevant file paths in your configuration files.
  • Updates your package.json scripts to use nx instead of ng.
  • Splits your angular.json into project.json files for each project with updated paths.

After the changes are applied, your workspace file structure should look similar to the one below:

1<workspace name>/ 2โ”œโ”€โ”€ apps/ 3โ”‚ โ””โ”€ <app name>/ 4โ”‚ โ”œโ”€โ”€ src/ 5โ”‚ โ”‚ โ”œโ”€โ”€ app/ 6โ”‚ โ”‚ โ”œโ”€โ”€ assets/ 7โ”‚ โ”‚ โ”œโ”€โ”€ favicon.ico 8โ”‚ โ”‚ โ”œโ”€โ”€ index.html 9โ”‚ โ”‚ โ”œโ”€โ”€ main.ts 10โ”‚ โ”‚ โ””โ”€โ”€ styles.css 11โ”‚ โ”œโ”€โ”€ project.json 12โ”‚ โ”œโ”€โ”€ tsconfig.app.json 13โ”‚ โ””โ”€โ”€ tsconfig.spec.json 14โ”œโ”€โ”€ libs/ 15โ”‚ โ””โ”€โ”€ <lib name>/ 16โ”‚ โ”œโ”€โ”€ src/ 17โ”‚ โ”œโ”€โ”€ ng-package.json 18โ”‚ โ”œโ”€โ”€ package.json 19โ”‚ โ”œโ”€โ”€ project.json 20โ”‚ โ”œโ”€โ”€ README.md 21โ”‚ โ”œโ”€โ”€ tsconfig.lib.json 22โ”‚ โ”œโ”€โ”€ tsconfig.lib.prod.json 23โ”‚ โ””โ”€โ”€ tsconfig.spec.json 24โ”œโ”€โ”€ tools/ 25โ”œโ”€โ”€ .editorconfig 26โ”œโ”€โ”€ .gitignore 27โ”œโ”€โ”€ .prettierignore 28โ”œโ”€โ”€ .prettierrc 29โ”œโ”€โ”€ karma.conf.js 30โ”œโ”€โ”€ nx.json 31โ”œโ”€โ”€ package.json 32โ”œโ”€โ”€ README.md 33โ””โ”€โ”€ tsconfig.base.json 34

Older Versions of Angular

Support for workspaces with multiple applications and libraries was added in Nx v14.1.0. If you are migrating using an older version of Nx, your workspace can only contain one application and no libraries in order to use the automated migration, otherwise, you can still migrate manually.

Modified Folder Structure

The automated migration supports Angular CLI workspaces with a standard structure, configurations and features. If your workspace has deviated from what the Angular CLI generates, you might not be able to use the automated migration and you will need to manually migrate your workspace.

Currently, the automated migration supports workspaces using the following executors (builders):

  • @angular-devkit/build-angular:application
  • @angular-devkit/build-angular:browser
  • @angular-devkit/build-angular:browser-esbuild
  • @angular-devkit/build-angular:dev-server
  • @angular-devkit/build-angular:extract-i18n
  • @angular-devkit/build-angular:karma
  • @angular-devkit/build-angular:ng-packagr
  • @angular-devkit/build-angular:prerender
  • @angular-devkit/build-angular:protractor
  • @angular-devkit/build-angular:server
  • @angular-devkit/build-angular:ssr-dev-server
  • @angular-eslint/builder:lint
  • @cypress/schematic:cypress
  • @nguniversal/builders:prerender
  • @nguniversal/builders:ssr-dev-server

Support for other executors may be added in the future.

After migration

Your workspace is now powered by Nx! You can verify that your application still runs as intended:

  • To serve, run nx serve <app name>.
  • To build, run nx build <app name>.
  • To run unit tests, run nx test <app name>.
  • To see your project graph, run nx graph.

Your project graph will grow as you add and use more applications and libraries. You can add the --watch flag to nx graph to see the changes in-browser as you add them.

Learn More

Learn more about the advantages of Nx in the following guides:

From Nx Console

Nx Console no longer supports the Angular CLI. Angular CLI users will receive a notice, asking if they want to switch to Nx. When you click this button, weโ€™ll run the nx init command to set up the Nx CLI, allowing for cached builds, and for you to share this cache with your teammates via Nx Cloud.

If you're not ready to make the change yet, you can come back to this later:

  • If you're using Nx Console: open the Vs Code command palette and start typing "Convert Angular CLI to Nx Workspace".
  • Regardless of using Nx Console (or your IDE): run npx nx init from the root of your project.

Once the script has run, commit the changes. Reverting this commit will effectively undo the changes made.