how to import apps in packages - turbo monorepo

Question

I'm trying to import some backend methods apps/backend/... into my packages/graphql because my graphql resolvers actualy calls backend routes, but I can't seem to see how in turbo monorepo documentation...

my current frontend (client) imports "@repo/graphql" : "*" but now i need my graphql package to access my backend (server) methods, but I can't just workaround that with relative path, because turbo will not resolve it after deployment.

does anyone have an idea ?

would you recommand me to have graphql as an app in /apps or the packages strategy is a good idea perhaps ?

here is somme information:

let's say I have a getComment from my ./apps/server/src/domain/task/comment.controller.ts and that I access that ressource through graphql ./packages/graphql/graphql/src/resolvers.ts, the resolver would call that specific method.

.
├── apps
│   ├── client
│   └── server
├── packages
│   ├── graphql
│   │  ├── graphql
│   │  │   ├── schema.gql
│   │  │   ├── resolvers.ts 
│   │  │   └── src
│   │  ├── package.json
│   │  ├── src
│   │  │   ├── schema.graphql
│   │  │   └── server.ts
│   │  ├── README.md
│   │  ├── codegen.yml
│   │  └── tsconfig.json
│   └── prisma
├── README.md
├── docker-compose.yml
├── eslint.config.mjs
├── makefile
├── package-lock.json
├── package.json
├── prettier.config.mjs
├── tsconfig.json
└── turbo.json

Answer 1

You neet to export your methods from ./apps/server Nestjs application like a package does in monorepo.

Here are the steps to do so.

1. Create a src/export.ts file in apps/server and export * from whatever file or methods which has to be used by graphql package.

// src/export.ts  

export * from "./domain/task/comment.controller.ts"

2. export src/export.ts from apps/server/package.json

// ./apps/server/package.json

{
  "name": "server",
  "version": "0.0.1",
  "description": "",

  // like this
  "exports": {
    ".": "./src/export.ts"
  },



 "dependencies":{
    "@nestjs/common": "^10.0.0",
  }

}

3. Now you need to import this package into your graphql package i.e. /packages/graphql. In ./packages/graphql/package.json add "server":"workspace:*" to dependencies object.

// ./packages/graphql/package.json

  {
    "name": "your-graphql-package",
    "version": "0.0.1",
    "description": "",
    "exports": {
      "types": "./src/export.d.ts"
    },
   "dependencies":{
      "server":"workspace:*"
     // other dependencies
    }
  }

4. And finally run npm/pnpm/yarn/bun install to let turborepo resolve dependencies for graphql package from server app.

5. You can now import your server packages into your graphql packages by doing something like.

// ./packages/graphql/index.ts

import { CommentController } from "server";
    

Although it is not recommendad to export from apps/ folder to packges/. You might want to reconsider the architechture of your application.