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TypeScript Academy · Lesson

Incremental Builds and Cache in Monorepos

Optimize build times with incremental compilation and Turborepo.

Incremental Builds and Cache in Monorepos is a free TypeScript Academy lesson on CoddyKit — lesson 4 of 4. You can read the complete lesson below for free — then practise it hands-on in the browser with a built-in code editor and a 24/7 AI tutor. It is part of the TypeScript Academy learning path, one of 4 lessons in the course, and your progress syncs across the web and the CoddyKit app.

Why Incremental Builds Matter

In large monorepos, rebuilding every package on every change is slow. Incremental builds detect what changed and only recompile affected packages.

# Without incremental: all 20 packages rebuild every time
# With incremental: only 2 changed packages rebuild

TypeScript Incremental Mode

Enable "incremental": true in tsconfig to generate a .tsbuildinfo file that caches the previous build state for fast re-runs.

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "incremental": true,
    "tsBuildInfoFile": "./.tsbuildinfo"
  }
}

tsc --build for Project References

tsc --build is inherently incremental for project reference workspaces — it tracks timestamps and skips up-to-date packages.

# First build: all packages compiled
tsc --build
# Second build: only changed packages compiled
tsc --build
# [12:00:01 PM] Project 'packages/core' is up to date

Turborepo Caching

Turborepo caches task outputs (like dist/) and restores them from cache on unchanged inputs — across the team via remote cache.

// turbo.json
{
  "pipeline": {
    "build": {
      "dependsOn": ["^build"],
      "outputs": ["dist/**", ".tsbuildinfo"]
    }
  }
}

Remote Caching with Turborepo

Share the build cache across CI machines and team members so nobody rebuilds what someone else already built.

# Link to Vercel remote cache
npx turbo login
npx turbo link

Nx Computation Cache

Nx provides similar caching with fine-grained affected analysis based on the project dependency graph.

# Nx: only test affected projects
npx nx affected --target=test --base=main

Cache Inputs and Outputs

For correct caching, declare all inputs (source files, env vars) and outputs (dist dirs, tsbuildinfo) in your build tool config.

// turbo.json with inputs
{
  "pipeline": {
    "build": {
      "inputs": ["src/**", "tsconfig.json"],
      "outputs": ["dist/**"]
    }
  }
}

Invalidating the Cache

Caches are invalidated when inputs change. Avoid including volatile files (like logs or timestamps) as inputs to prevent unnecessary rebuilds.

# Force rebuild even if cached
turbo run build --force

CI Integration

Connect CI (GitHub Actions, CircleCI) to the remote cache so PR builds are fast by reusing previous build artifacts.

# .github/workflows/ci.yml
- name: Build
  run: npx turbo build
  env:
    TURBO_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.TURBO_TOKEN }}
    TURBO_TEAM: my-team

Incremental Type Checking Only

Use tsc --noEmit --incremental for fast type-check-only CI steps that skip emit but still benefit from caching.

npx tsc --noEmit --incremental
# Quick type check with .tsbuildinfo cache

Recap: Incremental Builds

Incremental builds in monorepos use TypeScript's tsBuildInfo + tsc --build combined with Turborepo or Nx caching to minimize compilation work on every change.

Quick Check

What file does TypeScript generate to enable incremental builds?

What You Learned

Incremental builds use TypeScript's .tsbuildinfo file and tsc --build to skip unchanged packages. Turborepo and Nx extend this with remote caching and affected-only analysis across the full monorepo.

Frequently asked questions

Is the “Incremental Builds and Cache in Monorepos” lesson free?

Yes — the full text of “Incremental Builds and Cache in Monorepos” is free to read here on the web, and the TypeScript Academy course includes 4 lessons in total. To practise it interactively (a built-in code editor and a 24/7 AI tutor) and unlock the rest of the TypeScript Academy course, upgrade to CoddyKit PRO.

What will I learn in “Incremental Builds and Cache in Monorepos”?

Optimize build times with incremental compilation and Turborepo. You practise TypeScript Academy with hands-on code you run directly in the browser, and a 24/7 AI tutor answers your questions as you work through the lesson.

Do I need any experience to start TypeScript Academy?

No prior experience is required. TypeScript Academy on CoddyKit is structured for beginners through advanced learners; this is — lesson 4 of 4, so you can start here or from the beginning and move at your own pace.

How long does the “Incremental Builds and Cache in Monorepos” lesson take?

Most CoddyKit lessons take about 5–10 minutes. Each one is bite-sized and interactive, so you make steady progress and pick up exactly where you left off across the web and the app.

Can I write and run code in this TypeScript Academy lesson?

Yes. Every TypeScript Academy lesson includes a built-in code editor, so you write and run real code right in your browser and get instant AI feedback — no local setup required.

All lessons in this course

  1. TypeScript Project References Explained
  2. pnpm Workspaces with TypeScript
  3. Shared Types Package Strategy
  4. Incremental Builds and Cache in Monorepos
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