Configuring CI Using CircleCI and Nx

The CircleCI can track the last successful run on the main branch and use this as a reference point for the BASE. The Nx Orb provides a convenient implementation of this functionality which you can drop into your existing CI config. To understand why knowing the last successful build is important for the affected command, check out the in-depth explanation in Orb's docs.

Below is an example of a Circle CI setup for an Nx workspace - building and testing only what is affected. For more details on how the orb is used, head over to the official docs.

version: 2.1
orbs:
  nx: nrwl/nx@1.5.1
jobs:
  main:
    docker:
      - image: cimg/node:lts-browsers
    steps:
      - checkout
      - run: npm ci
      - nx/set-shas

      - run: npx nx workspace-lint
      - run: npx nx format:check
      - run: npx nx affected --base=$NX_BASE --head=$NX_HEAD --target=lint --parallel=3
      - run: npx nx affected --base=$NX_BASE --head=$NX_HEAD --target=test --parallel=3 --configuration=ci
      - run: npx nx affected --base=$NX_BASE --head=$NX_HEAD --target=build --parallel=3
workflows:
  build:
    jobs:
      - main

The pr and main jobs implement the CI workflow.

Using CircleCI on the private repository

To use the Nx Orb with a private repository on your main branch, you need to grant the orb access to your CircleCI API. You can do this by creating an environment variable called CIRCLE_API_TOKEN in the context or the project.

Caution

It should be a user token, not the project token.

Distributed CI with Nx Cloud

To use distributed task execution, we need to start agents and set the NX_CLOUD_DISTRIBUTED_EXECUTION flag to true.

Read more about the Distributed CI setup with Nx Cloud.

version: 2.1
orbs:
  nx: nrwl/nx@1.5.1
jobs:
  agent:
    docker:
      - image: cimg/node:lts-browsers
    parameters:
      ordinal:
        type: integer
    steps:
      - checkout
      - run: npm ci
      - run:
          command: npx nx-cloud start-agent
          no_output_timeout: 60m
  main:
    docker:
      - image: cimg/node:lts-browsers
    steps:
      - checkout
      - run: npm ci
      - nx/set-shas
      - run: npx nx-cloud start-ci-run --stop-agents-after="build"

      - run: npx nx-cloud record -- npx nx workspace-lint
      - run: npx nx-cloud record -- npx nx format:check
      - run: npx nx affected --base=$NX_BASE --head=$NX_HEAD --target=lint --parallel=3 & npx nx affected --base=$NX_BASE --head=$NX_HEAD --target=test --parallel=3 --configuration=ci & npx nx affected --base=$NX_BASE --head=$NX_HEAD --target=build --parallel=3
workflows:
  build:
    jobs:
      - agent:
          matrix:
            parameters:
              ordinal: [1, 2, 3]
      - main

You can also use our ci-workflow generator to generate the configuration file.