Generate Code

Use Nx generators to scaffold new projects, add features to existing ones, and automate repetitive tasks consistently across your monorepo.

Code generators are TypeScript functions that accept parameters and automate repetitive development tasks. They help you:

• Scaffold new applications and libraries with consistent structure
• Augment existing projects with new capabilities (e.g. adding Storybook)
• Enforce organization-wide coding standards automatically

Generators are distributed as part of Nx plugins and are invoked with nx generate (or nx g).

Invoke a generator

The syntax is nx g <plugin-name>:<generator-name> [options]:

# Generate a React library
nx g @nx/react:lib packages/mylib

# Generate a React application
nx g @nx/react:application myapp

# Generate a plain TypeScript library
nx g @nx/js:library mylib

You can also specify just the generator name and Nx will prompt you to choose from installed plugins that provide a matching generator:

nx g lib packages/mylib

Preview changes before applying

Use --dry-run to see what files would be created or modified without writing any changes to disk:

nx g @nx/react:lib packages/mylib --dry-run

This is useful for reviewing the impact of a generator before committing to it.

List available generators

To see all generators provided by an installed plugin:

nx list @nx/react

To list all installed plugins and their capabilities:

nx list

Interactive mode

When you omit required options, Nx prompts you interactively:

nx g @nx/react:application
# Nx will prompt: What name would you like to use for the application?
# Nx will prompt: Which stylesheet format would you like to use?

You can also run generators through Nx Console, a VS Code / WebStorm extension that provides a visual form-based interface for finding and running generators. Install it from the VS Code Marketplace.

Build your own generator

You can write custom generators to automate your organization’s specific workflows. A generator is a function with the following signature:

// tools/generators/my-generator/generator.ts
import { Tree, formatFiles, installPackagesTask } from '@nx/devkit';

export default async function (tree: Tree, schema: any) {
  // Read and write files using the virtual filesystem (tree)
  // tree.write('path/to/file.ts', contents);

  await formatFiles(tree);
  return () => {
    installPackagesTask(tree);
  };
}

The @nx/devkit package provides utilities for reading/writing files, generating names, running tasks, and more.

1. Create the generator

   Scaffold a new local generator using the @nx/plugin generator:

   nx g @nx/plugin:plugin tools/my-plugin
   nx g @nx/plugin:generator my-generator --project=my-plugin
   
2. Implement the generator function

   Edit the generated generator.ts file to implement your logic using @nx/devkit utilities.

3. Run your generator

   nx g @my-org/my-plugin:my-generator
   

See the local generators guide for full documentation on building and testing generators.