Monorepo Support

A monorepo is a single Git repository that contains the source code for multiple related applications:

# A monorepo containing a Python backend and a JavaScript frontend

📁 my-monorepo
|
├── README.md
├── 📁 backend
│   ├── app.py
│   ├── README.md
│   ├── requirements.txt
│   └── 📁 tests
│       └── test_app.py
└── 📁 frontend
    ├── 📁 components
    │   └── login.js
    ├── index.js
    ├── package.json
    ├── README.md
    └── 📁 src
        └── auth.js

You can deploy the individual apps in a monorepo as separate Render services. You can also configure each service to redeploy only if you make changes to its corresponding files:

• Set a service's root directory to ignore file changes outside that directory.
• Set build filters to ignore file changes that match specific path patterns.

Specify any combination of a root directory and build filters to customize your service's autodeploy behavior.

Setting a root directory

By default, Render automatically deploys your service whenever you push any changes to its linked Git branch. If you set a root directory for your service, Render only triggers an autodeploy if your changes affect files anywhere under that directory. This helps you avoid unnecessary deploys when working in a monorepo.

Set your service's root directory in any of the following ways:

If you don't set a root directory, Render uses the repository root as the default.

Root-relative settings

Render runs commands and interacts with files relative to your service's root directory. All of the following settings operate relative to the root directory:

• Build command
• Start command
• Pre-deploy command
• Publish directory
• Dockerfile path
• Docker build context directory

If you don't set a root directory for a monorepo-backed service, the service's build command might look like this:

$ cd backend && go build -o app . # Starts at repository root

Setting the service's root directory to the backend directory simplifies the build command to this:

$ go build -o app . # Starts in backend directory

Setting build filters

Set build filters for your service to specify which files in your repo do (or don't) trigger an autodeploy when you push changes to them:

Configure your service's build filters in any of the following ways:

{
  "buildFilter": {
    "paths": ["frontend/**"],
    "ignoredPaths": ["docs/**", "README.md"]
  }
}

services:
  - type: web
    name: app-frontend
    rootDir: frontend
    buildCommand: npm install
    startCommand: npm start
    buildFilter:
      includedPaths:
        - frontend/**
      ignoredPaths:
        - docs/**
        - README.md

Filter rules

Build filters can define rules for included paths, ignored paths, or both:

Build filter paths are always relative to your repository root, even if you’ve set a different root directory. This means your build filters can include paths from other directories in your repo.

Filter syntax

Build filters use glob syntax to define the patterns for included and ignored file paths. See supported wildcards and example usage below:

Using with service previews

Your service's root directory and build filters also affect the creation of pull request previews (if you've enabled them). If you open a pull request that only modifies ignored files for a service, Render skips creating a preview instance for that pull request.

A file might be ignored because it's outside your service's root directory, or because it matches one of your build filter's ignored paths.

FAQ

Can I ignore changes to my repo's render.yaml file?

No. Changes to render.yaml are always processed regardless of your build filters. Blueprint syncs are also unaffected by build filters.

Do build filters affect any deploys besides autodeploys?

No. If you trigger a manual deploy or update your service's configuration (such as its build command or start command), Render always proceeds with the deploy regardless of your build filters.

Do build filters do anything if I've disabled autodeploys?

Yes. Although build filters don't affect your service's deploys in this case, they can still affect the creation of pull request previews.

Do build filters and root directory work with preview environments?

Yes. If you define the root directory or specify build filters for each service in your render.yaml file, Render only creates a preview environment if the files changed in a pull request match the root directory or build filter paths for at least one service.