Monorepo Management

Why a Monorepo?

Managing presentations as separate projects creates friction:

• Duplicated effort: Installing dependencies, configuring tools, and updating versions happens per-project
• Version inconsistency: Different presentations end up on different Slidev versions, leading to subtle bugs and incompatibilities
• Scattered tooling: No central place to run commands across all presentations

A monorepo consolidates everything into a single repository while keeping presentations independent. You get shared infrastructure without coupling your content.

Architecture Overview

The following diagram shows how a Supaslidev workspace is structured:

Benefits of This Approach

Shared Dependencies

All presentations share a single node_modules at the workspace root. pnpm's content-addressable storage ensures packages are only stored once on disk, even across hundreds of presentations.

Consistent Tooling

Linting, formatting, and build configurations live in one place. When you update a tool, all presentations benefit immediately.

Atomic Updates

Upgrading Slidev happens once in the catalog. Every presentation gets the new version on the next pnpm install, reducing the risk of forgotten or partially-updated projects.

Simplified CI/CD

One repository means one pipeline. Build and deploy any combination of presentations from a single workflow.

pnpm Workspace Configuration

The workspace is defined in pnpm-workspace.yaml at the repository root:

packages:
  - 'packages/*'
  - 'presentations/*'

catalog:
  '@slidev/cli': ^52.11.3
  '@slidev/theme-default': latest
  '@slidev/theme-seriph': latest
  'vue': ^3.5.26

The packages Array

The packages array tells pnpm which directories contain workspace packages. The glob packages/* includes shared packages like @supaslidev/shared, while presentations/* includes every presentation folder as a separate package.

When you create a new presentation with pnpm new my-talk, it becomes part of the workspace automatically and is pre-configured to use the shared package as a Slidev addon.

Understanding Catalog Dependencies

The catalog section is the key to consistent versioning. It defines named versions that presentations reference using the special catalog: specifier.

In a presentation's package.json:

{
  "dependencies": {
    "@slidev/cli": "catalog:",
    "@slidev/theme-default": "catalog:",
    "@supaslidev/shared": "workspace:*",
    "vue": "catalog:"
  }
}

When pnpm resolves "@slidev/cli": "catalog:", it looks up @slidev/cli in the workspace catalog and uses that version (^52.11.3). The "workspace:*" specifier links to the local shared package. This creates a single source of truth for dependency versions.

Updating Catalog Versions

To upgrade Slidev across all presentations:

1. Edit pnpm-workspace.yaml:

catalog:
  '@slidev/cli': ^53.0.0 # Updated version

2. Run pnpm install to apply the change:

pnpm install

Every presentation now uses the new version. The lockfile updates to reflect the change, and you can verify everything works before committing.

Running Commands Across the Workspace

pnpm provides built-in filtering to run commands across multiple packages without additional tools.

Build All Packages

The root package.json includes a build script:

pnpm build

This runs pnpm --filter @supaslidev/* run build, building all workspace packages.

Filter by Package

Run commands on specific packages or patterns:

# Build every presentation
pnpm --filter '@supaslidev/*' run build

# Build a specific presentation
pnpm --filter @supaslidev/my-talk run build

# Build presentations matching a pattern
pnpm --filter '@supaslidev/quarterly-*' run build

Workspace Scripts

The root package.json provides convenience scripts:

pnpm dev              # Start the interactive dashboard
pnpm new <name>       # Create a new presentation
pnpm present <name>   # Start dev server for one presentation
pnpm export <name>    # Export presentation to PDF
pnpm deploy           # Build all presentations for deployment
pnpm build            # Build all workspace packages

Adding Presentations

Create a new presentation using the dashboard CLI:

pnpm new my-new-talk

This command:

1. Creates presentations/my-new-talk/ with the standard structure
2. Generates a package.json using catalog dependencies
3. Creates a starter slides.md file
4. Runs pnpm install to link the new package

You can also create presentations manually. Create the folder structure and ensure the package.json uses catalog: and workspace: specifiers:

mkdir -p presentations/manual-talk

{
  "name": "@supaslidev/manual-talk",
  "private": true,
  "type": "module",
  "scripts": {
    "build": "slidev build",
    "dev": "slidev --open",
    "export": "slidev export"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "@slidev/cli": "catalog:",
    "@slidev/theme-default": "catalog:",
    "@supaslidev/shared": "workspace:*",
    "vue": "catalog:"
  }
}

Don't forget to add the shared addon to your slides.md frontmatter:

---
addons:
  - '@supaslidev/shared'
---

Then run pnpm install to add it to the workspace.

Removing Presentations

To remove a presentation from the workspace:

1. Delete the presentation folder:

rm -rf presentations/old-talk

2. Clean up the lockfile:

pnpm install

pnpm automatically removes the package from the workspace and updates pnpm-lock.yaml.

If you want to archive a presentation without deleting it, move it outside the presentations/ directory. Since it no longer matches the workspace glob, pnpm treats it as a regular folder.

Workspace Structure Recap

A typical Supaslidev workspace looks like this:

my-workspace/
├── packages/
│   └── shared/              # Shared components, layouts, styles
│       ├── components/
│       ├── layouts/
│       ├── styles/
│       └── package.json     # Configured as Slidev addon
├── presentations/
│   ├── quarterly-review/
│   │   ├── slides.md
│   │   └── package.json     # Uses catalog: and workspace: dependencies
│   ├── product-launch/
│   │   ├── slides.md
│   │   └── package.json
│   └── team-onboarding/
│       ├── slides.md
│       └── package.json
├── .supaslidev/
│   └── state.json           # Workspace metadata
├── pnpm-workspace.yaml      # Workspace config and catalog
├── package.json             # Root package
└── pnpm-lock.yaml           # Single lockfile for all packages

Key points:

• Each presentation is a separate pnpm package with its own package.json
• All presentations share dependencies through the catalog
• The shared package provides reusable components, layouts, and styles across all presentations
• A single pnpm-lock.yaml locks versions for the entire workspace
• The .supaslidev/ folder tracks workspace state for migrations

Next Steps

Learn more about the CLI commands for managing presentations, or explore the dashboard features for an interactive workflow.