next-forge
next-forge is a production-grade Turborepo template for building Next.js SaaS applications. It provides a monorepo structure with multiple apps, shared packages, and integrations for authentication, database, payments, email, CMS, analytics, observability, security, and more.
Quick Start
Initialize a new project:
npx next-forge@latest init
The CLI prompts for a project name and package manager (bun, npm, yarn, or pnpm). After installation:
- Set the
DATABASE_URL in packages/database/.env pointing to a PostgreSQL database (Neon recommended).
- Run database migrations:
bun run migrate
- Add any optional integration keys to the appropriate
.env.local files.
- Start development:
bun run dev
All integrations besides the database are optional. Missing environment variables gracefully disable features rather than causing errors.
Architecture Overview
The monorepo contains apps and packages. Apps are deployable applications. Packages are shared libraries imported as @repo/<package-name>.
Apps (in /apps/):
| App | Port | Purpose |
|---|
app | 3000 | Main authenticated SaaS application |
web | 3001 | Marketing website with CMS and SEO |
api | 3002 | Serverless API for webhooks, cron jobs |
email | 3003 | React Email preview server |
docs | 3004 | Documentation site (Mintlify) |
storybook | 6006 | Design system component workshop |
studio | 3005 | Prisma Studio for database editing |
Core Packages: auth, database, payments, email, cms, design-system, analytics, observability, security, storage, seo, feature-flags, internationalization, webhooks, cron, notifications, collaboration, ai, rate-limit, next-config, typescript-config.
For detailed structure, see references/architecture.md.
Key Concepts
Environment Variables
Environment variable files live alongside apps and packages:
apps/app/.env.local — Main app keys (Clerk, Stripe, etc.)apps/web/.env.local — Marketing site keysapps/api/.env.local — API keyspackages/database/.env — DATABASE_URL (required)packages/cms/.env.local — BaseHub tokenpackages/internationalization/.env.local — Languine project ID
Each package has a keys.ts file that validates environment variables with Zod via @t3-oss/env-nextjs. Type safety is enforced at build time.
Inter-App URLs
Local URLs are pre-configured:
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL=http://localhost:3000NEXT_PUBLIC_WEB_URL=http://localhost:3001NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=http://localhost:3002NEXT_PUBLIC_DOCS_URL=http://localhost:3004
Update these to production domains when deploying (e.g., app.yourdomain.com, www.yourdomain.com).
Server Components First
page.tsx and layout.tsx files are always server components. Client interactivity goes in separate files with 'use client'. Access databases, secrets, and server-only APIs directly in server components and server actions.
Graceful Degradation
All integrations beyond the database are optional. Clients use optional chaining (e.g., stripe?.prices.list(), resend?.emails.send()). If the corresponding environment variable is not set, the feature is silently disabled.
Common Tasks
Running Development
bun run dev # All apps
bun dev --filter app # Single app (port 3000)
bun dev --filter web # Marketing site (port 3001)
Database Migrations
After changing packages/database/prisma/schema.prisma:
bun run migrate
This runs Prisma format, generate, and db push in sequence.
Adding shadcn/ui Components
npx shadcn@latest add [component] -c packages/design-system
Update existing components:
bun run bump-ui
Adding a New Package
Create a new directory in /packages/ with a package.json using the @repo/<name> naming convention. Add it as a dependency in consuming apps.
bun run lint # Check code style (Ultracite/Biome)
bun run format # Fix code style
Testing
bun run test # Run tests across monorepo
Building
bun run build # Build all apps and packages
bun run analyze # Bundle analysis
Deployment
Deploy to Vercel by creating separate projects for app, web, and api — each pointing to its respective root directory under /apps/. Add environment variables per project or use Vercel Team Environment Variables.
For detailed setup and customization instructions, see:
references/setup.md — Installation, prerequisites, environment variables, database and Stripe CLI setupreferences/packages.md — Detailed documentation for every packagereferences/customization.md — Swapping providers, extending features, deployment configurationreferences/architecture.md — Full monorepo structure, Turborepo pipeline, scripts