Improve project documentation

julienvincent · julienvincent · commit 906b629fdf34 · 2025-05-20T01:57:56.000+01:00
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
   <h1>Kmono</h1>
 
   <p>
-    The missing workspace tool for clojure tools.deps projects
+    A monorepo/workspace tool for clojure tools.deps projects
   </p>
 
 [![Clojars Project](https://img.shields.io/clojars/v/com.kepler16/kmono-core.svg)](https://clojars.org/com.kepler16/kmono-core)
@@ -21,29 +21,115 @@
 Kmono is a suite of tools and API's for working in Clojure (mono)repos. It aims to meet Clojure where it's at by
 providing a better understanding of deps.edn projects.
 
-This project was built with a focus on improving the experience of working in Clojure monorepos but works great in
-standalone projects too.
+While Kmono was designed with a focus on improving the experience of working in Clojure monorepos, care has been taken
+to ensure it works great in standalone (non-workspace) projects too.
 
 ## Index
 
 - **[Features](#features)**
+- **[About](#about)**
 - **[Installation](#installation)**
-- **[Documentation](#Documentation)**
+- **[Documentation](#API-Documentation)**
   - **[Kmono CLI](#kmono-cli)**
   - **[Example Project](#example-project)**
+- **[Configuration](#configuration)**
+  - **[Workspace Configuration](#workspace-configuration)**
+  - **[Package Configuration](#package-configuration)**
+  - **[Local-Only Configuration Overrides](#Local-Only-Configuration-Overrides)**
 - **[Clojure-lsp / Editor Integration](#clojure-lsp--editor-integration)**
 
 ## Features
 
 - **Workspace features**: Discovers packages and understands relationships between dependencies
 - **Aliases**: Allows working with packages aliases defined in `deps.edn` in a 'Clojure native' way without having to
-  pull all alias definitions into root `deps.edn`
-- **Build Tools**: Exposes a suite of libs intended to be used from `tools.build` programs to build and release
-  monorepos
+  pull all alias definitions into a root `deps.edn`
+- **Build Tools**: Exposes a suite of tools and APIs intended to be used from `tools.build` programs to build and
+  release monorepos
 - **Command Runner**: Allows executing Clojure and/or external commands in workspace packages
 - **Local Deps Overrides**: Allow overriding kmono config and `deps.edn` dependencies during local development. Useful
   for providing local paths to in-development libs without committing.
-- **Editor/Clojure-lsp**: Improves developer/editing experience by augmenting the classpath used by clojure-lsp
+- **Editor/Clojure-lsp**: Integrates with clojure-lsp to provide better classpath information and improve the
+  developer/editing experience in monorepos
+
+## About
+
+It's generally a bit of a pain to work with `deps.edn` based Clojure monorepos. There is a general lack of good
+workspace features that one might find in other languages and that one needs in order to work effectively in a large
+monorepo.
+
+Here is a broad list:
+
+- Start a repl with some subset of package aliases (such as `:test`) active
+- Have your editor / clojure-lsp know about these subpackage aliases and include their `:extra-paths` on the classpath
+- Run common commands across packages in a monorepo
+- Track and increment package versions.
+- Release package jars with with their referenced workspace dependencies/dependent package versions correctly set.
+- Run CI build/test/release workflows against only the subset of packages that have changed since the previous version
+  or revision.
+- Be able to define custom workspace configurations and pipelines that make use of the workspace graph / metadata in an
+  unopinionated way which may differ from workspace to workspace.
+- Script against the workspace package graph (run queries against the package graph)
+
+Kmono aims to solve all of these problems.
+
+There are some existing projects out there that are trying to solve for this problem too - but I find that they are
+either too opinionated, too rigid, or stray too far from the 'official' tooling too much.
+
+Kmono tries to build on top of `tools.deps` and the clojure cli in order to add additional functionality / capabilities
+in a way that feels native to `tools.deps` based projects. It tries to do this in a way that does not require
+configuring the project in a non-standard way, or configuring it in a manner which would render it incompatible with
+other tools.deps based tooling.
+
+I see the functionality added here as a kind of proposal to the Clojure core team for how I might want workspace
+features to work in the core tools.deps and clojure tooling.
+
+## How It Works
+
+### Workspace Package Graph
+
+At the core kmono is a tool which understands how packages in a Clojure workspace relate and depend on each other. This
+is done by analysing the `:deps` of packages to find `:local/root` coordinates to other packages in the same workspace.
+Using this information kmono can build up a graph of packages and their dependencies.
+
+All of kmono's features and capabilities are built on top of this package graph.
+
+### The Classpath and Package Aliases
+
+Using the package graph kmono can augment the clojure cli with additional aliases constructed from the package graph.
+This allows 'telling' clojure about the aliases and paths of subpackages in the workspace.
+
+When you run a command like `kmono cp -P ':*/test'` kmono will look for packages in the workspace containing a `:test`
+alias, and it will 'lift' these aliases into the root deps.edn config.
+
+If we were to run this command in the [example workspace project](./examples/workspace/) it would result in a call to
+the clojure CLI that looks something like:
+
+```bash
+clojure -Sdeps '{:aliases {:a/test {:extra-paths ["packages/a/test"]
+                                    :extra-deps {lambdaisland/kaocha {:mvn/version "1.91.1392"}}
+                                    :main-opts ["-m" "kaocha.runner" "-c" "../../tests.edn"]}
+                           :b/test {:extra-paths ["packages/b/test"]
+                                    :extra-deps {lambdaisland/kaocha {:mvn/version "1.91.1392"}}
+                                    :main-opts ["-m" "kaocha.runner" "-c" "../../tests.edn"]}
+                           :kmono/packages {:extra-deps {com.kepler16/a {:local/root "packages/a"}
+                                                         com.kepler16/b {:local/root "packages/b"}}}}}' \
+  -A:kmono/packages:a/test:b/test -Spath
+```
+
+As you can see we have extended the `deps.edn` project configuration using `-Sdeps` and passing it a set of aliases
+dynamically constructed from the package graph.
+
+You should also notice that any relative paths defined by package aliases in the workspace have been adjusted to be
+relative to the project root instead of to the package.
+
+Using `-A` kmono can selectively pick which aliases to apply!
+
+Most kmono cli commands can be run with `-v` to print out debug information about what clojure command kmono is
+constructing.
+
+### Querying Workspace Graph
+
+### Versioning / Releasing
 
 ## Installation
 
@@ -64,7 +150,7 @@ bash < <(curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kepler16/kmono/master/install
 Or alternatively binaries for various platforms can be pulled directly from the
 [Releases](https://github.com/kepler16/kmono/releases) page.
 
-## Documentation
+## API Documentation
 
 - **[kmono](https://cljdoc.org/d/com.kepler16/kmono)** - A BOM package containing all the submodules of kmono. This is
   the best one to look at for docs.
@@ -87,7 +173,7 @@ Usage:
   kmono [opts] <args>
 
 Version:
-  4.6.0
+  4.9.0
 
 Commands:
   cp      Produce a classpath string from a clojure project
@@ -108,16 +194,115 @@ Global Options
 #### Example project
 
 Take a look at **[the example project](./examples/workspace/)** to get a better idea of the type of project structures
-kmono is built to support and for references on how to correctly use the kmono API's and integrate it into your own
+kmono is built to support. This should provide a good reference on how to correctly use the kmono API's and integrate it
+into your own project.
+
+## Configuration
+
+Kmono will work in any `deps.edn` based project, but needs explicit configuration in order to treat a project as a
+workspace (or monorepo).
+
+### Workspace Configuration
+
+To mark a project as a kmono workspace add a `:kmono/workspace {}` field to the root `deps.edn` config file. This
+configuration accepts the following properties:
+
+| Field              | Type                    | Default           | Description                                                                                                                            |
+| ------------------ | ----------------------- | ----------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| `:packages`        | `string? \| #{string?}` | "./packages/\*\*" | A glob or set of file globs that describe the set of packages included in the workspace                                                |
+| `:group`           | `symbol?`               | `nil`             | The mvn group to apply to any packages in the workspace that have not specified a group                                                |
+| `:repl-aliases`    | `[keyword?]`            | `nil`             | A set of `deps` aliases to include when running `kmono repl`                                                                           |
+| `:aliases`         | `[keyword?]`            | `nil`             | A set of `deps` aliases to include for all kmono workspace commands by default                                                         |
+| `:package-aliases` | `[keyword?]`            | `nil`             | A set of namespaced [alias globs](#alias-globs) that describe the aliases of packages within the workspace to include in the classpath |
+
+Example:
+
+```clojure
+;; deps.edn
+{:kmono/workspace {:group com.example
+                   :packages #{"./(packages|modules)/**"}
+                   ;; Include any `:test` aliases from all (`*`) packages in the
+                   ;; workspace
+                   :package-aliases [:*/test]}
+
+ :paths ["src" "resources"]
+
+ :deps {...}}
+```
+
+### Package Configuration
+
+Packages in the workspace can optionally provide their own configuration metadata. This is done by setting a
+`:kmono/package {}` config field in the packages `deps.edn` file. This config accepts the following properties:
+
+| Field       | Type                 | Default | Description                                                                                                                                    |
+| ----------- | -------------------- | ------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| `:group`    | `symbol?`            | `nil`   | The mvn group to use for this package. If not specified, the `:group` specified in the root `:kmono/workspace` configuration will be used.     |
+| `:name`     | `string? \| symbol?` | `$dir`  | The name of the package. If not set the name of the parent directory containing the packages' `deps.edn` file will be used as the package name |
+| `:excluded` | `boolean?`           | `false` | Whether or not this package is excluded from the project workspace                                                                             |
+
+Example
+
+```clojure
+;; packages/example/deps.edn
+{:kmono/package {;; Maven artifacts group
+                 :group com.example
+                 ;; Override the default package name
+                 :name example-lib}
+
+ :paths ["src"]
+ :deps {...}
+ :aliases {:test {...}}}
+```
+
+### Local-Only Configuration Overrides
+
+Kmono will automatically read in a `deps.local.edn` file from the project root and deep-merge it with the root
+`deps.edn` file if present.
+
+This is very useful for adding additional configuration such as default-enabled project aliases, new project-specific
+dev-only deps aliases or any other metadata in a way that is local to the developers environment and won't be committed
+to the project.
+
+This `deps.local.edn` file should typically be added to `.gitignore`.
+
+The below is a good example of how this `deps.local.edn` config might be used in someones environment:
+
+```clojure
+{:kmono/workspace {;; Add the :nrepl alias from ~/.clojure/deps.edn when running
+                   ;; `kmono repl`
+                   :repl-aliases [:nrepl]
+                   ;; - Include the :dev alias from ~/.clojure/deps.edn
+                   ;;
+                   ;; - Include the :local alias defined below
+                   :aliases [:dev :local]}
+
+ :aliases {;; Define a custom local-only alias for this project
+           :local {;; Override some dependency with a locally checked out copy
+                   ;; for development
+                   :extra-deps {com.example/some-lib {:local/root "/some/local/lib/path"}}}
+           :extra-paths ["local"]}}
+```
+
+This config will be loaded and included for this project when running commands such as
+
+```bash
+kmono cp
+kmono repl
+kmono clojure ...
+```
+
+This is especially useful in an editor that has been configured to use
+[kmono as the project-specs source](#clojure-lsp--editor-integration), or when using kmono to start a repl for the
 project.
 
 ## Clojure-lsp / Editor Integration
 
 One of the things that kmono enables is integration into your editor by acting as a drop-in replacement for
-`clojure -Spath` which is used by default by clojure-lsp.
+`clojure -Spath` which is used by clojure-lsp by default.
 
 If we instead use `kmono cp` to generate the classpath then your clojure-lsp server will be able to provide better
-analysis.
+analysis that includes information about subpackages of your workspace, as well as package aliases.
 
 #### Project local Clojure-LSP config
 
@@ -142,15 +327,3 @@ lspconfig.clojure_lsp.setup({
   },
 })
 ```
-
-### Package configuration
-
-Package-specific configurations are done within each `deps.edn` file under the `:kmono/package` key:
-
-```clj
-:kmono/package {;; maven artifact's group
-                :group com.example
-                ;; the package name which is also used as maven's artifactId
-                ;; this is optional and inferred from a package's dir name
-                :name my-lib}
-```
diff --git a/examples/workspace/README.md b/examples/workspace/README.md
@@ -23,19 +23,23 @@ This is the overall structure of the project:
 
 In this structure we have two packages - `a` and `b` where package `b` depends on package `a`.
 
-This project demonstrates a workflow where: 
+> [!NOTE]
+>
+> Run `kmono query` to query the workspace package graph and see how packages relate
 
-1) Packages are built and released when PR's are merged to master.
-2) Only packages that have changed since their previous version are build and released.
-3) The project uses convensional-commits and package versions are derived from commits.
+This project demonstrates a workflow where:
+
+1. Packages are built and released when PR's are merged to master.
+2. Only packages that have changed since their previous version are build and released.
+3. The project uses convensional-commits and package versions are derived from commits.
 
 The above requirements aren't needed to make use of kmono - this just serves to demonstrate a particular workflow and
 how you might use kmono to achieve it.
 
 ## Building/Releasing
 
 The build and release workflow described above is entirely encapsulated in the `build.clj` file using `tools.build` and
-kmono-* APIs.
+kmono-\* APIs.
 
 Packages can be built by running:
 
@@ -49,8 +53,8 @@ And the built packages can then be released by running
 clojure -T:build release
 ```
 
-For both building and releasing you can add the `:skip-unchanged true` argument to build and release only packages that
-have changed. The idea being that you would pass this by default during CI.
+For both building and releasing you can add the `:skip-unchanged true` argument to only build and release packages that
+have changed since their last release. The idea being that you would pass this by default during CI.
 
 ```bash
 clojure -T:build build :skip-unchanged true
@@ -69,8 +73,8 @@ pipeline for release.
 To run the tests for each package you can run the command
 
 ```bash
+# Run `clojure -M` in each package (indicated by the `*`) that has a `:test` alias.
 kmono run -M ':*/test'
 ```
 
-This means run `clojure -M` in each package (indicated by the `*`) that has a `:test` alias. Each respective packages'
-`:test` alias will then be appended to the command when it is run, like so: `clojure -M:test`.
+Each respective packages' `:test` alias will then be appended to the command when it is run, like so: `clojure -M:test`.
