Improve all the repos – exploring Microsoft’s DevExp

Microsoft teams work across many large codebases, often organized as monorepos with packages that depend on one another. React Native spread from Skype’s greenfield app to brownfield experiences in products such as Outlook and Teams. Teams build those experiences in their own repositories, then integrate them into host apps.

Sciandra describes the challenge of developing an experience without giving every developer access to a large host app codebase or requiring lengthy builds. React Native Test App provides a local sandbox that approximates the host environment while hiding much of the native setup. Nguyen demonstrates setting it up for React Native WebView, then changing the React Native version from 0.62.3 to 0.63.4.

Nguyen introduces Dep Check, a CLI that reads package dependencies and applies curated profiles. It can correct React dependency and peer dependency configuration, suggest a compatible WebView version, and recommend a React Native upgrade. Teams can run it across a repository, apply changes with a write option, or use it in CI to report suggestions on pull requests.

Sciandra explains that shared Dep Check profiles help separate monorepos stay aligned on compatible package versions. Teams can export custom profiles for their packages and use them in other repositories. The speakers describe React Native Test App and Dep Check as open source tools available in their respective repositories.