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A monorepo is one repository holding several apps, such as apps/web and apps/api. In Symplax each of those is its own app: one container, one server, its own variables and domain. You create one app per folder, all pointing at the same repository.

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Deploy an app from a subfolder

1

Pick the repository

Go to Apps, click Deploy App, choose Git repository and pick your repository and branch.
2

Choose the folder

Symplax scans the repository and lists the folders it can deploy. Click one, or type a path in Root directory, for example apps/web. Leave it empty for the repository root.
3

Deploy

Finish the remaining steps and click Start Deployment.
4

Repeat for each app

Run Deploy App again with the same repository and a different root directory. Each app gets its own subdomain.
You can change the root directory later in the app’s Settings tab.

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Root directory and Dockerfile path

These two settings in Settings do different jobs: The common case for both: a workspace where apps/web imports code from packages/shared. A build with apps/web as its root directory cannot see packages/, so a COPY packages/shared ... fails. Set Root Directory to the repository root, so the whole repository is visible, and Dockerfile Path to apps/web/Dockerfile.
If a COPY in your Dockerfile names a path the build cannot see, the failed deploy says so and points at the root directory. See When a build fails.

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Which pushes deploy which app

Every app that follows a branch has its own webhook check. When you push, Symplax looks at the files changed in the push and decides per app:
  • An app with a root directory deploys only if the push changed a file inside that folder.
  • An app at the repository root deploys on every push to its branch.
A change outside an app’s root directory does not deploy it. If apps/web depends on a root lockfile or on packages/shared, a push that only touches those leaves apps/web on its old build. Redeploy it by hand, or set watch paths as below.
You can tune this further in the app’s CI/CD tab, under Build Filters:
  • Watch paths: deploy only when a file in one of these paths changes. Add packages/shared here to rebuild apps/web when the shared code changes.
  • Ignored paths: skip the deploy when every changed file is in one of these paths, for example docs.
Watch paths are checked in addition to the root directory filter, not instead of it. For an app whose root directory is apps/web, a push must still touch a file in apps/web before watch paths are considered. To deploy on changes anywhere in the listed paths, set the root directory to the repository root and use Dockerfile Path as described above.

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Docker Compose files

Symplax runs one app per deployment and is not an orchestrator. It can still read a compose file when that file describes the common shape: one app plus its databases. Pick Docker Compose as the deployment source and choose your repository. Symplax looks for docker-compose.yml, docker-compose.yaml, compose.yml or compose.yaml in the root directory. If the file lives in a subfolder, put that folder in Root directory. When the file fits, Symplax builds the app service from your repository, provisions each database service as a managed database, and wires the connection details into the app’s environment. Recognised databases are PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB, Redis, Valkey and ClickHouse. Symplax refuses the file, and names the services responsible, when:
  • It has more than one service that is not a database.
  • The app service runs a prebuilt image instead of building from the repository. Use Docker image for that.
  • It describes more than four databases.
  • Every service is a database.
For a file with several app services, deploy each one as its own app with the same repository and its own root directory, and point them at the same database.

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Importing a monorepo

The Railway, DigitalOcean and Vercel importers create one Symplax app per service, often several from one repository, with the right root directory already set. See Import from Railway.