workspaces-filter

A companion for filtering monorepo workspaces, by package name or package dir. Because all package manager's are weird. Useful for running scripts on a subset of workspaces. The primary reason is because Bun's --filter feature is buggy, but it's also useful for other package manger, it also runs shell scripts using the execa package.

Highlights

The library is especially useful when you need to:

• Programmatically find and filter workspace packages
• Run commands or scripts on a subset of packages
• Execute package manager commands across filtered workspaces
• Run shell commands in specific workspace directories

Install

bun add workspaces-filter
npm install workspaces-filter

or use the CLI directly:

bunx workspaces-filter
npx workspaces-filter
pnpm dlx workspaces-filter

# or install globally
npm install -g workspaces-filter

Usage as CLI

workspaces-filter/0.8.1

Usage:
  $ workspaces-filter <pattern> [...command]

Commands:
  <pattern> [...command]  Select by package name or workspace directory

For more info, run any command with the `--help` flag:
  $ workspaces-filter --help

Options:
  --print <mode>                Print the names/folders of selected packages, without running command
  --cwd <dir>                   Current working directory (default: /home/charlike/code/mid-april-2025/workspaces-filter)
  --pm, --package-manager <pm>  The package manager to use. Defaults to packageManager from root package.json, or Bun
  -v, --version                 Display version number
  -h, --help                    Display this message

Examples:
workspaces-filter . build   # run in all packages of all workspaces
workspaces-filter _ build   # because the "*" would not work if raw
workspaces-filter '*' build   # should be quoted to avoid shell globbing

workspaces-filter "*preset*" build
workspaces-filter "*preset*" add foo-pkg barry-pkg
workspaces-filter "*preset*" add --dev typescript

workspaces-filter "./packages/foo" -- echo "Hello, World!"
workspaces-filter "./packages/*preset*" -- pwd

workspaces-filter "*preset*" --print names
workspaces-filter "*preset*" --print json
workspaces-filter "*preset*" --print dirs

[!NOTE]

To run a shell command in selected/filtered packages, use -- right after the pattern!

[!CAUTION]

Keep in mind that if a workspace package has a script called add, it would run it while you may want to run bun add, npm add or pnpm add. Just don't name your scripts like that or expect buggy behaviors. It's easy to assume it would have conflicts. Or use -- to run a shell command in selected package dirs.

Examples

npx workspaces-filter '*preset*' build
pnpm dlx workspaces-filter '*preset*' add foo-pkg
bunx workspaces-filter '*preset*' add --dev typescript

It checks if there is a script in package's scripts field (thus runs it with bun run, npm run or pnpm run), if not runs the package manager command (bun add, npm add), or a shell command if _ or sh is provided right after the pattern, like so

bunx workspaces-filter './packages/foo' -- echo 'Hello, World!' # runs `echo 'Hello, World!'` in the `./packages/foo` workspace
bunx workspaces-filter './packages/*preset*' -- pwd # runs `pwd` in each workspace

You can run pnpm dlx like so

pnpx workspaces-filter '*preset*' dlx esmc

Using as a Library

The package can also be used programmatically in your Node.js/TypeScript applications:

API

Generated using docks.

filter

Filters workspace packages based on provided glob patterns and search patterns.

Params

• wsGlobs {Array<string>} - Array of workspace glob patterns to search for package.json files.
• pattern {Array<string>} - String or array of strings to filter workspaces by name or directory.
• cwd - Optional current working directory (defaults to process.cwd()).

Throws

• {Error} - When no workspace globs are provided.
• {Error} - When no pattern is provided.

Returns

• {Promise<Graph>} - Resolving to a Graph object containing filtered workspace metadata.

Examples

import { filter } from 'workspaces-filter';

// Filter workspaces matching 'pkg-*' pattern
const graph = await filter(['packages/*'], 'pkg-*');

// Filter multiple patterns
const graph = await filter(['packages/*'], ['pkg-1', 'pkg-2']);

// Filter with package dirs
const graph = await filter(['packages/*'], ['packages/foo']);

// Filter with custom working directory
const graph = await filter(['packages/*'], '*', '/path/to/project');

runCommandOn

Executes a shell command or a package script in the context of each package in the graph.

Params

• args {Array<string>} - Arguments to pass to the command.
• graph {Graph} - Graph object containing package metadata.
• options {RunCommandOnOptions} - Optional configuration for running the command.

Returns

• {Promise<Graph>} - Resolving to the input graph object.

Examples

import { filter, runCommandOn } from 'workspaces-filter';

const graph = await filter(['packages/*'], ['@scope/*']);
console.log(graph);

type RunCommandOnOptions = {
  cwd?: string;
  isShell?: boolean;
  packageManager?: string;
  onTestCallback?: (_err: any, _ok: any) => void | Promise<void>;
};

// Run a shell command in each package
await runCommandOn(['echo', 'Hello, World!'], graph, { isShell: true } as RunCommandOnOptions);

// Run a package script in each package
await runCommandOn(['build'], graph);

License

Licensed under the MIT License