Rethinking Architecture in the AI Era — Part 1: Repository Management

This is the first installment of a series on software product architecture for the AI age. There's no shortage of content about how fast AI can accelerate prototyping — but I believe medium-term maintainability deserves equal attention. (If this ends up being a one-off article, my apologies in advance.) Today's topic: repository management. My conclusion upfront: go with a monorepo . What Is a Monorepo? For those new to the concept, a monorepo is the practice of managing multiple applications within a single repository. "Multiple apps" can mean any of the following: A frontend and a backend living together Full-stack apps for Service A and Service B side by side Application code alongside shared libraries A quick aside on microservices: while monorepos are sometimes discussed in that context, I don't have hands-on experience combining the two, so I'll leave that out of scope here. My instinct is that getting the most out of a monorepo requires keeping your tech stack reasonably unified