Large teams ship faster when the architecture reduces guesswork, keeps feedback loops short, and makes rollbacks safe. The goal is predictable releases, clear ownership, and guardrails that catch mistakes early. Nuxt 3 gives you a solid base with Vite and Nitro; the rest is process and structure. See the Nuxt documentation when you need specifics.
What success looks like Aim for short PR cycles, stable releases, clear module boundaries, and simple rollback paths. If every squad can ship without stepping on others, you're on the right track.
Repository strategy Use a monorepo with workspaces when you share code across apps; keep isolated services separate only when they truly stand alone. PNPM workspaces keep installs fast and link local packages cleanly. For task piping and caching, Turborepo is a good fit.
Project layout and shared code Make boundaries obvious so people know where to put new code. A common layout that scales:
- apps/web (Nuxt 3 app)
- packages/ui (Vue components, icons)
- packages/composables (shared composables)
- packages/config (ESLint, Prettier, TS configs)
- packages/api-client (typed API SDK) Nuxt Layers let you share configuration and components across apps with a single source of truth: Nuxt Layers guide
Type safety and linting Strict TypeScript and consistent linting remove entire classes of production bugs. Turn on strict mode in Nuxt: Nuxt TypeScript guide. Use ESLint and Prettier with a shared config to keep formatting and rules the same across teams: ESLint and Prettier
State and data flow Keep global state small; favor page-level or feature stores to avoid cross-team conflicts. Pinia works well with Nuxt 3 and supports SSR safely when used with care. Prefer composables for reusable logic and keep cross-cutting state behind clear interfaces.
API and server routes Place a thin Backend‑for‑Frontend layer in Nuxt server routes to hide upstream changes from the UI. Nuxt server routes (Nitro) are simple to add and test: Nuxt server routes guide. Version your endpoints, add request timeouts and retries, and generate a typed client in packages/api-client so UI code stays clean.
Caching and performance basics Cache what is safe, split bundles by route, and keep images and fonts light. Use Nuxt Route Rules to set caching and headers per path: Nuxt Route Rules. Vite handles code splitting out of the box; check the guide if you need custom tweaks: upgrade to Vite-based stack
Build times and developer speed Fast feedback beats clever tooling; keep CI under 10 minutes and local builds under one. Use Turborepo caching, split unit and e2e jobs, and only rebuild packages that changed. Avoid giant shared packages; small focused packages rebuild quicker.
Runtime config and environments Keep secrets and environment‑specific values out of your code and in Nuxt runtime config. Runtime config in Nuxt is straightforward and works well with containers: Nuxt runtime config guide. Store defaults safely, override per environment at deploy time.
Feature flags and rollouts Ship behind flags, test in production with small audiences, and keep flags short‑lived. Use a simple Boolean first; add a service only when you truly need targeting. Remove flags soon after validation to prevent dead code.
Testing that scales Adopt a lean test pyramid: fast unit tests, a few integration tests, and selective end‑to‑end flows. Vitest is quick for unit tests: Vitest. Playwright covers critical user flows with solid reliability: Playwright
CI/CD that protects releases Automate the basics: install, typecheck, lint, test, build, preview, and deploy with clear gates. Cache dependencies, run affected builds only, and publish preview links on every PR. Keep production deploys behind manual approval with a visible risk and security assessment.
Containers and runtime Containerize for parity across laptops, CI, and production; keep images small and simple. Docker docs have a good baseline for multi-stage Node images: Docker documentation. Keep a health endpoint and start‑up checks to catch config mistakes early.
Observability from day one If you can't see it, you can't fix it; add logs, metrics, traces, and error tracking early. OpenTelemetry gives you standard tracing: OpenTelemetry. Sentry is a straightforward choice for Vue/Nuxt error tracking and release health: Sentry Vue SDK docs
Security basics you should not skip Treat security as a checklist you run on every change, not a one‑time task. At minimum:
- Lock dependencies and scan them in CI
- Add CSP, X-Frame-Options, and other headers
- Sanitize user input on server routes
- Avoid exposing secrets to the client
- Review the OWASP cheat sheets when in doubt: OWASP Cheat Sheet Series
Documentation and team habits Short docs that live with the code beat long wikis; write what future you needs. Keep a "Decisions" folder with brief Architecture Decision Records, list owners per package, and add usage examples near the code that uses them.
Suggested conventions that pay off quickly Standards reduce debate and keep PRs small. Use Conventional Commits for clean history, one feature per PR, and a simple CODEOWNERS file for reviews. Tag releases from CI so you can trace changes to production.
A simple starter checklist Use this as your bootstrap and adjust as your needs grow.
- Monorepo with PNPM workspaces; Turborepo for tasks
- Nuxt Layers for shared config and components
- Strict TypeScript, ESLint, Prettier shared configs
- Pinia stores per feature; composables for shared logic
- Nuxt server routes as a BFF layer with typed clients
- Route Rules for caching; watch bundle sizes on PRs
- Vitest unit tests; Playwright for a few main flows
- CI with caching, preview deployments, and guarded prod releases
- Runtime config for secrets; containers for parity
- OpenTelemetry + Sentry; basic security headers and scans
Start small, standardize the boring parts, and make the happy path the fastest path. When the structure guides the work, large teams stay fast without stepping on each other.