adastra_api/docs/decisions/0005-two-separate-repositories.md

ADR 0005: Frontend and Backend in Separate Repositories

Date: 2026-04-26 Status: Accepted

Context

The frontend (Angular SPA) and backend (Express API) are distinct deployment units with different runtimes, dependencies, and release cycles. Two organisational options exist:

• Monorepo — single repository containing both applications, possibly managed with Nx or Turborepo.
• Separate repositories — each application in its own repository with independent versioning.

Decision

Maintain two separate repositories: adastra_app (frontend) and adastra_api (backend). Both are treated as a single product during development — tasks that span both (e.g. adding a new API endpoint and its frontend consumer) are handled in a single working session across both repos.

Consequences

• Positive: Independent dependency management. Frontend and backend package.json files don't interfere with each other.
• Positive: Simpler CI/CD pipeline per repo when production deployment is set up.
• Positive: Each repo's git history reflects only its own changes.
• Negative: No shared type definitions between frontend and backend. API contract changes must be coordinated manually.
• Negative: Cross-repo changes require two separate commits/PRs. A monorepo would allow atomic cross-boundary commits.
• Tooling note: The Angular frontend's CLAUDE.md declares adastra_api as an additional working directory so that cross-repo tasks can be handled in a single session.