Multi-App Configuration Issue

Describe the bug https://ionicframework.com/docs/cli/configuration#config-file

In a multi-app project, apps share a single ionic.config.json file at the root of the repository instead of each app having their own.

Is this correct for the latest version of Ionic? I created the multi-apps with no-deps parameter and both apps also have their own ionic-config.json. Also .gitignore, tslint.json, package.json.

To Reproduce

1. Create the root project. ionic start my-apps (blank template)
2. Open the ionic.config.json and add the property "projects": {}.
3. Create your apps by ionic start app1 --no-deps. (app1 and app2) (blank template)
4. See that every app has its own ionic.config.json.

Expected behavior I’m not sure how the multi-app feature of Ionic works. I though I have a root project with all the project files like package.json and ionic.config.json. And the “sub-apps” only contains the sources without separated configuration files etc. Ok they can have a package.json. But why are there all the dependencies, even though the root dependencies should be used? Or do I understand something wrong? Or is the documentation wrong?

Screenshots If applicable, add screenshots to help explain your problem.

Browser and OS (please complete the following information):

• OS: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit (1903)
• Ionic CLI: 5.2.5

Additional context I want to create one app base (root) with multi-app feature. Each apps should use the shared root components, services, etc. But an app can also have their own components. TSLint, TSConfig, Unit-Test-Config, gitignore, etc. should be shared. But currently each subapp have a own config. Exactly the same. DRY. Maybe this is a bug for the Ionic core repository or CLI? But perhaps it’s only a documentation issue. I don’t know who this should actual work. This is my first attempt of building a multi-app. But the fact is, each app in a multi-app project has its own ionic.config.json. The docs says there should only be one shared in the root. Or does this mean, I should delete the config files in my sub-apps?

[josh-m-sharpe]

“The Ionic CLI doesn’t have opinions about how you structure your monorepo.”

@dwieeb Then what is the Ionic CLI doing? Kinda detecting that ionic.config.json has a projects attr and stuffing config in that? And also honoring the --project flag and passing that onto lower level CLIs?

If the end result is that I still have to make manual changes to various angular.json(s) and modify them accordingly, shouldn’t I have to do that for my ionic.config.json(s) as well? And if I have to do that, why bother with this ionic CLI at all?

What’s extremely difficult to get past is that the docs as they stand today leave us with a non-functioning app. I understand there’s a world of flexibility in setting up a monorepo, so maybe the CLI can’t just create one, but if that’s the case, could we work to build some example apps that others could leverage as a starting point?

[imhoffd]

👋 Hey all, please see this comment and this wiki article for the latest on Ionic multi-app projects and Angular Monorepos. Using ng generate (not ionic start) with ng add @ionic/angular and ionic init provides a pretty smooth experience, as far as I can tell. Please let me know what you think. Monorepos are hard.