Troubleshooting: Monorepo Issues

This page covers common issues when working with monorepos and multi-module projects.

`tag create --all` creates `v0.1.0` instead of `adapters/redis/v0.1.0`

Cause: The tag-manager prefix is missing the {module_path} placeholder.

Fix: Set prefix: '{module_path}/v' in your tag-manager config:

yaml

plugins:
  tag-manager:
    enabled: true
    prefix: "{module_path}/v"

`tag create --all` only tagged the first module

Cause: Historical bug where only the first module was processed. Fixed in current release.

Fix: Upgrade to the latest version of sley.

`sley discover` shows version mismatch warnings unexpectedly

Cause: workspace.versioning is not set, so sley applies coordinated versioning semantics by default.

Fix: Add versioning: independent to your workspace config:

yaml

workspace:
  versioning: independent

Valid values: independent, coordinated, or omit the field entirely.

`init --workspace` did not create `.version` files in submodules

Cause: Old version behavior. Current releases create .version files per discovered module, set prefix: '{module_path}/v', and set versioning: independent.

Fix: Upgrade and re-run:

bash

sley init --yes --workspace

`{module_path}` produces `/v0.1.0` for the root module (leading slash)

Cause: For the root module, {module_path} resolves to an empty string. Sley automatically trims the resulting leading /.

Fix: If you see a leading slash, upgrade to the latest version.

`Error: no modules found`

Cause: No .version files exist in subdirectories, or discovery is misconfigured.

Fix:

bash

# Run discovery to see what sley detects
sley discover

# Initialize modules
cd packages/api && sley init
cd packages/web && sley init

Check discovery config in .sley.yaml:

yaml

workspace:
  discovery:
    enabled: true
    recursive: true
    module_max_depth: 10
    manifest_max_depth: 3

`Error: module not detected`

Cause: Module is excluded by .sleyignore or default exclusion patterns.

Fix: Check .sleyignore for the module path. Default excluded patterns include node_modules, .git, vendor, tmp, build, dist, .cache, __pycache__. To explicitly include an otherwise excluded path:

!packages/legacy/

`Error: interactive mode not working in monorepo`

Cause: Running in a CI/CD environment or non-interactive terminal.

Fix: Use explicit flags:

bash

sley bump patch --all                    # All modules
sley bump patch --module api             # Specific module
sley bump patch --modules api,web        # Multiple modules
sley bump patch --pattern "services/*"   # Pattern match

`Error: module versions out of sync`

Cause: Modules have drifted to inconsistent versions.

Fix:

bash

# Check current versions
sley show --all

# Synchronize all modules to the same version
sley set 1.0.0 --all

# Or bump all together
sley bump patch --all

Note: behavior depends on your versioning model. With versioning: independent, each module manages its own .version file.

`sley bump --all` does not create tags or changelogs

Cause: Older versions only updated .version files when --all was used. Pre-bump validations, post-bump actions (changelog, tags, audit log, dep-sync), and extension hooks were all skipped.

Fix: Upgrade to the latest version of sley. The full plugin pipeline (pre-bump validation, version write, post-bump actions, extension hooks, commit, tag) now runs per module.

`sley bump --module <name>` skips changelog and tags

Cause: Same as above - older versions skipped post-bump actions for targeted module bumps.

Fix: Upgrade to the latest version of sley.

All modules write changelog to the same file

Cause: Older versions did not scope changelog output per module; all submodule entries were written to the root .changes/ directory or root CHANGELOG.md without namespacing.

Fix: Upgrade to the latest version of sley. Versioned mode now writes to .changes/{module_path}/vX.Y.Z.md for submodules; unified mode uses ## <module_name> section headers.

Monorepo Support