Nx set NODE_OPTIONS=--max_old_space_size for Angular app

Question

I have an Angular application in an Nx workspace that is built using the @nx/angular:webpack-browser executor.

"build": {
  "executor": "@nx/angular:webpack-browser",
...
}

This is a large application and requires NODE_OPTIONS=--max_old_space_size to be set to a larger value. Until now I used set and export to set the value of this flag in Windows/Linux and then run the build command.

The first command was

set NODE_OPTIONS=--max_old_space_size=MY_VALUE`

and the second was

npm run build -- MY_APP

which translates to nx build.

I would like to get rid of the first command and set the flag from the project.json file. I tried with a custom executor and `cross-env' package, but no luck.

"node-options": {
  "executor": "nx:run-commands",
  "options": {
    "command": "cross-env NODE_OPTIONS=--max_old_space_size=5000"
    }
  },
"build": {
  "executor": "@nx/angular:webpack-browser",
  "dependsOn": ["^build", "node-options"],
...

Is there a way to achieve this?

Answer 1

Nx will load environment variables from .env files. It also supports a hierarchy of files.

So just add NODE_OPTIONS=--max_old_space_size=5000 to apps/my-app/.env for example