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nx affected -t <target> [options]
nx affected determines which projects are affected by recent changes in your repository—both projects with modified files and any projects that depend on them—and runs the specified target only for those projects.
Use nx affected in CI to skip running tasks for unchanged code, reducing pipeline time and resource usage.

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How affected works

Nx compares two git refs (--base and --head) to find which files have changed. It then walks the project dependency graph to identify every project that could be impacted by those file changes.
  • --base — the earlier commit to compare from (commonly origin/main or a merge-base SHA)
  • --head — the later commit to compare to (defaults to HEAD)
If neither is provided, Nx falls back to comparing against uncommitted and untracked changes in the working tree.

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Options

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Target selection

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--targets
string
required
One or more targets to run for affected projects. Alias: --target, -t. Accepts comma-separated values.
nx affected -t build
nx affected -t build,test,lint
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--configuration
string
The named configuration to use when running the target. Alias: -c.

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Determining affected projects

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--base
string
Base git ref to compare from (e.g., a branch name, tag, or commit SHA). Represents the earlier point in history.
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--head
string
Later git ref to compare to. Defaults to HEAD. Requires --base to be set.
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--files
string
Treat a specific list of files (comma or space separated) as changed, instead of deriving them from git. Conflicts with --uncommitted, --untracked, --base, and --head.
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--uncommitted
boolean
Include uncommitted (staged and unstaged) file changes. Conflicts with --files, --untracked, --base, and --head.
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--untracked
boolean
Include untracked files. Conflicts with --files, --uncommitted, --base, and --head.
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--stdin
boolean
Read changed file paths from stdin (one per line). Useful for piping output from git diff. Conflicts with --uncommitted, --untracked, --base, and --head.

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Filtering and scoping

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--exclude
string
Comma-separated list of projects to exclude from the run, even if they are affected.

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Execution

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--parallel
string
Maximum number of parallel task processes. Defaults to 3. Set to false to run serially.
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--output-style
string
Controls how task output is displayed. Choices: tui, dynamic, dynamic-legacy, static, stream, stream-without-prefixes.
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--nx-bail
boolean
default:"false"
Stop after the first failed task.
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--nx-ignore-cycles
boolean
default:"false"
Ignore cycles in the task graph.
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--skip-nx-cache
boolean
default:"false"
Rerun tasks even when results are available in the cache.
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--skip-remote-cache
boolean
default:"false"
Disable the remote cache for this run.
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--exclude-task-dependencies
boolean
default:"false"
Skip running dependent tasks first.
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--skip-sync
boolean
default:"false"
Skip running sync generators associated with the tasks.
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--batch
boolean
Run tasks in batches for executors that support batch execution.
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--graph
string
Show the task graph instead of running it. Pass a file path to save to a file, or stdout to print to the terminal.
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--runner
string
The tasks runner to use, as configured in nx.json.
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--tui
boolean
Enable or disable the Nx Terminal UI. Conflicts with --output-style.
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--verbose
boolean
Print additional information about the command.

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Examples

nx affected -t build

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CI example

A typical GitHub Actions step that runs tasks only for affected projects: 
- name: Run affected tasks
  run: nx affected -t build test lint --base=origin/main --head=HEAD --parallel=4
The --all flag has been removed from nx affected. To run a target for all projects, use nx run-many instead.

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