Recursive `turbo` invocations

Why this error occurred

When a cycle of turbo invocations is detected in a single-package workspace, Turborepo will error to prevent the recursive calls to itself. Typically, this situation occurs for one of two reasons:

Recursion in scripts and tasks

In a single-package workspace, a script in package.json that calls a Turborepo task with the same name causes a loop.

{
  "scripts": {
    "build": "turbo run build"
  }
}

Calling the build script calls turbo run build. turbo run build then calls the build script, initiating the loop of recursive calls.

To resolve this, ensure that the name of the script in package.json is not the same as the Turborepo task. For example, to fix the snippet above, renaming the script would break the cycle:

{
  "scripts": {
    "build:app": "turbo run build"
  }
}

Package manager Workspace misconfiguration

A misconfigured workspace can make it appear that a multi-package workspace is a single-package workspace. This causes Turborepo to infer that the repository is of the wrong type, causing it to see the script in package.json to be recursive.

Your repo can end up in this state in a few ways, with the most common being that the packages are not defined according to your package manager. An npm workspace that is missing the workspaces field in package.json or a pnpm workspace that is missing a pnpm-workspace.yaml file can result in this error message.

Check that your repository is complying with standards for multi-package workspaces and correct any issues.