skipRemotes option broken when a remote does not live in the same workspace as the host

[AnhTuan-AiT]

Current Behavior

The documentation said that: "This option is useful for when the host application is using a remote that does not live in the same workspace as the host".

But when I run projects using the angular module-federation-dev-server, skipRemotes now only can detect projects that are in same workspace. If the projects are in a different repository and are not running (which is my use-case and is also other's use-case as well I'm sure), it won't be able to find them.

I found thí similar issue and this bug was marked as fixed from Nx 16.

Expected Behavior

Specifying projects in skipRemotes that are not in the same repository should work perfectly fine.

GitHub Repo

No response

Steps to Reproduce

1. Generate a Dynamic Host application as instructed.
2. Add a reference to the remote application by declaring in assets/module-federation.manifest.json file.
3. Start the host without starting the remote, using the skipRemotes input with the remote's project name.

Nx Report

NX   Report complete - copy this into the issue template

Node   : 20.9.0
OS     : win32-x64
npm    : 10.1.0

nx (global)        : 19.0.3
nx                 : 19.0.4
@nx/js             : 19.0.4
@nx/jest           : 19.0.4
@nx/linter         : 19.0.4
@nx/eslint         : 19.0.4
@nx/workspace      : 19.0.4
@nx/angular        : 19.0.4
@nx/devkit         : 19.0.4
@nx/eslint-plugin  : 19.0.4
@nrwl/tao          : 19.0.4
@nx/web            : 19.0.4
@nx/webpack        : 19.0.4
typescript         : 5.4.5

Failure Logs

> nx run shell:serve:development --open

 NX  Starting module federation dev-server for shell with 2 remotes
 NX   Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'data')
TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'data')
    at D:\poc\node_modules\@nx\webpack\src\utils\module-federation\get-remotes-for-host.js:61:112
    at Array.map (<anonymous>)
    at getRemotes (D:\poc\node_modules\@nx\webpack\src\utils\module-federation\get-remotes-for-host.js:61:71)
    at moduleFederationDevServerExecutor (D:\poc\node_modules\@nx\angular\src\executors\module-federation-dev-server\module-federation-dev-server.impl.js:55:56)
    at processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)
    at getLastValueFromAsyncIterableIterator (D:\poc\node_modules\nx\src\utils\async-iterator.js:15:19)
    at iteratorToProcessStatusCode (D:\poc\node_modules\nx\src\command-line\run\run.js:44:29)
    at handleErrors (D:\poc\node_modules\nx\src\utils\params.js:10:16)
    at process.<anonymous> (D:\poc\node_modules\nx\bin\run-executor.js:59:28) 

 NX   Running target serve for project shell failed

Failed tasks:

- shell:serve:development

Hint: run the command with --verbose for more details.

Package Manager Version

10.1.0

Operating System

• macOS
• Linux
• Windows
• Other (Please specify)

Additional Information

No response

[Stusu]

I have the same issue. Here you can find sample code that gives exactly such results: https://github.com/Stusu/nx-dynamic-mf-issues/tree/issue-with-remote-outside-workspace
It does not work even if remote is running.

NX   Report complete - copy this into the issue template

Node   : 20.9.0
OS     : win32-x64
npm    : 10.1.0

nx (global)        : 19.1.2
nx                 : 19.1.2
@nx/js             : 19.1.2
@nx/jest           : 19.1.2
@nx/linter         : 19.1.2
@nx/eslint         : 19.1.2
@nx/workspace      : 19.1.2
@nx/devkit         : 19.1.2
@nx/eslint-plugin  : 19.1.2
@nx/react          : 19.1.2
@nrwl/tao          : 19.1.2
@nx/web            : 19.1.2
@nx/webpack        : 19.1.2
typescript         : 5.4.5

[Coly010]

Hi! Thanks for calling this out.

The docs need updated.

The executor will now automatically skip remotes that are not listed in the workspace. The --skipRemotes option should now only be used to skip remotes that are in the workspace.

I'll update the docs to reflect this