perrepo

Perrepo is a term used in software engineering to describe a repository-centric approach to organizing code, data, and artifacts in which each repository is treated as a standalone unit with its own lifecycle, governance, and metadata. The concept emphasizes isolation of work, independent versioning, and explicit access controls, reducing cross-project coupling and enabling clearer ownership. Perrepo is commonly discussed in the context of polyrepo strategies, in contrast to monorepo models where multiple projects reside in a single repository. In a perrepo model, teams can define repository-specific workflows, CI/CD pipelines, and policy enforcement, tailored to the needs of that project or data domain. Metadata and tooling may be designed to discover and manage inter-repository dependencies without assuming a single global surface.

Benefits include improved autonomy, simpler conflict resolution for small teams, and easier compliance by restricting access to sensitive data. Potential drawbacks are increased operational overhead for maintaining many repositories, more complex cross-repo dependencies, and the need for robust tooling to coordinate releases and governance across repositories.

Adoption considerations include naming conventions, access control schemas, and automation to onboard new repositories, propagate governance policies, and manage dependencies. Perrepo is often evaluated alongside monorepo approaches and other repository-organization strategies, with choice driven by team size, scale, and governance requirements. Related concepts include polyrepo, repository governance, and distributed version control workflows.