They are maintained in the same Bit workspace, but:

1. Their dev tools are configured directly on them via 'envs'

2. They are source-controlled independent of the workspace's git repo (if git is even being used)

3. Bit generates a package for each component. A Bit component uses another Bit component via its package (in the workspace 'node_modules' directory). Once a component is snapped (versioned), the components it uses are added to its dependency graph.