pnpm is a fast, disk space efficient package manager. It uses a content-addressable store to deduplicate packages across all projects on a machine, saving significant disk space. pnpm enforces strict dependency resolution by default, preventing phantom dependencies. Configuration should preferably be placed in pnpm-workspace.yaml for pnpm-specific settings.

Important: When working with pnpm projects, agents should check for pnpm-workspace.yaml and .npmrc files to understand workspace structure and configuration. Always use --frozen-lockfile in CI environments.

The skill is based on pnpm 10.x, generated at 2026-01-28.

Core

Topic Description Reference

CLI Commands Install, add, remove, update, run, exec, dlx, and workspace commands core-cli

Configuration pnpm-workspace.yaml, .npmrc settings, and package.json fields core-config

Workspaces Monorepo support with filtering, workspace protocol, and shared lockfile core-workspaces

Store Content-addressable storage, hard links, and disk efficiency core-store

Features

Topic Description Reference

Catalogs Centralized dependency version management for workspaces features-catalogs

Overrides Force specific versions of dependencies including transitive features-overrides

Patches Modify third-party packages with custom fixes features-patches

Aliases Install packages under custom names using npm: protocol features-aliases

Hooks Customize resolution with .pnpmfile.cjs hooks features-hooks

Peer Dependencies Auto-install, strict mode, and dependency rules features-peer-deps

Best Practices

Topic Description Reference

CI/CD Setup GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Docker, and caching strategies best-practices-ci

Migration Migrating from npm/Yarn, handling phantom deps, monorepo migration best-practices-migration

Performance Install optimizations, store caching, workspace parallelization best-practices-performance