pnpm

name	pnpm
description	pnpm package manager for fast, disk-efficient dependency management and workspaces. Use when user mentions "pnpm", "pnpm install", "pnpm workspace", "pnpm-workspace.yaml", "pnpm add", "pnpm store", "pnpm dlx", "content-addressable store", or managing Node.js packages with pnpm.

pnpm

Fast, disk-efficient package manager for Node.js.

Installation

# Via corepack (recommended, ships with Node.js 16.13+)
corepack enable
corepack prepare pnpm@latest --activate

# Standalone script
curl -fsSL https://get.pnpm.io/install.sh | sh -

# Via npm
npm install -g pnpm

# Via Homebrew
brew install pnpm

Why pnpm

Content-addressable store -- pnpm stores every package version exactly once in a global store. Projects hard-link to the store, so the same dependency across ten projects uses disk space only once.

Strict node_modules -- pnpm creates a non-flat node_modules. Packages can only access dependencies they explicitly declare. This prevents phantom dependencies that work by accident through hoisting.

Speed -- hard linking avoids redundant downloads and copies. Parallel resolution makes installs consistently faster than npm.

Basic Commands

pnpm install                  # Install all dependencies from lockfile
pnpm add lodash               # Add a production dependency
pnpm add -D typescript        # Add a dev dependency
pnpm add -g vercel            # Add globally
pnpm add lodash@4.17.21       # Specific version
pnpm remove lodash            
pnpm update                   
pnpm update --latest          
pnpm dlx create-next-app@latest