pnpm 11.0.0-rc.2

pnpm 11 RC 2

on Node.js NPM

Major Changes

• Breaking: removed the managePackageManagerVersions, packageManagerStrict, and packageManagerStrictVersion settings. They existed only to derive the onFail behavior for the legacy packageManager field, and the pmOnFail setting introduced alongside pnpm with subsumes all three — it directly sets the onFail behavior of both packageManager and devEngines.packageManager. The COREPACK_ENABLE_STRICT environment variable is no longer honored (it only gated packageManagerStrict); use pmOnFail instead.

  Migration:

  Removed setting	Replace with
  managePackageManagerVersions: true	pmOnFail: download (default)
  managePackageManagerVersions: false	pmOnFail: ignore
  packageManagerStrict: false	pmOnFail: warn
  packageManagerStrictVersion: true	pmOnFail: error
  COREPACK_ENABLE_STRICT=0	pmOnFail: warn

Minor Changes

• pnpm dlx and pnpm create now respect security and trust policy settings (minimumReleaseAge, minimumReleaseAgeExclude, minimumReleaseAgeStrict, trustPolicy, trustPolicyExclude, trustPolicyIgnoreAfter) from project-level configuration #11183.

• Implemented native star, unstar, stars, and whoami commands.

• Add pnpm with <version|current> <args...> command. Runs pnpm at a specific version (or the currently active one) for a single invocation, bypassing the project's packageManager and devEngines.packageManager pins. Uses the same install mechanism as pnpm self-update, caching the downloaded pnpm in the global virtual store for reuse.

  Examples:

  pnpm with current install           # ignore the pinned version, use the running pnpm
  pnpm with 11.0.0-rc.1 install       # install using pnpm 11.0.0-rc.1
  pnpm with next install              # install using the "next" dist-tag
  

  Also adds a new pmOnFail setting that overrides the onFail behavior of packageManager and devEngines.packageManager. Accepted values: download, error, warn, ignore. Can be set via CLI flag, env var, pnpm-workspace.yaml, or .npmrc — useful when version management is handled by an external tool (asdf, mise, Volta, etc.) and the project wants pnpm itself to skip the check.

  pnpm install --pm-on-fail=ignore            # direct CLI flag
  pnpm_config_pm_on_fail=ignore pnpm install  # env var
  # or in pnpm-workspace.yaml:
  #   pmOnFail: ignore
  

• pnpm init now writes a devEngines.packageManager field instead of the packageManager field when init-package-manager is enabled.

• When pnpm is declared via the packageManager field in package.json, its resolution info is no longer written to pnpm-lock.yaml — unless the pinned pnpm version is v12 or newer. The packageManagerDependencies section is still populated (and reused across runs) when pnpm is declared via devEngines.packageManager. This makes the transition from pnpm v10 to v11 quieter by avoiding unnecessary lockfile churn for projects that pin an older pnpm in the legacy packageManager field.

• Added a new setting runtimeOnFail that overrides the onFail field of devEngines.runtime (and engines.runtime) in the root project's package.json. Accepted values: ignore, warn, error, download. For example, setting runtimeOnFail=download makes pnpm download the declared runtime version even when the manifest does not set onFail: "download".

Patch Changes

• pnpm init no longer adds the devEngines.packageManager field when run inside a workspace subpackage. The field is only added to the workspace root's package.json.

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