pnpm - Fixes npm's Biggest Annoyances

Mostly yes, until you hit that one package that makes assumptions about npm's messy structure. Then you'll spend an hour figuring out why imports are failing.The good news: your package.json works without changes. The bad news: styled-components v4 will break because it tries to access React directly instead of through peer deps, and you'll get "Module not found" errors for dependencies that should be there.Quick fix: add node-linker=hoisted to .npmrc and pnpm brings back npm's sloppy flat structure. This defeats half the point of using pnpm, but at least your app works.

pnpm auto-installs peer dependencies by default, which is great until you get version conflicts.

Unlike npm's useless warnings, pnpm actually tries to fix the problem

• sometimes this helps, sometimes it breaks your project in creative new ways.You'll know pnpm's peer dependency resolution is confused when you see error messages like Could not resolve dependency: peer react@"^17.0.0" from styled-components@5.3.0. This means some package declared React 17 as a peer dep but you're running React 18.

Because that package is poorly written and makes assumptions about npm's flat structure mess.

It's trying to import dependencies it never declared in package.json

• a bug that npm hides but pnpm catches.Specific packages that will shit the bed:

• react-native assumes npm's flat structure and can't find native modules

• electron apps often break because they bundle node_modules and pnpm's symlinks don't survive

• jest sometimes can't find modules because of pnpm's strict resolution

• Any package using patch-package gets confused by pnpm's linkingQuick fix: add node-linker=hoisted to .npmrc.

Long-term: file bugs against these packages for violating Node.js module resolution.

Yes, but your Dockerfile will probably break the first try.

Docker layer caching gets weird with pnpm's symlinks, and your build times might actually get worse until you fix it.Common gotcha: pnpm's symlinks don't work in multi-stage Docker builds.

You'll get ENOENT: no such file or directory errors when copying from previous stages.

Fix your Dockerfile:dockerfile# This breaksCOPY package.json pnpm-lock.yaml ./RUN pnpm install# This worksCOPY package.json pnpm-lock.yaml ./RUN pnpm install --frozen-lockfileCOPY . .Windows containers are even more fun

• file path limits hit you faster with pnpm's deep directory structures.

50-80% savings sounds great until you realize pnpm's store lives in a hidden directory eating space anyway.

The real benefit kicks in when you have 20+ projects sharing dependencies.Reality check: if you only have 2-3 projects, the space savings are minimal. The speed improvement is where pnpm shines

• cached installs happen in seconds vs npm's forever.

The store corrupts more than you'd expect, especially on Windows or if you Ctrl+C during installs.

You'll get cryptic "integrity check failed" errors or packages that refuse to install with helpful messages like ERR_PNPM_STORE_BREAKING_CHANGE.Nuclear options that actually work:

• pnpm store prune
• removes unused stuff, sometimes fixes corruption
• rm -rf ~/.pnpm-store && pnpm install
• nukes everything, slow but reliable
• On Windows: delete %LOCALAPPDATA%\pnpm\store and start over

Budget 30 minutes for store corruption debugging if you're lucky, 2 hours if the corruption is deep. It happens often enough that you'll memorize these commands.

Yes, but CI setup is where pnpm gets finicky.

Use pnpm install --frozen-lockfile or your builds become non-deterministic.GitHub Actions gotcha: the setup-pnpm action sometimes installs the wrong version. Pin the version explicitly or spend debugging time later.Our CI broke twice during pnpm adoption

• once because I forgot to change npm ci to pnpm install --frozen-lockfile, and once because the cache key still referenced package-lock.json instead of pnpm-lock.yaml

Migration works great until your CI breaks, your Docker builds fail, and that one legacy package starts throwing "Module not found" errors.

Budget a full day for fixing weird edge cases.The migration dance:

1. rm -rf node_modules package-lock.json yarn.lock2. pnpm install3.

Watch half your tooling break 4. Add node-linker=hoisted to .npmrc5. Feel guilty about defeating pnpm's main featureCommon migration casualties: ESLint configs, Jest setups, anything that patches node_modules directly.

Check pnpm import for importing existing lockfiles.

Both solve phantom dependencies, but Yarn PnP is faster and breaks way more things. pnpm breaks maybe 10% of packages; Yarn PnP breaks like 40%.If your tooling is newer and well-maintained, Yarn PnP is blazingly fast. If you use any legacy packages or custom build setups, pnpm is the safer bet.Bottom line: pnpm for compatibility, Yarn PnP if you enjoy fixing broken tooling and want maximum performance.

Yes, if your enterprise can handle occasional weirdness.

We've had pnpm break twice in production

• once during a major version upgrade that broke our Docker layer caching, and once because someone Ctrl+C'd an install and corrupted the store during a deploy, killing the whole pipeline for 3 hours.The good: strict dependency resolution catches supply chain issues npm misses.

The bad: when pnpm breaks, it breaks in creative ways that take hours to debug.

The ugly: explaining to your manager why switching package managers caused a 4-hour outage.

Node 16.14+ officially, but pnpm gets finicky with newer Node versions before they fix compatibility. Node 20.x had symlink issues on Windows for months.The built-in Node version manager is nice when it works, but nvm is more reliable. Don't depend on pnpm's Node management for anything critical.

First, try the obvious stuff:

1. pnpm store prune

• clears cache corruption (takes forever but fixes weird shit)2.

Delete node_modules and reinstall (the classic "delete node_modules" solution)3. Check if your antivirus is fucking with symlinks

• this actually happens on Windows more than you'd think

4. Verify .npmrc isn't misconfigured

• one wrong setting breaks everything

If that fails, pnpm's error messages are actually helpful

• read them. Unlike npm's cryptic bullshit, pnpm tells you what's wrong and suggests fixes.Last resort: nuke the store directory and start fresh. Takes forever but fixes 90% of weird issues.