pnpm 9 Workspaces: The Best Monorepo Package Manager in 2026
pnpm 9 introduces Catalogs for shared dependency versions and strict symlink node_modules that prevent phantom dependencies - here is the complete workspaces setup guide.
Content-addressable store - each version of a package is stored once globally, referenced by symlink. A monorepo with 10 apps sharing React doesn't store 10 copies of React.
Strict node_modules - packages can only import what is in their own package.json. Phantom dependencies (importing a package that happens to be installed by a sibling) cause runtime errors rather than silently working.
Catalogs - new in v9, define shared dependency versions at the workspace root to keep all packages in sync.
Update all packages at once: change the version in pnpm-workspace.yaml and run pnpm install.
Common Workspace Commands
# Install all workspace dependencies
pnpm install
# Add a dependency to a specific package
pnpm --filter web add react-query
# Add a shared devDependency to the root
pnpm add -D -w typescript
# Run build in all packages
pnpm -r run build
# Run build in all packages in dependency order
pnpm -r --workspace-concurrency=4 run build
# Run only in packages with changes (combine with Turborepo)
pnpm --filter "...[origin/main]" run build
# Run in a specific package
pnpm --filter web run dev
pnpm patch for Patching Dependencies
When a package has a bug and no fix is released yet:
# Create a patch
pnpm patch some-package@1.2.3
# Edit the files in the temp directory it creates
# Then apply the patch
pnpm patch-commit /path/to/temp-dir
This creates a .patches/some-package@1.2.3.patch file and adds it to pnpm-workspace.yaml:
pnpm deploy creates a standalone deployment directory with only the production dependencies for one package:
FROM node:22-alpine AS base
RUN npm install -g pnpm@9
FROM base AS builder
WORKDIR /app
COPY . .
RUN pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
RUN pnpm --filter web build
FROM base AS runner
WORKDIR /app
# Deploy only web's production deps - no dev deps, no other packages
COPY --from=builder /app .
RUN pnpm deploy --filter=web --prod /deploy/web
FROM node:22-alpine AS final
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=runner /deploy/web .
COPY --from=builder /app/apps/web/.next .next
CMD ["node", "server.js"]
Strict vs Hoisted Mode
pnpm's default (strict) prevents packages from accessing unlisted dependencies. If you have legacy code that relies on hoisted deps:
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// written byFIG. AUTH-01
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Mahmudul Haque Qudrati
CEO & ML Engineer
CEO and ML Engineer at Pristren. Builds AI-powered software for teams and writes about machine learning, LLMs, developer tools, and practical AI applications.
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