.pnpmfile.cjs

pnpm lets you hook directly into the installation process via special functions (hooks). Hooks can be declared in a file called .pnpmfile.cjs.

By default, .pnpmfile.cjs should be located in the same directory as the lockfile. For instance, in a workspace with a shared lockfile, .pnpmfile.cjs should be in the root of the monorepo.

Hooks

TL;DR

Hook Function	Process	Uses
hooks.readPackage(pkg, context): pkg	Called after pnpm parses the dependency's package manifest	Allows you to mutate a dependency's package.json
hooks.afterAllResolved(lockfile, context): lockfile	Called after the dependencies have been resolved.	Allows you to mutate the lockfile.

hooks.readPackage(pkg, context): pkg | Promise<pkg>

Allows you to mutate a dependency's package.json after parsing and prior to resolution. These mutations are not saved to the filesystem, however, they will affect what gets resolved in the lockfile and therefore what gets installed.

Note that you will need to delete the pnpm-lock.yaml if you have already resolved the dependency you want to modify.

tip

If you need changes to package.json saved to the filesystem, you need to use the pnpm patch command and patch the package.json file. This might be useful if you want to remove the bin field of a dependency for instance.

Arguments

• pkg - The manifest of the package. Either the response from the registry or the package.json content.
• context - Context object for the step. Method #log(msg) allows you to use a debug log for the step.

Usage

Example .pnpmfile.cjs (changes the dependencies of a dependency):

function readPackage(pkg, context) {
  // Override the manifest of foo@1.x after downloading it from the registry
  if (pkg.name === 'foo' && pkg.version.startsWith('1.')) {
    // Replace bar@x.x.x with bar@2.0.0
    pkg.dependencies = {
      ...pkg.dependencies,
      bar: '^2.0.0'
    }
    context.log('bar@1 => bar@2 in dependencies of foo')
  }
  
  // This will change any packages using baz@x.x.x to use baz@1.2.3
  if (pkg.dependencies.baz) {
    pkg.dependencies.baz = '1.2.3';
  }
  
  return pkg
}

module.exports = {
  hooks: {
    readPackage
  }
}

Known limitations

Removing the scripts field from a dependency's manifest via readPackage will not prevent pnpm from building the dependency. When building a dependency, pnpm reads the package.json of the package from the package's archive, which is not affected by the hook. In order to ignore a package's build, use the pnpm.neverBuiltDependencies field.

hooks.afterAllResolved(lockfile, context): lockfile | Promise<lockfile>

Allows you to mutate the lockfile output before it is serialized.

Arguments

• lockfile - The lockfile resolutions object that is serialized to pnpm-lock.yaml.
• context - Context object for the step. Method #log(msg) allows you to use a debug log for the step.

Usage example

.pnpmfile.cjs

function afterAllResolved(lockfile, context) {
  // ...
  return lockfile
}

module.exports = {
  hooks: {
    afterAllResolved
  }
}

Known Limitations

There are none - anything that can be done with the lockfile can be modified via this function, and you can even extend the lockfile's functionality.

Related Configuration

ignore-pnpmfile

• Default: false
• Type: Boolean

.pnpmfile.cjs will be ignored. Useful together with --ignore-scripts when you want to make sure that no script gets executed during install.

pnpmfile

• Default: .pnpmfile.cjs
• Type: path
• Example: .pnpm/.pnpmfile.cjs

The location of the local pnpmfile.

global-pnpmfile

• Default: null
• Type: path
• Example: ~/.pnpm/global_pnpmfile.cjs

The location of a global pnpmfile. A global pnpmfile is used by all projects during installation.

note

It is recommended to use local pnpmfiles. Only use a global pnpmfile if you use pnpm on projects that don't use pnpm as the primary package manager.