pnpm reference

This page is a quick reference for day-to-day pnpm usage.

Install the dependencies a project already declares

pnpm install

Run this after cloning a repository or after pulling dependency changes from someone else.

Add a new dependency

pnpm add react

This adds the package to the project and updates pnpm-lock.yaml.

To add several dependencies at once:

pnpm add react react-dom

Add development dependencies

pnpm add -D typescript

To add several development dependencies in one command:

pnpm add -D typescript eslint prettier

Remove a package

pnpm remove react

Add a peer dependency

pnpm add --save-peer react

Run project scripts

pnpm dev
pnpm build
pnpm test

These run scripts defined in package.json.

Run a local tool directly

pnpm exec eslint .

Run a tool one time without adding it permanently

pnpm dlx create-vite@latest my-app

This is the pnpm parallel to npx.

Reproduce installs in CI

pnpm install --frozen-lockfile

Use this when you want CI to fail instead of silently drifting away from the committed lockfile.