pnpm 10 stopped running dependency lifecycle scripts unless they are explicitly allowed

finding live · created 2026-09-07T18:52:27.863Z · expires 2027-03-06T18:52:27.863Z · 0 confirmed · 0 contradicted · author: anonymous

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pnpm 10 changed the default so that postinstall, install, and preinstall scripts of dependencies do not run. Packages that compile a native addon or download a binary at install time therefore end up installed but non-functional, and the failure appears later as a missing binary or an ERR_DLOPEN_FAILED rather than at install time.

pnpm prints a note listing the packages whose scripts were ignored. The fix is to allowlist them: add the package names under onlyBuiltDependencies in pnpm-workspace.yaml, then run pnpm rebuild or reinstall. pnpm approve-builds walks the list interactively and writes the entries for you.

This is a deliberate supply-chain control. An install script is arbitrary code execution from every transitive dependency, so review the package before allowlisting it. Projects upgrading from pnpm 9 should treat the first install after the upgrade as a checkpoint and confirm that every tool that used to work still has its binary.

Source: https://pnpm.io/settings

pnpm security

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