diff --git a/.changeset/popular-carrots-rescue.md b/.changeset/popular-carrots-rescue.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b80955dc01
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/popular-carrots-rescue.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"@pnpm/filter-workspace-packages": minor
+---
+
+New function exported: `filterPackagesFromDir`.
diff --git a/packages/filter-workspace-packages/src/index.ts b/packages/filter-workspace-packages/src/index.ts
index d6c3fa0499..3e00f93f77 100644
--- a/packages/filter-workspace-packages/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/filter-workspace-packages/src/index.ts
@@ -51,18 +51,33 @@ export async function readProjects (
   return { allProjects, selectedProjectsGraph }
 }
 
+export interface FilterPackagesOptions {
+  linkWorkspacePackages?: boolean
+  prefix: string
+  workspaceDir: string
+  testPattern?: string[]
+  changedFilesIgnorePattern?: string[]
+  useGlobDirFiltering?: boolean
+}
+
+export async function filterPackagesFromDir (
+  workspaceDir: string,
+  filter: WorkspaceFilter[],
+  opts: FilterPackagesOptions & { engineStrict?: boolean, patterns: string[] }
+) {
+  const allProjects = await findWorkspacePackages(workspaceDir, { engineStrict: opts?.engineStrict, patterns: opts.patterns })
+  return {
+    allProjects,
+    ...(await filterPackages(allProjects, filter, opts)),
+  }
+}
+
 export async function filterPackages<T> (
   pkgs: Array<Package & T>,
   filter: WorkspaceFilter[],
-  opts: {
-    linkWorkspacePackages?: boolean
-    prefix: string
-    workspaceDir: string
-    testPattern?: string[]
-    changedFilesIgnorePattern?: string[]
-    useGlobDirFiltering?: boolean
-  }
+  opts: FilterPackagesOptions
 ): Promise<{
+    allProjectsGraph: PackageGraph<T>
     selectedProjectsGraph: PackageGraph<T>
     unmatchedFilters: string[]
   }> {
@@ -82,6 +97,7 @@ export async function filterPkgsBySelectorObjects<T> (
     useGlobDirFiltering?: boolean
   }
 ): Promise<{
+    allProjectsGraph: PackageGraph<T>
     selectedProjectsGraph: PackageGraph<T>
     unmatchedFilters: string[]
   }> {
@@ -89,9 +105,9 @@ export async function filterPkgsBySelectorObjects<T> (
 
   if ((allPackageSelectors.length > 0) || (prodPackageSelectors.length > 0)) {
     let filteredGraph: FilteredGraph<T> | undefined
+    const { graph } = createPkgGraph<T>(pkgs, { linkWorkspacePackages: opts.linkWorkspacePackages })
 
     if (allPackageSelectors.length > 0) {
-      const { graph } = createPkgGraph<T>(pkgs, { linkWorkspacePackages: opts.linkWorkspacePackages })
       filteredGraph = await filterGraph(graph, allPackageSelectors, {
         workspaceDir: opts.workspaceDir,
         testPattern: opts.testPattern,
@@ -112,7 +128,8 @@ export async function filterPkgsBySelectorObjects<T> (
       })
     }
 
-    return Promise.resolve({
+    return {
+      allProjectsGraph: graph,
       selectedProjectsGraph: {
         ...prodFilteredGraph?.selectedProjectsGraph,
         ...filteredGraph?.selectedProjectsGraph,
@@ -121,10 +138,10 @@ export async function filterPkgsBySelectorObjects<T> (
         ...(prodFilteredGraph !== undefined ? prodFilteredGraph.unmatchedFilters : []),
         ...(filteredGraph !== undefined ? filteredGraph.unmatchedFilters : []),
       ],
-    })
+    }
   } else {
     const { graph } = createPkgGraph<T>(pkgs, { linkWorkspacePackages: opts.linkWorkspacePackages })
-    return Promise.resolve({ selectedProjectsGraph: graph, unmatchedFilters: [] })
+    return { allProjectsGraph: graph, selectedProjectsGraph: graph, unmatchedFilters: [] }
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/pnpm/src/main.ts b/packages/pnpm/src/main.ts
index 6920c8a515..95d3ba15c8 100644
--- a/packages/pnpm/src/main.ts
+++ b/packages/pnpm/src/main.ts
@@ -5,8 +5,7 @@ import {
   Config,
 } from '@pnpm/config'
 import { scopeLogger } from '@pnpm/core-loggers'
-import { filterPackages } from '@pnpm/filter-workspace-packages'
-import findWorkspacePackages from '@pnpm/find-workspace-packages'
+import { filterPackagesFromDir } from '@pnpm/filter-workspace-packages'
 import logger from '@pnpm/logger'
 import { ParsedCliArgs } from '@pnpm/parse-cli-args'
 import { node } from '@pnpm/plugin-commands-env'
@@ -167,18 +166,6 @@ export default async function run (inputArgv: string[]) {
 
   if (cliOptions['recursive']) {
     const wsDir = workspaceDir ?? process.cwd()
-    const allProjects = await findWorkspacePackages(wsDir, {
-      engineStrict: config.engineStrict,
-      patterns: cliOptions['workspace-packages'],
-    })
-
-    if (allProjects.length === 0) {
-      if (printLogs) {
-        console.log(`No projects found in "${wsDir}"`)
-      }
-      process.exitCode = 0
-      return
-    }
 
     config.filter = config.filter ?? []
     config.filterProd = config.filterProd ?? []
@@ -194,7 +181,9 @@ export default async function run (inputArgv: string[]) {
       filters.push({ filter: `!{${relativeWSDirPath()}}`, followProdDepsOnly: false })
     }
 
-    const filterResults = await filterPackages(allProjects, filters, {
+    const filterResults = await filterPackagesFromDir(wsDir, filters, {
+      engineStrict: config.engineStrict,
+      patterns: cliOptions['workspace-packages'],
       linkWorkspacePackages: !!config.linkWorkspacePackages,
       prefix: process.cwd(),
       workspaceDir: wsDir,
@@ -202,6 +191,14 @@ export default async function run (inputArgv: string[]) {
       changedFilesIgnorePattern: config.changedFilesIgnorePattern,
       useGlobDirFiltering: !config.legacyDirFiltering,
     })
+
+    if (filterResults.allProjects.length === 0) {
+      if (printLogs) {
+        console.log(`No projects found in "${wsDir}"`)
+      }
+      process.exitCode = 0
+      return
+    }
     config.selectedProjectsGraph = filterResults.selectedProjectsGraph
     if (isEmpty(config.selectedProjectsGraph)) {
       if (printLogs) {
@@ -213,7 +210,7 @@ export default async function run (inputArgv: string[]) {
     if (filterResults.unmatchedFilters.length !== 0 && printLogs) {
       console.log(`No projects matched the filters "${filterResults.unmatchedFilters.join(', ')}" in "${wsDir}"`)
     }
-    config.allProjects = allProjects
+    config.allProjects = filterResults.allProjects
     config.workspaceDir = wsDir
   }