diff --git a/.changeset/fix-workspace-package-discovery.md b/.changeset/fix-workspace-package-discovery.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..137f4e6311
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/fix-workspace-package-discovery.md
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+"@pnpm/config": patch
+"pnpm": patch
+---
+
+Fix a regression where `pnpm-workspace.yaml` without a `packages` field caused all directories to be treated as workspace projects. This broke projects that use `pnpm-workspace.yaml` only for settings (e.g. `minimumReleaseAge`) without defining workspace packages [#10909](https://github.com/pnpm/pnpm/issues/10909).
diff --git a/config/config/src/index.ts b/config/config/src/index.ts
index 2a04b793c6..12649a22ee 100644
--- a/config/config/src/index.ts
+++ b/config/config/src/index.ts
@@ -367,7 +367,7 @@ export async function getConfig (opts: {
     if (pnpmConfig.workspaceDir != null) {
       const workspaceManifest = await readWorkspaceManifest(pnpmConfig.workspaceDir)
 
-      pnpmConfig.workspacePackagePatterns = cliOptions['workspace-packages'] as string[] ?? workspaceManifest?.packages
+      pnpmConfig.workspacePackagePatterns = cliOptions['workspace-packages'] as string[] ?? workspaceManifest?.packages ?? ['.']
       if (workspaceManifest) {
         const newSettings = Object.assign(getOptionsFromPnpmSettings(pnpmConfig.workspaceDir, workspaceManifest, pnpmConfig.rootProjectManifest), configFromCliOpts)
         for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(newSettings)) {
diff --git a/config/config/test/fixtures/workspace-yaml-without-packages/pnpm-workspace.yaml b/config/config/test/fixtures/workspace-yaml-without-packages/pnpm-workspace.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..01c03eeb60
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/config/test/fixtures/workspace-yaml-without-packages/pnpm-workspace.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+minimumReleaseAge: '4320'
diff --git a/config/config/test/index.ts b/config/config/test/index.ts
index a54cbc119b..d30a9c136b 100644
--- a/config/config/test/index.ts
+++ b/config/config/test/index.ts
@@ -640,6 +640,21 @@ test('reads workspacePackagePatterns', async () => {
   expect(config.workspacePackagePatterns).toEqual(['packages/*'])
 })
 
+test('workspacePackagePatterns defaults to ["."] when pnpm-workspace.yaml has no packages field', async () => {
+  const workspaceDir = path.join(__dirname, 'fixtures/workspace-yaml-without-packages')
+  process.chdir(workspaceDir)
+  const { config } = await getConfig({
+    cliOptions: {},
+    packageManager: {
+      name: 'pnpm',
+      version: '1.0.0',
+    },
+    workspaceDir,
+  })
+
+  expect(config.workspacePackagePatterns).toEqual(['.'])
+})
+
 test('setting workspace-concurrency to negative number', async () => {
   const workspaceDir = path.join(__dirname, 'fixtures/pkg-with-valid-workspace-yaml')
   process.chdir(workspaceDir)
diff --git a/pnpm/test/recursive/misc.ts b/pnpm/test/recursive/misc.ts
index 52e1e42e23..fceb272be9 100644
--- a/pnpm/test/recursive/misc.ts
+++ b/pnpm/test/recursive/misc.ts
@@ -315,6 +315,7 @@ test('recursive command with filter from config', async () => {
 
   fs.writeFileSync('package.json', '{}', 'utf8')
   writeYamlFile('pnpm-workspace.yaml', {
+    packages: ['*'],
     filter: ['project-1', 'project-2'],
   })
   await execPnpm(['recursive', 'install'])