From 5163697228a5bbc6ca596a68e1b3ec9ab221681d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Zoltan Kochan <z@kochan.io>
Date: Wed, 11 Mar 2026 01:44:49 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] fix: restore default workspace package patterns when packages
 field is missing (#10927)

* fix: restore ['.'] default for workspacePackagePatterns when packages field is missing

Commit 6eedf828b removed the ['.'] fallback for workspacePackagePatterns
when pnpm-workspace.yaml has no packages field. This caused findPackages
to default to ['.', '**'], discovering ALL directories with package.json
as workspace projects. This is the same regression that was previously
reverted in 595cd414f (close #10571), reintroduced by #10127.

Projects like cdxgen that use pnpm-workspace.yaml only for settings
(e.g. minimumReleaseAge) without a packages field were broken because
test data directories were picked up as workspace projects.

close #10909

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* fix: remove unknown word from changeset

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* test(config): verify workspacePackagePatterns defaults to ['.'] without packages field

Adds a regression test to ensure pnpm-workspace.yaml without a packages
field defaults workspacePackagePatterns to ['.'] (root only), preventing
all directories from being discovered as workspace projects.
---
 .changeset/fix-workspace-package-discovery.md     |  6 ++++++
 config/config/src/index.ts                        |  2 +-
 .../pnpm-workspace.yaml                           |  1 +
 config/config/test/index.ts                       | 15 +++++++++++++++
 pnpm/test/recursive/misc.ts                       |  1 +
 5 files changed, 24 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
 create mode 100644 .changeset/fix-workspace-package-discovery.md
 create mode 100644 config/config/test/fixtures/workspace-yaml-without-packages/pnpm-workspace.yaml

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'])