diff --git a/.changeset/tall-carpets-count.md b/.changeset/tall-carpets-count.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b392f71a91
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/tall-carpets-count.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"@pnpm/read-modules-dir": patch
+---
+
+Fix EMFILE error.
diff --git a/packages/read-modules-dir/package.json b/packages/read-modules-dir/package.json
index 7163b12fe5..c9713c58b7 100644
--- a/packages/read-modules-dir/package.json
+++ b/packages/read-modules-dir/package.json
@@ -25,5 +25,8 @@
   "bugs": {
     "url": "https://github.com/pnpm/pnpm/issues"
   },
-  "funding": "https://opencollective.com/pnpm"
+  "funding": "https://opencollective.com/pnpm",
+  "dependencies": {
+    "graceful-fs": "^4.2.6"
+  }
 }
diff --git a/packages/read-modules-dir/src/index.ts b/packages/read-modules-dir/src/index.ts
index fa4ed81325..89549702ec 100644
--- a/packages/read-modules-dir/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/read-modules-dir/src/index.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
-import { promises as fs } from 'fs'
+import gracefulFs from 'graceful-fs'
 import path from 'path'
+import util from 'util'
+
+const readdir = util.promisify(gracefulFs.readdir)
 
 export default async function readModulesDir (modulesDir: string) {
   try {
@@ -16,7 +19,7 @@ async function _readModulesDir (
 ) {
   let pkgNames: string[] = []
   const parentDir = scope ? path.join(modulesDir, scope) : modulesDir
-  for (const dir of await fs.readdir(parentDir, { withFileTypes: true })) {
+  for (const dir of await readdir(parentDir, { withFileTypes: true })) {
     if (dir.isFile() || dir.name[0] === '.') continue
 
     if (!scope && dir.name[0] === '@') {
diff --git a/pnpm-lock.yaml b/pnpm-lock.yaml
index 5b690f519f..0f38e1999a 100644
--- a/pnpm-lock.yaml
+++ b/pnpm-lock.yaml
@@ -2676,6 +2676,9 @@ importers:
   packages/read-modules-dir:
     specifiers:
       '@pnpm/read-modules-dir': 'link:'
+      graceful-fs: ^4.2.6
+    dependencies:
+      graceful-fs: 4.2.6
     devDependencies:
       '@pnpm/read-modules-dir': 'link:'