**TLDR:** Global packages in pnpm v10 are annoying and slow because they all are installed to a single global package. Instead, we will now use a system that is similar to the one used by "pnpm dlx" (aka "pnpx").
Each globally installed package (or group of packages installed together) now gets its own isolated installation directory with its own `package.json`, `node_modules`, and lockfile. This prevents global packages from interfering with each other through peer dependency conflicts or version resolution shifts.
## Changes
- Add `@pnpm/global-packages` shared utilities package for scanning, hashing, and managing isolated global installs
- `pnpm add -g` creates isolated installs in `{pnpmHomeDir}/global/v11/{hash}/`
- `pnpm remove -g` removes the entire installation group containing the package
- `pnpm update -g` re-installs into new isolated directories and swaps symlinks
- `pnpm list -g` scans isolated directories to show installed global packages
- `pnpm outdated -g` checks each isolated installation for outdated dependencies
- `pnpm store prune` cleans up orphaned global installation directories
## Breaking changes
- `pnpm install -g` (no args) is no longer supported — use `pnpm add -g <pkg>`
- `pnpm link <pkg-name>` no longer resolves packages from the global store — only relative or absolute paths are accepted
- `pnpm link --global` is removed — use `pnpm add -g .` to register a local package's bins globally
- **`pnpm why` now shows a reverse dependency tree.** The searched package appears at the root with its dependants as branches, walking back to workspace roots. This replaces the previous forward-tree output which was noisy and hard to read for deeply nested dependencies.
- **Replaced `archy` with a new `@pnpm/text.tree-renderer` package** that renders trees using box-drawing characters (├──, └──, │) and supports grouped sections, dim connectors, and deduplication markers.
- **Show peer dependency hash suffixes** in `pnpm list` and `pnpm why` output to distinguish between different peer-dep variants of the same package.
- **Improved `pnpm list` visual output:** bold importer nodes, dimmed workspace paths, dependency grouping, package count summary, and deterministic sort order.
- **Added `--long` support to `pnpm why`** and the ability to read package manifests from the CAS store.
- **Deduplicated shared code** between `list` and `why` commands into a common module, and reused `getPkgInfo` in the why tree builder.
* fix: support alias resolution in pnpm why with npm:
protocol
* refactor: make alias required instead of optional
* refactor: reorder field to put alias first
* chore: `package.json` add type field
* chore: add type field to every package.json
* chore: add type field to every package.json
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Co-authored-by: Zoltan Kochan <z@kochan.io>
This is an addition to https://github.com/pnpm/pnpm/pull/8190. The global virtual store isn't a good choice for CI. So, we disable it even if the setting sets `enableGlobalVirtualStore` to `true`.
