---
id: limitations
title: Limitations
---

1. `npm-shrinkwrap.json` and `package-lock.json` are ignored. Unlike pnpm, npm
can install the same `name@version` multiple times and with different sets of
dependencies. npm's lockfile is designed to reflect the flat `node_modules`
layout, however, as pnpm creates an isolated layout by default, it cannot respect
npm's lockfile format. See [pnpm import] if you wish to convert a lockfile to
pnpm's format, though.
1. Binstubs (files in `node_modules/.bin`) are always shell files, not
symlinks to JS files. The shell files are created to help pluggable CLI apps
in finding their plugins in the unusual `node_modules` structure. This is very
rarely an issue and if you expect the file to be a JS file, reference the
original file directly instead, as described in [#736].

Got an idea for workarounds for these issues?
[Share them.](https://github.com/pnpm/pnpm/issues/new)

[pnpm import]: cli/import.md
[#736]: https://github.com/pnpm/pnpm/issues/736