pnpm/pnpm11/docs/cli/config.md

id, title

id	title
config	pnpm config

Aliases: c

Manage the configuration files.

pnpm settings are split across two kinds of configuration files:

• Registry and authentication settings live in INI files: the global rc file, auth.ini, and local .npmrc files.
• All other pnpm settings live in YAML files: the global config.yaml and the per-project pnpm-workspace.yaml.

The local workspace configuration file is located at the root of the project and is named pnpm-workspace.yaml. The global YAML configuration file (config.yaml) is located at:

• If the $XDG_CONFIG_HOME env variable is set, then $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/pnpm/config.yaml
• On Windows: ~/AppData/Local/pnpm/config/config.yaml
• On macOS: ~/Library/Preferences/pnpm/config.yaml
• On Linux: ~/.config/pnpm/config.yaml

The global rc file (registry/auth settings only) is at:

• If the $XDG_CONFIG_HOME env variable is set, then $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/pnpm/rc
• On Windows: ~/AppData/Local/pnpm/config/rc
• On macOS: ~/Library/Preferences/pnpm/rc
• On Linux: ~/.config/pnpm/rc

You can also retrieve the path to your global config file by running (added in v10.21.0):

pnpm config get globalconfig

Commands

set <key> <value>

Set the config key to the value provided.

Without the --json flag, it parses the value as plain string:

pnpm config set --location=project nodeVersion 22.0.0

With the --json flag, it parses the value as JSON:

pnpm config set --location=project --json nodeVersion '"22.0.0"'

The --json flag also allows pnpm config set to create arrays and objects:

pnpm config set --location=project --json allowBuilds '{"react": true, "react-dom": true}'
pnpm config set --location=project --json catalog '{ "react": "19" }'

The set command does not accept a property path.

Since v11.22.0, pnpm config set refuses to write a setting to a project's pnpm-workspace.yaml that pnpm does not read from there, such as configDir, pnpmHomeDir, stateDir, and the other settings that name machine-level state. Since v11.25.0, this includes scope, which controls the machine-wide default for pnpm login. The command fails with ERR_PNPM_CONFIG_SET_NOT_A_PROJECT_SETTING, naming where the setting belongs when it belongs somewhere. pnpm config delete still clears such a key from a file that already carries it.

get <key>

Print the config value for the provided key.

The key can be a simple key:

pnpm config get nodeVersion
pnpm config get --json nodeVersion
pnpm config get --json packageExtensions
pnpm config get --json allowBuilds
pnpm config get --json catalog

It can also be a property path:

pnpm config get 'packageExtensions["@babel/parser"].peerDependencies["@babel/types"]'
pnpm config get --json 'packageExtensions["@babel/parser"].peerDependencies["@babel/types"]'
pnpm config get 'allowBuilds.react'
pnpm config get --json 'allowBuilds.react'
pnpm config get catalog.react
pnpm config get --json catalog.react

The syntax of the property path emulates JavaScript property paths.

delete <key>

Remove the config key from the config file.

list

Show all the config settings. Output is a JSON object.

Auth-related settings are hidden from the output; use pnpm config get <key> to read them explicitly.

:::note

Since v11, pnpm config get (without --json) no longer prints INI-formatted text. It prints JSON for objects and arrays, and raw strings for strings, numbers, booleans, and nulls. pnpm config get --json prints all values as JSON. pnpm config list always prints a JSON object.

:::

Options

--global, -g

Set the configuration in the global config file.

With get and list, show the global configuration without the settings from the project's pnpm-workspace.yaml and .npmrc.

--location

By default, --location is set to global.

When set to project, pnpm writes the setting to pnpm-workspace.yaml at the workspace root (or, for registry/auth settings, to the .npmrc in the workspace root).

When set to global, the behavior is the same as passing the --global option.

--json

Make get and list show all the config settings in JSON format and make set parse the value as JSON.