---
scope: org
organization: pnpm
release_count: 9
last_release: 2026-06-15
generated: 2026-05-11
updated: 2026-06-16
canonical: https://releases.sh/pnpm/overview.md
---

Read-only store installs landed in `11.7`, letting `pnpm install` run against a Nix store, OCI image layer, or bind mount.

**Supply-chain hardening deepened across the 11.x cycle.** Tarball-integrity mismatches became a hard install failure in `11.4`, closing a silent hole where a compromised registry could substitute attacker-controlled content even with a committed lockfile. `pnpm audit signatures` (`11.1`) verifies ECDSA registry signatures against published keys. A separate security fix in `11.5.3` stopped expanding `${ENV_VAR}` placeholders in repository-controlled `.npmrc` files — previously, a malicious cloned repo could exfiltrate secrets from the local environment before any lifecycle script ran.

**Auth and credential handling grew more flexible.** `11.6` added file-free registry auth via `npm_config_//…` and `pnpm_config_//…` environment variables, eliminating the need for a `.npmrc` file in CI. `11.7` added scope-specific auth tokens. Named registries with a built-in `gh:` alias for GitHub Packages landed in `11.1`.

**Publishing workflow expanded.** `11.3` added `pnpm stage`, bringing npm's staged-publishing workflow to pnpm. `11.7` added `--batch` to publish an entire workspace in one registry request. Native `pnpm pkg`, `pnpm repo`, and `pnpm set-script` commands replaced npm CLI delegation.

**Install behavior and the Rust backend improved.** `11.5` added `hoistingLimits` for controlling hoist depth in `nodeLinker: hoisted` installs. `11.6` raised default network concurrency and skips full re-resolution when only the lockfile is missing. `11.2` introduced pacquet (the Rust port) as an opt-in install backend; `11.7` extended it to handle full resolving installs.

**Version 11 raised the baseline.** Node.js 22 is required; pnpm ships as pure ESM. The store index moved from JSON files to SQLite. Global installs got isolated directories with their own lockfiles.