Allow usage of pnpm

Allow the usage on pnpm instead of yarn or npm.

Perhaps a guide for doing the init manually would be helpful until such capability is introduced.

There hasn't been any activity on this issue in the past 3 months, so it has been marked as stale and it will be closed automatically if no further activity occurs in the next 7 days.

Reopening, pnpm is something that we'd like to support

Hey, support for pnpm is something i have been working on for a while. I was able to make it work with init command and make project running on iOS and Android. However, since pnpm is using symlinks, I discovered a few pitfalls here.

node_modules structure is different. - there is a need of manual changing the paths in the following files in android and ios folders:

ios/Podfile - path to native_modules
android/app/build.gradle - path to native_modules.gradle
android/settings.gradle - path to native_modules.gradle

The pnpm paths are strongly dependent on installed versions of the dependencies, e.g. .pnpm/@react-native-community+cli-platform-android@9.3.1/node_modules/@react-native-community/cli-platform-android/native_modules.gradle

there is a need of adding the Metro resolver for symlinks: rnx-kit/metro-resolver-symlinks
Developer needs to manually run pod install after initializing the project - CocoaPods installation fails due to incorrect native_modules path in Podfile mentioned in 1, but that step can be just skipped in init when using pnpm as package manager.

Another possible solution is creating a .npmrc file, adding node-linker: hoisted inside of it and running pnpm install, but i think it's missing the point of using pnpm as the node_modules structure will become similar to the one known from yarn and npm.

Where to go from there? I think adding all the required steps to make it work to the docs is one of the options, but definitely not the best one.

Following steps working for me
Added public-hoist-pattern configuration in .npmrc to hoist packages from specific scopes:
.npmrc:

public-hoist-pattern[]=*@react-native-community*
public-hoist-pattern[]=*@react-native*

Also integrated the following changes in metro.config.js:

const { getDefaultConfig, mergeConfig } = require('@react-native/metro-config');
const path = require('path');

/**
 * Metro configuration
 * https://facebook.github.io/metro/docs/configuration
 *
 * @type {import('metro-config').MetroConfig}
 */
const projectRoot = __dirname;

const config = {
  watchFolders: [projectRoot],
  resolver: {
    nodeModulesPaths: [path.resolve(projectRoot, 'node_modules')],
  },
};
module.exports = mergeConfig(getDefaultConfig(__dirname), config);

React and React Native versions:
"react": "18.2.0",
"react-native": "0.73.5",

It seems that every Gradle command is working fine through the command line. However, when I try to sync from Android Studio, the following error is displayed: 'Missing ExternalProject for:'

@rahulpandey

Are you saying these changes worked for you @rahulpandey? Or are you still getting the Missing ExternalProject for: error?

For us we had react native working with pnpm without hoisting. With new arch enabled. Then at one point of upgrading to newest RN, it stopped working with the error:

Missing ExternalProject for :

However, it works if using gradle from the command line.

Ok, I found the fix for React Native.

Instead of

includeBuild('../node_modules/@react-native/gradle-plugin')

you have to do

includeBuild(file("../node_modules/@react-native/gradle-plugin").toPath().toRealPath().toAbsolutePath().toString())

then it works in newest Android Studio.

Ok, I found the fix for React Native.

Instead of
includeBuild('../node_modules/@react-native/gradle-plugin')
you have to do
includeBuild(file("../node_modules/@react-native/gradle-plugin").toPath().toRealPath().toAbsolutePath().toString())
then it works in newest Android Studio.

You saved my day!!!!

@bimusiek

    "@react-native-community/cli": "^13.6.4",
    "@react-native-community/cli-platform-android": "^13.6.4",
    "@react-native-community/cli-platform-ios": "^13.6.4",
    "@react-native/gradle-plugin": "^0.74.86",

adding above deps to dev dependencies and then from @bimusiek solution for android studio

pnpm works smoothly no issues so far

Hi there, hope you're fine.
I'm struggling to run my development environment on iOS:
I'm getting the following error message:
.../node_modules/.pnpm/react-native@0.80.2_@babel+core@7.28.3_@react-native-community+cli@19.1.1_typescript@5._3af7c2724a56ff00268a468b9be1dd98/node_modules/react-native/ReactCommon/jsinspector-modern/RuntimeAgentDelegate.h:10:10 'jsinspector-modern/cdp/CdpJson.h' file not found
But I noticed that the file existe, because when I click in the import reference It navigates to the file. I think this might be a module resolution.

I'm using:

pnpm: 10.14.0,
react: 19.1.0,
react-native: 0.80.2

On Android It's working fine until now

@GSFZamai

Hey @GSFZamai ,

were you able to fix this?

@GSFZamai

Hey @GSFZamai ,

were you able to fix this?

Hey!
My decision atm was to change the package manager to yarn.

Looks like you have some misconfigured package versions thus pnpm keeps both. Make sure you have one react native version. You can use “resolutions” field in package.jeon to force it. Best, Mike -- Mike Hernas

…

On 4 Oct 2025 at 10:26 +0200, Qazi Amaan ***@***.***>, wrote: qazi9amaan left a comment (react-native-community/cli#1207) Hey @JDScript @bimusiek — thanks for your earlier suggestions! ***@***.***/gradle-plugin").toPath().toRealPath().toAbsolutePath().toString()) However, I’m still running into an issue. The error now says: Included build ***@***.******@***.******@***.***/gradle-plugin has build path :gradle-plugin which is the same as included build ***@***.***/gradle-plugin Do you happen to know a workaround for this, or a cleaner way to resolve the duplicate gradle-plugin build path issue? — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe. You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

@bimusiek

Works just fine, assuming the following tweaks made:

metro.config.js

const { getDefaultConfig, mergeConfig } = require("@react-native/metro-config");
const path = require("path");

/**
 * Metro configuration
 * https://reactnative.dev/docs/metro
 * Tweaks by @devBaunz
 *
 * @type {import('metro-config').MetroConfig}
 */
const config = {
  // This means we watch the entire repo (change path accordingly if needed)
  watchFolders: [path.join(__dirname, "..", "..")],
  resolver: {
    nodeModulesPaths: [
      // PNPM installs symlink app's node_modules, not workspace one
      path.resolve(__dirname, "node_modules"),
    ],
    // This allows us to work with PNPM
    unstable_enablePackageExports: true,
  },
  // If you use react-native-reanimated, you might need this
  // transformer: {
  //   getTransformOptions: async () => ({
  //     transform: {
  //       experimentalImportSupport: false,
  //       inlineRequires: true,
  //     },
  //   }),
  // },
};

module.exports = mergeConfig(getDefaultConfig(__dirname), config);

settings.gradle (optional, if you want to use AndroidStudio directly), thanks to @bimusiek

// NOTE: Handle via node-module paths
pluginManagement { includeBuild(file("../node_modules/@react-native/gradle-plugin").toPath().toRealPath().toAbsolutePath().toString()) }
plugins { id("com.facebook.react.settings") }
extensions.configure(com.facebook.react.ReactSettingsExtension){ ex -> ex.autolinkLibrariesFromCommand() }
rootProject.name = 'YourAppName'
include ':app'
includeBuild(file("../node_modules/@react-native/gradle-plugin").toPath().toRealPath().toAbsolutePath().toString())

babel.config.js (extra, if you want to use node functionality such as crypto/buffer) (make sure you have the packages as runtime dependancies)

module.exports = {
  presets: ["module:@react-native/babel-preset"],
  plugins: [
    [
      "module-resolver",
      {
        root: ["."],
        alias: {
          // Node functionality for react-native
          crypto: "react-native-quick-crypto",
          "node:crypto": "react-native-quick-crypto",
          stream: "readable-stream",
          "node:stream": "readable-stream",
          buffer: "@craftzdog/react-native-buffer",
          "node:buffer": "@craftzdog/react-native-buffer",
        },
      },
    ],
  ],
};

Another nice change to make if you want a better pnpm experience in monorepo setup:

.npmrc (allows installing per directory with proper dep-management, mainly useful for ci/cd)

legacy-peer-deps=true
registry=https://registry.npmjs.org/
link-workspace-packages=true
recursive-install=false

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Allow usage of pnpm #1207

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Allow usage of pnpm #1207

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github-actions commented on Nov 27, 2022

thymikee commented on Dec 5, 2022

TMisiukiewicz commented on Dec 21, 2022

rahulpandey commented on Mar 10, 2024

WarrenBuffering commented on Jul 11, 2024

bimusiek commented on Jul 17, 2024

bimusiek commented on Jul 17, 2024

JDScript commented on Jul 17, 2024

shaquibimdad commented on Aug 1, 2024

GSFZamai commented on Sep 12, 2025

rmit-s3804879-sainathreddy-kodiganti commented on Sep 17, 2025

GSFZamai commented on Sep 17, 2025

bimusiek commented on Oct 4, 2025

devBaunz commented on Nov 24, 2025

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