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Error: Cannot find module ... 'pnpm.cjs' when using pnpm 12 in Volta v1.1.1 on macOS #2114
Description
When trying to use pnpm 12 installed via Volta v1.1.1 on macOS Tahoe 26.7, it looks for a pnpm.cjs file that is not present.
# Install pnpm 12 via Volta
volta install pnpm@12.4.2
success: installed and set pnpm@12.4.2 as default
# Try running a `pnpm install` in my repo:
pnpm install --no-frozen-lockfile
node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1459
throw err;
^
Error: Cannot find module '/Users/jamie/.volta/tools/image/pnpm/12.4.2/bin/pnpm.cjs'
at Module._resolveFilename (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1456:15)
at defaultResolveImpl (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1066:19)
at resolveForCJSWithHooks (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1071:22)
at Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1242:25)
at wrapModuleLoad (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:255:19)
at Module.executeUserEntryPoint [as runMain] (node:internal/modules/run_main:154:5)
at node:internal/main/run_main_module:33:47 {
code: 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND',
requireStack: []
}Reacted by James Hulse
Activity
shirakaba commentedon Sep 18, 2026
Workaround
Copy the following
pnpm.cjsfile into the expected location,~/.volta/tools/image/pnpm/12.4.2/bin/pnpm.cjs:pnpm installworked successfully for me after that.The story behind the file
I found this file provided with pnpm v11.18.0, and it looked version-agnostic, so I tried it out, and indeed it worked for pnpm v12.
[-]Error: Cannot find module ... 'pnpm.cjs' when using pnpm 12[/-][+]Error: Cannot find module ... 'pnpm.cjs' when using pnpm 12 in Volta v1.1.1 on macOS[/+]ci(e2e): Run E2E tests with pnpm 12 (#25334)
chore: Move the monorepo from Yarn 1 to pnpm 12 (#25354)
chore: Pin pnpm 10 in Volta and remove .npmrc (#25641)
chore: Replace Volta with pnpm-managed node versions (#25689)