Fast, disk space efficient package manager
Fast
Fast
pnpm is as fast and sometimes even faster than npm and Yarn (see benchmarks)
Efficient
Efficient
One version of a package is saved only ever once on a disk. So you save dozens of gigabytes of disk space!
Strict
Strict
pnpm creates a non-flat node_modules, so code has no access to arbitrary packages
Background
pnpm uses hard links and symlinks to save one version of a module only ever once on a disk. When using npm or Yarn for example, if you have 100 projects using the same version of lodash, you will have 100 copies of lodash on disk. With pnpm, lodash will be saved in a single place on the disk and a hard link will put it into the node_modules where it should be installed.
As a result, you save gigabytes of space on your disk and you have a lot faster installations! If you'd like more details about the unique node_modules structure that pnpm creates and why it works fine with the Node.js ecosystem, read this small article: Why should we use pnpm?
What developers are saying
Between npm and yarn, I've been very happy using *pnpm* lately https://t.co/HkXnR97wlZ simple, very fast, space efficient, unobtrusive
— André Staltz (@andrestaltz) May 5, 2017
Simple and genius idea, so that you always will wonder why you didn't think of it yourself https://t.co/jIMa2U4yym @pnpmjs (but, pruning?)
— Michel Weststrate (@mweststrate) May 8, 2017
I've been long advocating for @pnpmjs — it's like a hidden gem in Node ecosystem. Try it, it is mature and performant. https://t.co/ie91RMYlSP
— Andrey Popp (@andreypopp) May 8, 2017
@wmhilton @yarnpkg @pnpmjs just installed it and it worked like a charm. I'm impressed!
— Stephan Hoyer (@cmx66) April 19, 2017