What is .pnpm-store?

.pnpm-store is the local store (cache) where pnpm keeps the downloaded versions of every package. It is used so identical dependencies are not downloaded and stored repeatedly for different projects.

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#What .pnpm-store is for

• serves as a single cache for every package installed on the machine
• enables fast repeat installs without downloading from the network again
• lets you save space, because the same package version is stored only once

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#How it works

1. When a package is installed, pnpm downloads it into .pnpm-store
2. node_modules gets hard links to the files in that store
3. If another project needs the same version, it is not downloaded again, it is taken from .pnpm-store

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#Where it lives

Usually in the user's home directory, for example:

(the path may vary depending on the OS and settings)

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#Summary

.pnpm-store is a centralized dependency cache that makes pnpm faster and more space-efficient: one version of a package is stored once and reused many times through links, instead of being duplicated in every project.