📦 PM

A unified package manager for Node.js that supports npm, yarn, and pnpm. This human-friendly Corepack wrapper lets you forget about npm, yarn, and pnpm — just use the pm command for everything.

Highlights

• 📦 All-in-One: Supports npm, yarn, and pnpm without extra installations.
• 🎯 Auto Detect: Automatically detects the correct package manager.
• ⬇️ Auto Fallback: Automatically falls back to npm if no package manager is detected.
• 🔀 Version Management: Automatically switches to the proper version of the detected package manager.
• ⚡️ Zero Configuration: No configuration required. Just install globally and start using it.
• 🌍 Global Safety: Does not modify or override existing global package managers.
• 🪶 Lightweight: Tiny codebase (< 300 lines).

Installation

npm install -g @rnm/pm

Usage

Inside Projects

When inside a project directory, pm and px are aliases for npm/yarn/pnpm and npx/yarnpkg/pnpx respectively. The choice depends on the project's configuration. Falls back to npm and npx if no specific package manager is detected.

Configure packageManager or devEngines.packageManager in package.json:

{
  "packageManager": "[email protected]",
  "devEngines": {
    "packageManager": {
      "name": "pnpm",
      "version": "10.0.0"
    }
  }
}

Commands work exactly like the underlying package manager:

# pm = smart alias for npm/yarn/pnpm
pm install    # → npm/yarn/pnpm install
pm run build  # → npm/yarn/pnpm run build
pm --help     # → npm/yarn/pnpm --help
pm --version  # → npm/yarn/pnpm --version

# px = smart alias for npx/yarnpkg/pnpx
px create-react-app my-app --template typescript  # → npx/yarnpkg/pnpx create-react-app my-app --template typescript
px tsx --watch src/index.ts                       # → npx/yarnpkg/pnpx tsx --watch src/index.ts

Outside Projects

When outside project directories, pm and px are aliases for npm and npx. These are typically used for global operations.

# pm = alias for npm
pm install -g typescript@latest  # → npm install -g typescript@latest
pm list -g --depth=0             # → npm list -g --depth=0

# px = alias for npx
px create-react-app my-app --template next  # → npx create-react-app my-app --template next
px degit user/repo my-app                   # → npx degit user/repo my-app

Advanced Usage

The pm-cli command provides additional utilities for advanced use cases.

Enable Shim Commands

Use pm-cli enable-shim to create symbolic links that replace the native package manager commands with @rnm/pm equivalents:

# Enable shims for all package managers (npm, yarn, pnpm, npx, yarnpkg, pnpx)
pm-cli enable-shim

# Enable shims for specific package managers only
pm-cli enable-shim npm yarn
pm-cli enable-shim pnpm

This command creates symbolic links in your global installation directory, so when you run npm, yarn, or pnpm, they will automatically use the @rnm/pm detection logic.

⚠️ Warning: This will override your existing global package manager commands. Use with caution and ensure you understand the implications.

Differences from Corepack

1. Field Detection: @rnm/pm detects packageManager, devEngines, and engines fields in package.json, while Corepack only supports packageManager and devEngines.
2. Version Range Support: @rnm/pm supports version ranges (e.g., ^10.0.0) in packageManager and devEngines.packageManager.version fields, while Corepack only accepts specific versions.
3. Lock File Detection: @rnm/pm automatically detects lock files (package-lock.json, yarn.lock, pnpm-lock.yaml) to determine the package manager, while Corepack does not.
4. Environment Variables: @rnm/pm ignores COREPACK_* environment variables for non-configurable behavior, while Corepack respects them.
5. Configuration Files: @rnm/pm ignores .corepack.env files, while Corepack reads them for configuration.
6. Registry Configuration: @rnm/pm uses npm config get registry for package installation, while Corepack uses the COREPACK_NPM_REGISTRY environment variable.
7. Transparency Features: @rnm/pm does not provide transparency features, unlike Corepack. See Corepack's config.json for details.

Migration from Corepack

1. Install @rnm/pm globally using npm install -g @rnm/pm.
2. Replace npm, yarn, and pnpm with pm in your projects.

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License

MIT