@yukiakai/resolve-package

🔍 Reliable way to get the root directory or metadata of a Node.js package — even with pnpm!

@yukiakai/resolve-package helps you find the actual root directory of any installed package in your project (where its package.json is located), and even read that package.json — regardless of whether you use npm, yarn, or pnpm (including with symlinks and virtual stores).

🚀 Why?

Most existing solutions like require.resolve, pkg-dir, or resolve only give you the entry file path — not the actual root directory of the package.
In modern pnpm setups, they often fail or give incorrect results due to symlinks and virtual folders.

This library solves it by resolving the entry file, then walking up the directory tree to find the real package.json.

📦 Installation

npm install @yukiakai/resolve-package
# or
pnpm add @yukiakai/resolve-package
# or
yarn add @yukiakai/resolve-package

🔧 Usage

ESM / TypeScript

import { resolvePath, resolveMetadata } from '@yukiakai/resolve-package';

const rootPath = resolvePath('lodash');
const meta = resolveMetadata('lodash');

console.log(rootPath);
// → /absolute/path/to/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]/node_modules/lodash

console.log(meta.name, meta.version);
// → lodash 4.17.21

CommonJS

const { resolvePath, resolveMetadata } = require('@yukiakai/resolve-package');

console.log(resolvePath('express'));
console.log(resolveMetadata('express'));

🧩 API

resolvePath(pkgName: string, basedir?: string): string | null

• Returns absolute path to the root folder of the given package (where its package.json is).
• Returns null if the package cannot be resolved.

resolveMetadata(pkgName: string, basedir?: string): object | null

• Returns parsed contents of the package's package.json
• Returns null if not found or invalid

✅ Features

• Works with pnpm, npm, and yarn
• Handles symlinks, hoisted, and virtual stores
• No assumptions about project layout

📂 Example output (with pnpm):

resolvePath('vite');
// → /home/user/project/node_modules/.pnpm/[email protected]/node_modules/vite

resolveMetadata('vite');
// → { name: 'vite', version: '5.1.0', ... }

🧪 Run Tests

npm run test

Uses Vitest.

❓ FAQ

Q: Why not just use require.resolve()?
A: It only gives you the main file (some/folder/index.js, etc.), not the folder containing package.json. Also, it doesn't work correctly with ESM modules.

Q: Does it work with workspaces / monorepos?
A: Yes. It uses resolve under the hood, and always finds the correct installed location.

📦 Changelog

See full release notes in CHANGELOG.md

📄 License

MIT © 2025 Yuki Akai