v5 fails immediately when using `pnpm`

[peterhirn]

Description:
I'm using corepack to install pnpm. Using v5 the action fails immediately, afaict doesn't even make it to the corepack step.

Action version:
v5

Platform:

• Ubuntu
• macOS
• Windows

Runner type:

• Hosted
• Self-hosted

Tools version:

  "engines": {
    "node": "24.7.0"
  },
  "packageManager": "pnpm@10.15.1+sha512.34e538c329b5553014ca8e8f4535997f96180a1d0f614339357449935350d924e22f8614682191264ec33d1462ac21561aff97f6bb18065351c162c7e8f6de67"

Repro steps:

name: restore

runs:
  using: composite
  steps:
    - name: Install Node.js
      #uses: actions/setup-node@49933ea5288caeca8642d1e84afbd3f7d6820020 # v4
      uses: actions/setup-node@a0853c24544627f65ddf259abe73b1d18a591444 # v5
      with:
        node-version-file: package.json

    - name: Install pnpm
      shell: bash
      run: |
        corepack enable
        corepack prepare --activate

    - name: Export pnpm store path
      shell: bash
      run: |
        echo "STORE_PATH=$(pnpm store path --silent)" >> $GITHUB_ENV

    - name: Setup pnpm cache
      uses: actions/cache@0400d5f644dc74513175e3cd8d07132dd4860809 # v4
      with:
        path: ${{ env.STORE_PATH }}
        key: ${{ runner.os }}-pnpm-store-${{ hashFiles('pnpm-lock.yaml') }}
        restore-keys: |
          ${{ runner.os }}-pnpm-store-

    - name: Install dependencies
      shell: bash
      run: pnpm install --frozen-lockfile

    - name: Store prune
      shell: bash
      run: pnpm store prune

Prepare all required actions
Getting action download info
Download action repository 'actions/setup-node@a0853c24544627f65ddf259abe73b1d18a591444' (SHA:a0853c24544627f65ddf259abe73b1d18a591444)
Download action repository 'actions/cache@0400d5f644dc74513175e3cd8d07132dd4860809' (SHA:0400d5f644dc74513175e3cd8d07132dd4860809)
Run ./.github/actions/restore
Run actions/setup-node@a0853c24544627f65ddf259abe73b1d18a591444
  with:
    node-version-file: package.json
    always-auth: false
    check-latest: false
    token: ***
    package-manager-cache: true
Resolved package.json as 24.7.0
Attempting to download 24.7.0...
(node:1991) [DEP0040] DeprecationWarning: The `punycode` module is deprecated. Please use a userland alternative instead.
(Use `node --trace-deprecation ...` to show where the warning was created)
Acquiring 24.7.0 - x64 from https://github.com/actions/node-versions/releases/download/24.7.0-17283839804/node-24.7.0-linux-x64.tar.gz
Extracting ...
/usr/bin/tar xz --strip 1 --warning=no-unknown-keyword --overwrite -C /home/runner/work/_temp/32676364-91bc-4278-a2bc-700823b9c0d4 -f /home/runner/work/_temp/96a07732-bdfd-4e82-a07c-8a2a6550709e
Adding to the cache ...
Environment details
  node: v24.7.0
  npm: 11.5.1
  yarn: 1.22.22
Error: Unable to locate executable file: pnpm. Please verify either the file path exists or the file can be found within a directory specified by the PATH environment variable. Also check the file mode to verify the file is executable.

Expected behavior:

Using v4 everything works as expected:

Prepare all required actions
Getting action download info
Download action repository 'actions/setup-node@49933ea5288caeca8642d1e84afbd3f7d6820020' (SHA:49933ea5288caeca8642d1e84afbd3f7d6820020)
Download action repository 'actions/cache@0400d5f644dc74513175e3cd8d07132dd4860809' (SHA:0400d5f644dc74513175e3cd8d07132dd4860809)
Run ./.github/actions/restore
Run actions/setup-node@49933ea5288caeca8642d1e84afbd3f7d6820020
Resolved package.json as 24.7.0
Attempting to download 24.7.0...
Acquiring 24.7.0 - x64 from https://github.com/actions/node-versions/releases/download/24.7.0-17283839804/node-24.7.0-linux-x64.tar.gz
Extracting ...
/usr/bin/tar xz --strip 1 --warning=no-unknown-keyword --overwrite -C /home/runner/work/_temp/5be513fa-45a1-4cbf-b962-41ec7d0b828f -f /home/runner/work/_temp/1b86ae81-2e8a-4a03-bb71-adb4c43b321f
Adding to the cache ...
Environment details
  node: v24.7.0
  npm: 11.5.1
  yarn: 1.22.22
Run corepack enable
  corepack enable
  corepack prepare --activate
  shell: /usr/bin/bash --noprofile --norc -e -o pipefail {0}
Preparing pnpm@10.15.1+sha512.34e538c329b5553014ca8e8f4535997f96180a1d0f614339357449935350d924e22f8614682191264ec33d1462ac21561aff97f6bb18065351c162c7e8f6de67 for immediate activation...
Run echo "STORE_PATH=$(pnpm store path --silent)" >> $GITHUB_ENV
Run actions/cache@0400d5f644dc74513175e3cd8d07132dd4860809
Cache hit for restore-key: Linux-pnpm-store-b7d2050696ee54d49a8aad9d2b825770a2ccafcb302f1fb77ebbe74d6ce0757b
Received 134217728 of 153022715 (87.7%), 120.0 MBs/sec
Received 153022715 of 153022715 (100.0%), 117.9 MBs/sec
Cache Size: ~146 MB (153022715 B)
/usr/bin/tar -xf /home/runner/work/_temp/43de40db-0b79-4b5b-b9a3-f8da86ea6973/cache.tzst -P -C /home/runner/work/website/website --use-compress-program unzstd
Cache restored successfully
Cache restored from key: Linux-pnpm-store-b7d2050696ee54d49a8aad9d2b825770a2ccafcb302f1fb77ebbe74d6ce0757b
Run pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
Lockfile is up to date, resolution step is skipped
Progress: resolved 1, reused 0, downloaded 0, added 0
Packages: +810
...

Actual behavior:
Action fails immediately.

[aparnajyothi-y]

Hello @peterhirn, Thank youf or creating this issue and we will look into it :)

[Eynorey]

Same issue, this action has never supported Corepack, and it's getting more and more cumbersome to use.
Unless #531 gains some traction, it might finally be time to look for or build an alternative...

It's a chicken-egg problem that has existed since caching support was introduced:

• You need PNPM to use setup-node's cache feature
• You need Node to install PNPM via Corepack

We have gotten used to solve this via a two-step approach:

- name: Install Node.js
  uses: actions/setup-node@v5
  with:
    node-version-file: .nvmrc
- name: Enable Corepack
  run: corepack enable
- name: Configure Dependency Cache
  uses: actions/setup-node@v5
  with:
    cache: pnpm

Now we need to set package-manager-cache: false in the first call so that the action works at all, even though we want to use the cache, which is super awkward.

- name: Install Node.js
  uses: actions/setup-node@v5
  with:
    node-version-file: .nvmrc
    package-manager-cache: false
- name: Enable Corepack
  run: corepack enable
- name: Configure Dependency Cache
  uses: actions/setup-node@v5
  with:
    cache: pnpm

[priyagupta108]

Hi! 👋
Thank you for sharing your workflow and describing the issue.

This behavior is expected with actions/setup-node v5. In this release, caching is automatically enabled if your package.json includes a valid packageManager field (such as pnpm, yarn, or npm). This update is aimed at simplifying dependency caching by default.

To turn off automatic caching and restore the previous behavior, set package-manager-cache: false in setup-node step:

steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v5
- uses: actions/setup-node@v5
  with:
    package-manager-cache: false

For more information on this update and recommended configuration, please refer to:

• v5.0.0 Release Notes
• README – Caching Packages

If you have any other questions or run into any issues, feel free to ask. We're happy to help!

[notaphplover]

Hey @priyagupta108

This behavior is expected with actions/setup-node v5. In this release, caching is automatically enabled if your package.json includes a valid packageManager field (such as pnpm, yarn, or npm). This update is aimed at simplifying dependency caching by default.

If the behavior is expected, could you please tell us how to use the action with the caching feature enabled when pnpm is set as the package manager? As @Eynorey already explained, there's no way to use the action without setting package-manager-cache: false. If only you could support setting a custom package manager, then this caching feature would make sense to non npm users.

If your answer is: add package-manager-cache: false if you're not using npm, then I would suggest to try not to go that way in the future, for it would mean other package managers are becoming second class citizens. Everybody makes mistakes, I hope you keep up the great work 🙂

[tagliala]

Hello,

with this approach:

      - uses: pnpm/action-setup@v4
      - name: Set up Node
        uses: actions/setup-node@v5
        with:
          node-version: '22'
      - name: Install node dependencies
        run: pnpm install

and a committed pnpm-lock.yaml, I do not have issues with cache, setup-node@v5, and pnpm

You can take a look at a successful run here:

https://github.com/diowa/ruby3-rails7-bootstrap-heroku/actions/runs/17490730192/job/49679724339

Excerpt from logs:

Cache restored successfully
Cache restored from key: node-cache-Linux-x64-pnpm-d56c4b93812f483a78e79eb6d745119442ec1fa19155fdca871b03dff741c8f3

#...

Run pnpm install
Lockfile is up to date, resolution step is skipped
Progress: resolved 1, reused 0, downloaded 0, added 0
Packages: +910
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Progress: resolved 910, reused 910, downloaded 0, added 375
Progress: resolved 910, reused 910, downloaded 0, added 910, done
Done in 2.1s using pnpm v10.9.0

---

Note about the pnpm/action-setup: it is an official action from the pnpm team and it is the documented way of implementing pnpm in the GitHub actions pipeline

Refs:

• https://github.com/pnpm/action-setup
• https://pnpm.io/continuous-integration#github-actions

[notaphplover]

Hey @tagliala,

      - uses: pnpm/action-setup@v4
     - name: Set up Node
       uses: actions/setup-node@v5
       with:
         node-version: '22'
     - name: Install node dependencies
       run: pnpm install

Amazing. I was not aware you could set pnpm via pnpm/action-setup without setting up node. Thanks!

[alexaka1]

Same issue happens for yarn v4.
error This project's package.json defines "packageManager": "yarn@4.9.4". However the current global version of Yarn is 1.22.22.

Except that yarn does not have a setup action. Not to mention the official installation method is via Corepack. https://yarnpkg.com/getting-started/install

I know, who uses Yarn anymore (insert some meme here), but it is still part of the ecosystem.