pnpm.executionEnv.nodeVersion vs engines.runtime

[markedwards]

As of pnpm 10.21.0, is pnpm.executionEnv.nodeVersion deprecated? And if so what is the correct way to specify the node version for the root workspace? The engines.runtime declaration does not seem to do it.

[zkochan]

What is the issue?

This works for me in package.json:

  "engines": {
    "runtime": {
      "name": "node",
      "version": "23",
      "onFail": "download"
    }
  }

[markedwards]

Okay I think at least part of the confusion here is this does work for me, but only if I do a pnpm install first. With pnpm.executionEnv.nodeVersion it was possible to immediate use Node, which would trigger a download the first time.

With engines.runtime, any attempt to execute Node before pnpm install results in an error. Is this expected?

[zkochan]

I see, yes, that is expected

[zkochan]

if you set verifyDepsBeforeRun to install, it will work the same in both cases.

[markedwards]

Got it. The thing is, I want to be able to do this in the following Next.js app scenario:

1. pnpm install
2. run steps to build the Next.js app in "standalone" mode which will create an optimized node_modules along with a copy of the minimal file structure, including the necessary package.json
3. package the standalone file structure into a Docker container with pnpm installed
4. pre-populate node in the Docker container
5. deploy to production, using pnpm node server.js to run the app

So I do not want to have to do a pnpm install at step 4, because that will defeat the purpose of already having installed, built, and packaged the dependencies. Using pnpm.executionEnv.nodeVersion this was working well, as I could run pnpm node --version in order to ensure node was downloaded into the Docker image.

The reason to do this instead of installing Node in the Dockerfile separately is to ensure consistency with the Node version that is run in dev and prod and CI, etc.

Can this be achieved with engines.runtime? If not, will pnpm.executionEnv.nodeVersion continue to be supported or is it going away? Is there a better way to think about achieving the goal?

[markedwards]

Update here -- we will actually eliminate usage of Next standalone builds, but for a different set of reasons.

So I think I have no remaining issue here. But just to close this -- is pnpm.executionEnv deprecated and no longer safe to use? Will it still be supported?